20 white flags for utopia represent italy at london design biennale

london design biennale: at the 2016 london design biennale, the triennale design museum/italy ‘white flag’ installation represents the surrender to utopia’s acts of deconstruction. curated by silvana annicchiarico and giorgio camuffo, the italian exhibition features 20 white flag interpretations, all of which have been created by a different italian designer. each design embodies its own symbols, signs and meanings to reflect what the value of a truce to utopia is.

the london design biennale is taking place at the somerset house
image credit maria pina poledda

the ‘white flag’ installation runs for 20 days, where on the first, all the flags shape a redesigned world map. reflecting the careful balance of a utopia, the peacefulness of the flags is limited. instead, each day, one flag will disappear and be replaced by a chosen object by the designer, much like an act of offering and a symbolic exchange. with the exhibition constantly evolving, by the end, all 20 flags will have been substituted, showcasing a landscape of objects instead.

the installation features 20 interpretations of white flags from 20 different italian designers
image credit maria pina poledda

silvana annicchiarico and giorgio camuffo say: ‘throughout the course of history, utopias have almost always attempted to build new worlds. and impose new models. each one saturating the space and claiming to be unique and perfect. the result is a world saturated with models that suffocate each other. that are mutually exclusive. that all attempt to exclude the others and assert only themselves.’

image © designboom

the triennale’s contribution to the london design biennale, signals a halt to the thinking that a utopia is a form of construction. oppositely, it proposes the idea that the world takes a step back, surrenders, waves the ‘white flags’, and lets the utopia shape itself. this is why the universal understanding of the white flag is so meaningful because it enables a pause and a time for much needed dialogue.

each flag interpretation conveys a different meaning to surrender to utopia
image © designboom

designers:

antonio aricò; associato misto; marco campardo and lorenzo mason; cristina celestino; matteo cibic; CTRLZAK studio; francesco d’abbraccio (studio frames); folder; alessandro gnocchi; francesca lanzavecchia (lanzavecchia + wai); lucia massari; giacomo moor; eugenia morpurgo; rio grande (lorenzo cianchi, natascia fenoglio, francesco valtolina); sovrappensiero design studio; alessandro stabile; studio gionata gatto; studio zanellato/bortotto; gio tirotto; 4P1B design studio.

image credit bradley lloyd barnes