Superdesign Show 2023: a call for 'Inspiration, Innovation, Imagination' in Milan

'Inspiration, Innovation, Imagination': three words that sumarise the current art and design scene. These words also form the three pillars for the most recent edition of Superstudio’s annual design event for Milan Design Week 2023, Superdesign Show. Running from April 18 to 22, 2023, the forthcoming show traces the significant and burgeoning presence of technology—artificial intelligence, augmented reality, the Metaverse, ChatBots and humanoid robots—in contemporary life and subsequently, the sphere of contemporary design. This juxtaposition of technology and humankind is not a future projection anymore, it unfolds majestically all around us on every scale. The imminent and ongoing evolution of the world into a hybrid technological ecology comes forward as the subject of the anticipated design show in the Tortona District in Milan, Italy.

Superstudio, born from the intuition of journalist-editors Flavio Lucchini and Gisella Borioli, caters to the city’s needs of organised and flexible spaces for the needs of fashion, communication and creativity. The Superdesign Show embarks on an investigative journey through a meticulously curated ensemble of immersive installations, product designs and artworks scattered through various exhibitions, talk shows and discourses. Each segment of the design festival poses—rather enunciates—challenges and questions pertaining to the future while showcasing cutting-edge design and technology in tandem.

In an exclusive conversation with STIR, Gisella Borioli, co-founder of Superstudio, dives into the conceptualisation of the latest iteration of their show, the installations and discourses it encompasses, and the ethos it conforms to.

STIR: The theme of this edition of SuperDesign Show is ‘Inspiration Innovation Imagination.’ Please take us through the conceptualisation of this theme.

Gisella Borioli: Three words that tell the story of every object and every project. Inspiration: it is the original idea, the starting point that lit the way—the bridge between past and present. We asked our exhibitors to express the why of everything in some way, often with texts written alongside. Innovation: the bridge between present and future—to exist, every object/design must look forward, bring an element of progress or novelty, formal, substantial, technological, ecological, ethical, aesthetic, evolutionary, breaking the mould. This is a criterion that guides us in the selection of exhibitors. Imagination: imagination, fantasy, and diversity of thought make one object more desirable than another and a mise-en-scène that is not purely aseptic and commercial attracts attention, involves, and makes one participate. For us, this too is a factor of choice and an invitation to exhibitors to express themselves 'beyond'. Imagination is the key to success, the bridge that binds past present future, foresees the world to come and liberates emotions.

STIR: AI and technological advancements are at the core of what the show investigates. Do you believe that hybridisation of design and technology is NEXT in innovations?

Gisella: Technology is making great strides, and not only with the very powerful AI whose full possibilities we do not yet know. Not only with the mysterious metaverse that will allow otherwise impossible experiences. Also, with research to make materials perform better, with digitization that allows objects to 'converse' with us and simplify our lives, with intelligent 'tools' to save energy and respect the environment, with discoveries in medicine and science. Technology is not only part of innovation, it is an integral part of our daily lives.

STIR: Sustainability and the green movement has increasingly become a label that is sometimes even frowned upon in critical design discourses. What according to you is the way toward a more ecological and environmentally sensitive practice?

Gisella: I think sustainability should be taught at school, right from primary school, to avoid as much as possible an ecological disaster for future generations. It should not be a fashion, a means to give added value to a brand or a product, a label to boast about on certain occasions, or an alibi to sell more expensive. It must be a duty, like being honest, being socially aware, and behaving well. In small and big things, everyone must play their part. But it must be made clear from childhood.

STIR: Asian R-Evolution brings together conceptual presentations from the East and Far East. How important is the element of culture in designs looking towards the future?

Gisella: The world has suddenly expanded, and the intellectual, technological, geopolitical, historical, and cultural dominance is no longer only of the West. On the contrary, countries that until yesterday we considered 'backward' or Third World or 'emerging' are today technologically and creatively highly advanced. Their young people study, travel, absorb, engage, have curiosity, and open and absorbing minds. The result is that there are more and more of them competing even in creativity, especially in the countries of the East and far-east. For years we have been pursuing this vision, welcoming the most interesting proposals that come to us from places that may have previously only been known as third-party producers or exotic beaches. And today they express their own strong and updated cultural identity.

STIR: A segment of the show titled Strange yet Beautiful is dedicated to objects that surprise. According to you, what makes design non-banal—is it the materiality or the approach?

Gisella: All rules are skipped, in design as in fashion and even in architecture. Diversity, eccentricity, the artistic touch, and aesthetic experimentation are qualities that are at least as sought after as minimalism and new classicism. We wanted to welcome some eclectic proposals to highlight this area of design and interest, which precisely because it is very individualistic, escapes the rules. Everyone can find the thing that strikes him or makes him fall in love, and perhaps horrifies his neighbour. The plastic dwarfs reinvented years ago by Philippe Starck suddenly went from kitsch to chic: here is a very influential archistar who went 'beyond' and cleared the genre.

STIR: The exhibition curated by Giulio Cappellini will present 10 new contemporary protagonists. What is the common thread that ties their presentations together?

Gisella: There is a lot of talk about archistars, the usual big names are celebrated for years, and rightly so. But together with curator Giulio Cappellini, I wanted to launch the theme of young people who stand out as potential archistars of the next decade and beyond. Among them were several women. An entirely personal and not absolute choice. The common denominator is that we believe in them.

STIR: Under the Sign of Art section caters to the word ‘imagination,’ an intrinsic part of the theme. Which installation or exhibition stirred your imagination the most?

Gisella: Contemporary art has always been a passion of mine, in my family we are all, some more and some less, artists or creative people. Every year at the Design Week presentations at Superstudio, art interacts with design in many ways. This year I would like to highlight an installation that touches me closely. That of Flavio Lucchini, my husband, artist and at the same time founder of Superstudio, in his atelier and in the recently created FLA Museum: The Preview exhibition anticipates a major autumn event with 100 non-portraits of women and offers the art interpretation of two Rubelli Casa armchairs painted with the same theme and transformed into works of art for the Studio Nava+Arosio project that also involves other artists.

STIR: A lot of ecological issues are broached in different elements of the show, may it be reclaimed materials or water crisis. How do you anticipate change in the global society through such initiatives of design?

Gisella: Attention to sustainability is, fortunately, becoming increasingly widespread and emphasised by manufacturers. We too are very attentive to this factor: for example, many of the partition walls in the various exhibition spaces this year were made from paper. But perhaps where the focus on this theme is most evident is in the Materially section, which has been with us for ten years now. The recovered materials and waste that are transformed in a way that respects nature and saves energy are amazing.

STIR: What do you aim for visitors to take away from the show and the partaking discourses?

Gisella: I hope that, as always, visitors will grasp our focus on the future, which is expressed through the proposals of the big international brands but also pushes us to explore unforeseen territories and open up to young people and women, often 'guests,' with free participation.

STIR: What is NEXT in store for Superstudio?

Gisella: Superstudio continues to develop its activity both with the arrival of new venues in Milan (such as the recent Superstudio Maxi and the brand new Superstudio Village) but also with its activities related to virtual worlds, all to be discovered during the Superdesign Show in our Superstudio Virtual Pavilion. After 40 years since Superstudio's birth, the second generation has joined the founders: with the contribution of the historical collaborators, it is now a team of very young people who lead the business.

STIR’s coverage of Milan Design Week 2023 showcases the best exhibitions, studios, designers, installations, brands, and special projects to look out for. Explore Euroluce 2023 and all the design districts—5Vie Art and Design, Brera Design District, Fuorisalone, Isola Design District, Tortona District, and Milano Design District—with us.