On Thursday 5th October 2023, Fondazione Vico Magistretti and Triennale Milano organised the first international conference on the work of the Milanese architect and designer.
Following the exhibition Vico Magistretti. Architetto milanese, which in 2021 paid tribute to the architect by presenting his design career for the first time in a unified manner, the conference – curated by Nina Bassoli, Gabriele Neri and Marco Sammicheli – is a new, different opportunity to deepen, stimulate and update some of the countless themes and research paths on his work.
The themes of the conference were developed through a call launched last February 2023.
Considered as one of the most representative figures of Milanese design culture in the second half of the 20th century, Vico had close ties with foreign countries that influenced his work and in turn left his mark in these contexts.
It was precisely this international openness that the conference focused on, with a programme divided into three sessions that hosted contributions investigating from his university experience in Switzerland during the war to the realisation of architecture abroad (in Japan, Spain, Iran…); from his collaboration with foreign companies (in England, Japan…) to his teaching activity at the Royal College of Art in London and the presence of his work in magazines, volumes and exhibitions.
At the end of the sessions, the round table Vico Magistretti and the Italian project in the world was held. New Perspectives, an opportunity not only to summarise the day but also a moment of discussion and analysis on the perspectives, developments, trajectories and meanings of Italian design.
The day closed with a lectio magistralis by Konstantin Grcic, a student of Vico’s at the Royal College of Art in London, who in his homage to Magistretti for the 2021 exhibition recalls his teachings as follows: “You would come for a day and simply sit and talk with us. Your curiosity was always genuine, your advice simple: design draws inspiration from life, from what is right there in front of us. Look at the usual things with unusual eyes. Many years later I still think it is one of the most beautiful design lessons I have received. For that, I thank you“.
