The Alchemists exhibition in the Triennale of Milan is an excersize in mediation between the metaphysical scale of the Architecture of the Triennale designed in 1933 by Giovanni Muzio, and the minute scale of the exhibited objects.
La Triennale di Milano is a design museum and events venue in Milan, Italy. located inside the Palace of Art building, part of Parco Sempione. It hosts exhibitions and events which highlight contemporary Italian design, urban planning, architecture, music, and media arts, emphasizing the relationship between art and industry. The museum houses the Collezione Permanente, a collection of significant objects in contemporary Italian design.
“The Alchemists” is a nod to the Italian avant-garde group Studio Alchimia, whose members, since the end of the 1970s, produced experimental projects and objects with a language and creativity that pushed the boundaries of design culture to rediscover colour and decoration, new forms and modern heritage, inspired by the ancient art of alchemists, the pre-scientists who tried to change lead into gold.
A new generation of designers from Singapore embarked on a creative investigation through this utopic perspective of matter transmutations, with “The Alchemists” project that has been conceived and curated by Italian writer, publisher, designer Stefano Casciani (who worked with Studio Alchimia in the early 1980s) and co-curated by Patrick Chia, designer and founding director of Singapore’s Design Incubation Centre.