triennale design museum exhibition reflects on the value of purchasing food products

installed inside la triennale di milano, the ‘coop_70. valori in scatola’ exhibition celebrates 70 years of coop — a system of italian consumers’ cooperatives which operates the largest supermarket chain in italy. curated by giulio iacchetti and francesca picchi, the exhibition offers an experiential journey to reflect on the value of the seemingly simple and instinctive purchase of food products. on show until january 13, 2019.

all image by max rommel

hosted at the triennale design museum, the coop_70. valori in scatola — italian for values in the box — comprises seven stations, one for each decade. inside, visitors are encouraged to interact while learning about italy’s history: from the post-world war II era’s grayscale imagery to the digital age’s pixels through supermarket products. the experiential storytelling has been curated by giulio iacchetti and francesca pichi, with scenography by matteo ragni and marco sorrentino, with design support by leonardo sonnoli.

the first station narrates coop’s history and gives insight into the company’s official data mixed with fun facts. the second station dives into a more visual part, the cooperative identity. it immerses visitors into two design masters’ contribution to coop’s graphic culture, albe steiner and bob noorda who created and reimagined the brand’s logo. coop’s first product packaging, the design of the staff uniforms, the shopping bags, and other materials are exhibited inside the museum.

the two successive installations focus on supply chains and see three oversized common italian products — pasta, tomatoes and olive oil. the fifth station presents coop’s communications, including ugo gregoretti’s proto-commercial, peter falk’s performance as lieutenant columbo on the television series columbo, woody allen’s intellect, luciana littizzetto’s commercials and the most recent, makkox’s comic strips. it also projects the legacy of the supermarket of the future at the milan expo developed by carlo ratti.

dubbed spot&slogan, the sixth section features a sequence of posters that bring together the imagery and text from the cooperative’s actions and initiatives. the exhibition concludes with la fattoria cooperativa that reveals the educational activities involving tens of thousands of italian school students each year. at the end of the exhibition route, visitors are invited to take part in an interactive installation by snapping a photograph in a dedicated photo booth to contribute to a mosaic wall.