Design français à Milan
Design, à présent
Design, à présent
French Presence at Fuorisalone digital
June 15-21 2020
From June 15 to 21, as part of the Fuorisalone Digital Milan, the Institut français, with the support of the French Ministry of Culture and in partnership with the Institut français in Italy and Business France, presents “Design Today - the French Presence at Fuorisalone Digital Milan”, a journey through French design, examined and reappraised by design professionals and experts through the prism of the public health crisis.
Milan Design Week, a major event on the international design calendar which would have been the high point of this momentum, featured a rich and varied programme created with the Institut français in Milan, which is celebrating its 70th birthday this year. The event’s cancellation due to the pandemic encouraged the organisers to come up with a fully digital edition of the Fuorisalone.
In response to the Italian proposal, the Institut français created a programme inspired by experiences and visions of design in a time of crisis. The variety of perspectives showcased in the programme is a reflection of this discipline, which embraces fields that go beyond design alone and lays claim to an eminently humanist purpose.
The programme is divided into two sections:
A video section which will give “carte blanche” to the designers and institutions originally scheduled to appear at Milan Design Week in April 2020 with the support of the Institut français: the personal exhibition of Constance Guisset, the Paint Fiction project by Studio Gaëlle Gabillet and Stéphane Villard, and the ESTORAMA project by the art schools in Eastern France. A video produced by Mobilier National, the French agency which administrates and curates state furniture, illustrating its support plan for the art and design industry, will also feature on the programme.
Another section, in the form of mini-films, will ask three questions to a number of designers initially scheduled for Milan Design Week and more generally to representatives of national institutions, design schools and festivals, such as the Bordeaux Museum of Decorative Arts and Design, the Cité du Design in St-Etienne, Lille, World Design Capital, ENSAD (French school of decorative arts and design), ENSCI (French industrial design school) and the social design platform Agrafmobile. Each film raises the issues of contemporary design, its role in everyday life and its ability to redefine the role of humans in our modern world and its social purpose to deeply rethink how our society works. These interviews were created under the supervision of Emanuele Quinz, an ENSAD researcher.
The Institut français is running this event with the support of the Ministry of Culture, in partnership with the Institut français in Milan on the event of its 70th birthday, the Institut français in Italy, Business France Italy and a selection of professional and institutional French design stakeholders.
The Institut français
The Institut Français is a public institution which promotes French culture abroad. Under the supervision of the French Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs and the French Ministry for Culture, the Institut français actively contributes to France’s “diplomacy of influence”. Its projects and programmes are implemented through France’s cultural network abroad, which includes the Instituts français, Alliances françaises and cultural services in embassies around the world.
Visit website
Send email
1- What part does design play in our everyday lives?
2- How does design help redefine the role of humans in today's world (faced with nature and also faced with the objects they have produced)?
3- What is the social mission of design today?
An interview cycle curated by Emanuele Quinz and Giusi Tinella
