Milan exhibitions

Largest collection of Mario Merz igloos pop up in Milan

In 1967, critic Germano Celan coined arte povera, an umbrella term for a cluster of avant-garde, anti-consumerist creatives originating from Turin, Rome and Milan. One of these artists was Mario Merz who sought to oppose what he viewed as the...

Patricia Urquiola and Federica Sala shine light on Achille Castiglioni’s legendary design career

Milan’s Triennale Design Museum has been having a banner few years. First, with its blockbuster Ettore Sottsass exhibition in 2017, closely followed by the Osvaldo Borsani retrospective this spring. Now, they have turned their attention to another grandmaster of Milanese...

Salone del Mobile 2018: the unmissable highlights from Milan Design Week

Bo selecta: Nilufar Gallery celebrates the twists and turns of an icon of Brazilian modernism

Nina Yashar, the founder of Milan’s Nilufar Gallery, first fell for Lina Bo Bardi five years ago. She was visiting São Paulo and the photographer Ruy Teixeira took her on a tour of several of the architect’s seminal projects, including...

An insider’s guide to highlights at Object at Miart 2018

Unbeknownst to much of the design world packing their bags for Milan next week, the city celebrates contemporary art the week before. At its heart is Miart, a much-loved art fair at the Fieramilano City, the charming former home of...

An exclusive look at COS’ reflective installation by Phillip K Smith III at Salone del Mobile

The fashion label COS is no stranger to crowd-pleasing collaboration. Every year since 2012, the Swedish-owned, London-based chain has worked with an array of design talents, including Sou Fujimoto, Nendo and Snarkitecture, to construct a series of installations at Milan’s...

Explore the infinite possibilities of glass at Salone del Mobile

For Salone del Mobile, WonderGlass is presenting new collections that continue to push the boundaries of this fascinating material, including a set of geometric objects in cast coloured glass by Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec. ‘We approached this project in a...

Lee Broom launches celestial lighting at Salone del Mobile

Since founding his studio in 2007, Lee Broom’s Salone del Mobile showcase has become a highlight of the annual furniture fair. Always inventive and ever the showman, his previous installations have involved a fairground carousel of his products, a travelling...

Material world: meet the 4 Danish designers to look out for at Salone del Mobile

Since 2008, the Mindcraft exhibition at Salone del Mobile has been promoting Danish craftsmanship with newly commissioned works from emerging talents to established names. Supported by the Danish Arts Foundation, the show reveals the experimental works of creatives who spend...

Fondazione Prada recreates art shows held under the rise and fall of fascist Italy

As Italy’s recent general elections on Sunday 4 March solidified the growing presence of far right and anti-establishment parties in Italian politics, it seems an apt coincidence that a current exhibition at Fondazione Prada explores the role of artistic and...

Big shot: a new book lays bare Guy Bourdin’s early years

‘Better five minutes of happiness than a lifetime of conformity,’ Guy Bourdin (1928-1991) said in the spring of 1955. A new book of images by the late French photographer presents the provocateur as a young artist – Untouched, published by...

Lucio Fontana’s environments shed light on a lesser-known side of his oeuvre

His slashed paintings of the 1950s remain one of the 20th century’s most influential bodies of artwork, but the unveiling of an almost forgotten series of Lucio Fontana’s earlier work in Milan could change the way the late Italian artist...