Taste, Touch, Sight, Sound and Smell

Milan 9 April 17.00 – 18.30 Università Statale di Milano, Aula di Rappresentanza BE OPEN’S journey continues in Milan at Fuorisalone 2013. After the launch at last year’s Milan Design Week, BE OPEN returns this year at Università Statale as co-producer of INTERNI magazine’s Hybrid Architecture & Design exhibition, from 8-21 April, with an installation by Christophe Pillet in the University’s Cortile della Farmacia, the BE OPEN Talk, a panel discussion moderated by Philippe Daverio on the sensory future and the BE OPEN Food Theatre at the Moroso showroom, a unique food experience. These events are a part of an extensive programme to research design for the five senses through innovative projects that reach out to the sixth sense, or intuition. The House of the Senses is a contemplative pavilion located in the center of Cortile Farmacia and integrated with the existing geometry of the formal garden. The three walls of the pavilion are screens for moving images created by Studio Azzurro. Visitors will be drawn by the pulse of films streamed onto the pavilion and by Sfelab’s interactive performances in the surrounding colonnade.Prominent creatives, artists and scholars, such as celebrated artist Michelangelo Pistoletto, inspirational designer Aldo Cibic, innovation guru John Thackara, star chef Davide Oldani and global architect / designer Christophe Pillet, will share their thoughts about the sensory future in the BE OPEN Talk Senses and Tastes – a panel discussion moderated by Philippe Daverio at the Aula di Rappresentanza at Statale University. The Fuorisalone will also be the setting for the launch of the BE OPEN Food Theatre at the Moroso showroom on 9 April. Using Kvadrat’s textiles and Moroso’s furniture, celebrated designer Patricia Urquiola will create a ‘stage’ where Massimiliano Alajmo and I’m a Kombo will stage a food performance. A different sense will be integrated into each one of the dishes so that guests can hear, smell, touch and see food differently, as well as tasting it. This event is the precursor to BE OPEN’s Paris-Dakar project, a series of concept restaurants that will be designed in collaboration with the most interesting creatives of our time. BE OPEN is a cultural and social initiative that aims to harness the brainpower of creative leaders through a system of conferences, competitions, exhibitions, master classes and art events. Behind the creation of BE OPEN stands an international team united around Russian businesswoman, entrepreneur and philanthropist, Elena Baturina. A long-term, international, multidisciplinary, multi-faceted project, BE OPEN will allow leading contemporary thinkers and creatives to meet up with those in the media and business, discuss their ideas and visions and ultimately make change happen. (London, PRNewswire)