Triennale posters are the subject of a new book, published by Marsilio Arte and titled Triennale. Cento anni di manifesti. Triennale held a triennial design exhibition from 1923, becoming a key cultural hub for the city of Milan and offering a diverse and thought-provoking series of design encounters.
Over the course of the century, the visual identity of Triennale developed and set the tone for trends in visual communication and graphic design, also thanks to collaboration with the leading designers of their time. The book gathers works by Ettore Sottsass, Wim Crouwel, Massimo Vignelli, Anna Kulachek, Italo Lupi and many more, charting the history of the institution's approach to visual culture.
Curated by Mario Piazza, the book opens with an introduction by Triennale president, architect Stefano Boeri, and was designed by Swiss studio Norm. 'Triennale has always anticipated trends,' writes Boeri. 'It is (and has been) a place open to exchanges of ideas, a meeting points of different opinions and visions. Today, we aim at being a school to ponder on the big questions of contemporaneity.'
Boeri's vision for the institution has always been respectful of its stories and illustrious past, while ensuring it keeps asking the relevant questions for the future, through a varied programme that encourages exchanges and discovery.
The book includes the posters from the triennial exhibitions as well as those for temporary design exhibitions held at the museum over the years, helping put together the pieces of its history. Each poster comes with a detailed analysis of its design, as well as extended materials that look at the context of the specific exhibition and moment in design history. 'Looking at our archives,' adds Boeri, 'allows us to explore the future of design while paying constant attention to our past.'
'Triennale. Cento anni di manifesti', published by Marsilio Arte
