Poetry and High-Tech Intersect at Ventura Lambrate During Milan Design Week 2016

At the Milan Design Week 2016, the Ventura Lambrate district hosted the exhibition "Poetry – 21 words for…", curated by Susanna Legrenzi and Stefano Mattei. The show featured 21 projects exploring the relationship between poetry and design, with a focus on innovation and technology. Highlights included "Minuted" by Dutch designer Gijs van Bon, a performative installation that prints ephemeral poetry on sand, and "Shield" by Ted Wiles, a silk handkerchief that blocks electromagnetic frequencies from smartphones. The exhibition also incorporated Google Cardboard, a low-cost virtual reality viewer, to explore the concept of place. The event ran until April 17 at the Logotel space. The curators aimed to challenge the comfort and uniformity of contemporary design by reintroducing emotion and surprise. The exhibition was part of a series that previously explored collaboration (2012), (in)visibility (2013), time (2014), and human needs (2015). Associated activities included talks and a blackout poetry workshop.