"Twenty years ago in Milan, Tortona area was a suburb with warehouses that employed many workers, such as Riva- Calzoni, General Electric, Osram, Nestlè, etc., gradually emptied. It seemed that the disappearance of these industries which produced important artifacts left a desert. No one, not even I who had chosen it first, could imagine that after our photographic studios and with Superstudio Più’s introduction other model agencies, fashion companies, event management, museums and therefore hotels, restaurants, temporary shops and many other activities could make this area the smartest and most innovative in Milan. Superstudio was the first light bulb, the first light that subsequently multiplied to illuminate this area and attract fashion world, design, and all those activities that today contribute to make Milan the driving force city of Italy. The next step is another exhibition venue in an even more suburban neighborhood, sure that we will bring culture and new interest there too...

We are already in February and the year of the magnificent twenty years of Superstudio Più is already over, sadly closed to events. Including our birthday party. From 2000 to 2020 time was spent in a breath, with the end of a year to forget. We hope to celebrate the return to normality in 2021, with a finished pandemic, with new initiatives and new hopes.

We could not imagine, Flavio and I, that day back in 1999 when, looking for 1000/1500 square meters to set up a new larger art atelier for him and for me a studio suitable for television footage that would complete first Superstudio in via Forcella 13 photographic studios proposal, we came across a large Gabetti sign, in via Tortona 27: factory building of 17.000 sqm for sale.

The Superstudio book, conceived and created by Gisella Borioli officially comes out on February 1st to remember not only twenty years since the opening of Superstudio Più, great multicultural and exhibition center in Via Tortona, Milan, but above all the contribution it has made to the development of  Fuorisalone in the districts and the change in design representation, switching from the product to the culture and research behind the product itself.
"DESIGN SUPER SHOW-2000/2020 evolution and mise-en-scène of design at Superstudio in Milan" is at the same time a first-person diary and a review by several (authoritative) voices of this transformation that has led us into the future...

We republish interview with Emilio Genovesi, a very important figure in the world of Design with important political, institutional and entrepreneurial positions, who passed away in recent days. His Materials Village at Superstudio Più has brought novelties, innovation, research, vision into materials world during Design Week for five years and other projects were underway.
We'll all miss him, but we believe his legacy will continue.

Material ConneXion, with its library of materials, with its presentations first at the Triennale and then at Superstudio, also represented in Italy an important step in the knowledge and enhancement of materials for architecture and design...

From trials of street-artists caught in the act of committing "crime", to urban art that has became the essential ingredient to make cities attractive and suburbs tasty. Milan once again as "movement" leader aiming to increase art on the walls, in the gardens, in the squares. Everything began fifteen years ago. I was there.

I remember when, in 2006, the then newly elected mayor Letizia Moratti called me to join Milan Strategic Committee in order to give suggestions on creativity still dormant in my city, one of the first things I tried my hand at was an attempt to clear street artists from undesirable ghetto to the real artists one, such as many were, making the difference between vandals/taggers and guys who expressed dreams and drawings with murals, often ennobling degraded walls...

With Marina Pugliese, curator and leading figure in the field of art, put in charge of the new office to promote and enhance public art in the city, Municipality adds an ambitious goal to its vision of Milan 2030. We talk about street-art, which has already conquered many public and non-public walls, but not only. The project also includes high-impact urban installations and sculptures capable of enhancing suburbs by bringing all services and opportunities, including art and culture, to 15 minutes from each home. Project evolution can be followed on « Art in public space » Municipality's web page or by contacting the office in charge of. Works installed on open squares but also in private places will enter the catalog and among these we would gladly see Superstudio’s Art Garden...

To understand Job Smeets, a visionary artist who has no equal, I would suggest starting from his website, which tells more than a thousand words. Everything is spectacular, unique, questionable, quirky, opulent. In fact it’s the other side of modernity: the one which hybridizes banality and visions, technology and manual skills, pop and kitsch, humor and horror, function and dysfunction, museums and markets, awards and provocation. With a global success result.

And finally from Antwerp, after so many successful exhibitions, awards initiatives, you arrive in Milan…  
After living in Paris, Amsterdam, Antwerp, Berlin, London...

We are already in January and the year of magnificent twenty years of Superstudio Più is already over, sadly closed to events. From 2000 to 2020 time was spent in a breath, with the end of a year to forget. A special edition of our paper monthly @AT is available, with the wish to return to a "new normality" in 2021, with new events and hope.

 Here you can find January paper @AT Summary:

- EDITORIAL: 20 YEARS ALREADY!!! SUPERSTUDIO PIU’ ANNIVERSARY

- DESIGN SUPER SHOW: A BOOK TO REMEMBER

- BEPPE SALA: MILAN MEANS DESIGN

- DESIGN SEMI-SERIOUS DICTIONARY: NEOLOGISMS...