How many times do we say we’d love to be children again? And yet, how many times do we turn down the chance when it comes — because the activity on offer is “too childish”, “too silly”, because “we’re grown-ups now”?!
For this Milan Design Week, McDonald’s has decided to force us back into childhood with POOL. Ti sblocco un ricordo.

At number 58 via Tortona, within the packed programme presented by Tortona Rocks, a giant ball pit has appeared — filled with colourful plastic balls, exactly like the ones we used to dive into when we were about a metre tall.
But unlike the ones we played in as kids, McDonald’s version takes you somewhere: straight to the revelation of two works of art.

Hanging on the wall at the far end of the space, two works await visitors: a Spot Painting by Damien Hirst and a work from the Early Work series by Vedovamazzei.

The Spot Paintings are undoubtedly one of the British artist’s most iconic series, begun in the late 1980s and still ongoing. They consist of canvases on which rows and columns of coloured dots are painted at regular intervals on a white background. Each circle is a different colour and never repeats within the same painting. They are among the most sold and reproduced works in contemporary art — and among the most polarising.

Vedovamazzei is an artistic duo formed by Stella Scala and Simeone Crispino, whose research focuses above all on the relationship between original and copy. In particular, they have produced a series of works that reproduce very famous artworks as if they had been made by those same artists as children.

In the case of McDonald’s installation, the Vedovamazzei work reproduces the very Spot Painting by Hirst displayed right beside it.

The installation, curated by Nicolas Ballario, is designed so that to see the works up close, visitors must walk through the ball pit — moving in a clumsy, almost grotesque, yet thoroughly entertaining way, freeing their inner child for a few minutes.

Alongside the ball pit, an exhibition space has been set up displaying some of McDonald’s most beloved collectibles of all time — from Peanuts to Super Mario — so that, beyond diving into the ball pit, visitors can also take a proper dive into the past.

POOL. Ti sblocco un ricordo is part of the programme of events of Tortona Rocks, of which Collater.al is a media partner. Here you can visit their website to discover all the events planned for Milan Design Week 2026.