Ephemeral Temporary Spaces 2

The workshop held at the Design School of Politecnico di Milano by Michele De Lucchi with Francesca Balena Arista and Mario Greco - previously also with Andrea Branzi - participates since 2015 at Palazzo Litta and in 2019 at the Teatro Franco Parenti in the events curated by Mosca Partners.

It is an extraordinary experience which has offered us during these six years the opportunity to deal with international schools and professionals in the world of design, in order to make our conviction even more alive: we teach to learn, "Teaching is Learning”!

Our experimental workshop, named Ephemeral Temporary Spaces - 1st year of the Master’s Degree in Interior and Spatial Design - aims to create models of architectures and short videos made by students, developing in these six years different anthropological themes closely related to the contemporaneity such as: Misery, Chaos, Death, Eros, Rebellion, Diversity.

Students have to start from an abstract concept to transform it into a space able to produce emotions and reflections through the tools of design.

Due to the COVID-19 Pandemic, in 2020 the workshop named “Diversity” - held by Michele De Lucchi, Francesca Balena Arista and Mario Greco, with the supervision of Marco De Santi, Giada Boromello and Gabriele Milanese - took place entirely on-line, through distance lessons that kept teachers in contact with students of different nationalities. The previously chosen topic took on a particular meaning with the lockdown. Despite difficulties, this experience shows us how the constraints and limitations imposed can be transformed into creative actions through design tools. “Diversity” meant creating domestic sets with what you have at your disposal, transforming your own space into a narrative scenario, using unconventional materials to create your own model, working together with a common project. All this happened despite the distance.

Here you can find a list of our previous exhibitions:

In 2015, The Aesthetics of Misery held by Andrea Branzi and Michele De Lucchi with Francesca Balena Arista and Marco De Santi at Palazzo Litta’s Sala degli Specchi; in 2016 “Chaos” held by Andrea Branzi, Michele De Lucchi and Francesca Balena Arista whit the supervision of Marco De Santi, Paola Silvia Coronel and Chiara Fauda Pichet at Palazzo Litta’s Sala Verde; in 2017 The Aesthetics of Drama held by Andrea Branzi, Michele De Lucchi and Francesca Balena Arista with Marco De Santi, Paola Silvia Coronel, Marta Elisa Cecchi and Giuseppe Arezzi at Teatro Litta; in 2018 the videos made by students during the workshop Design is Eros - held by Michele De Lucchi, Francesca Balena Arista and Mario Greco, with Marco De Santi, Marta Elisa Cecchi and Giuseppe Arezzi - acted as a prelude to the entrance to the first floor of Palazzo Litta; in 2019 the exhibition Eros-Models - Michele De Lucchi, Francesca Balena Arista and Mario Greco, with Marco De Santi, Marta Elisa Cecchi and Giuseppe Arezzi - took place at Teatro Franco Parenti’s Sala Rossa.

This year, starting from July, Virtual Design Variation will host the 2020 workshop Diversity, narrating the journey we made together during these six years of experimental projects, in which we taught and we learned together, taking inspirations from each other, nourishing ourselves with our differences.