Salone del Mobile.Milano 2024: the cultural program, beyond furniture

The Talks and Round Tables present people of the caliber of Francis Kéré. The first and only African architect to have won the Pritzker Prize, he has been working for all his life on the theme of community, of how important it is to involve communities in the creation of projects, so that architecture is not just handed down from above. He will be interviewed by Giulia Ricci.  

Or John Pawson in conversation with Deyan Sudjic, and Jeanne Gang with Johanna Agerman Ross, two professionals comparing the issues of an architectural career, attentive to the viewpoints of the users of spaces, as well as urban, environmental and nature projects. Or again the President of the Salone del Mobile.Milano, Maria Porro, who will be meeting Hans Ulrich Obrist, a figure capable of giving further impetus and vision to the sector. 

In conversation with Giulia Ricci, Diébédo Francis Kéré expressed his vision of community: “I see it as a sense of belonging to a group, sharing the same ideas, the same place, the same space. As a designer, I’m thinking about how to better shape this community life.” Speaking about his professional success, Kéré stressed that, “It was not a miracle, but a set of circumstances grasped at the right moment.” He then urged the need to make the best use of one’s skills to build a better world. “Talent is everywhere, but in some places there is still a lack of schools and opportunities.”  

In conclusion, he mentioned the assignment for the virtual museum project where UNESCO and Interpol have teamed up to bring back stolen objects virtually and so make them accessible. The primary objective of this initiative is to raise awareness of the illicit trafficking of stolen cultural assets and to help in their recovery. “A very important project to restore to humanity objects that no longer exist.” 

Alongside the big names of the project, the theme of artificial intelligence is addressed in The Present and Future of Artificial Intelligence (with the involvement, among others, of Paolo Ciuccarelli, who collaborated on  the Salone del Mobile.Milano’s communication campaign), the theme of the relationship between pleasure boating and design, entitled Yachting and Design: the Positive Influences of Made in Italy, in collaboration with the Genoa International Boat Show, and news of the hospitality sector, which is experiencing an epoch-making revolution, at the encounter entitled New Shapes of Hospitality.  

If last year the position of the speakers was frontal, this year the speakers are central: “We like the idea of the circularity of thought, of the community meeting in the agora,” explains the curator.  

The Talk “Pleasure Boating and Design: the Positive Influences of Made in Italy” was held on the opening day of the Salone del Mobile.Milano. “Boating has taught us how to read space, because even in dimensions that are not those of civil architecture, it is still possible to design interesting, desirable and above all flexible spaces. This calls for convertible furnishings, such as lounge areas that become dining rooms, spaces that we have also begun to use in homes,” observed Chiara Massarani, Architect, Senior Project Director ACPV ARCHITECTS Antonio Citterio Patricia Viel. Stressing the synergy between yachting and design, Luisa Bocchietto drew the conclusions: “In recent years the world of pleasure boating has evolved immensely in terms of performance and interiors. For these reasons it has a lot to derive from the furniture companies. At the same time, designers of furniture find many ideas from the world of pleasure boating that compel them to work on spaces more carefully and creatively, also in contact with nature.” 

The Talks have been recognized as training initiatives accredited by the National Order of Architects (CNAPPC - National Council of Architects, Planners, Landscape Architects and Conservationists; each one entitles the student to the acquisition of 2 credits).