Unveiling Urban Narratives: A Fusion of Design and Sculpture
A Milanese Dialogue: Rossi's Furnishings and Somaini's Sculptures Converge
Until March 15th, 2026, Spazio UniFor in Milan is the stage for "The City of Objects: Aldo Rossi and Francesco Somaini." Curated by Studio Klass in collaboration with Fondazione Francesco Somaini Scultore, this installation, part of the In Vetrina program by MuseoCity, creates a compelling conversation. It strategically places renowned furniture pieces by Aldo Rossi for UniFor alongside a curated selection of Francesco Somaini's sculptures from the 1970s. Housed within the central hall of Spazio UniFor, a space designed by Herzog & de Meuron, the exhibit delves into the essence of the city, not merely as a physical location, but as an interplay of objects, collective memory, and conceptual frameworks.
Architectural Storytelling Through Four Distinct Rooms
Studio Klass meticulously organized the exhibition into a series of four interconnected rooms, each meticulously aligned with the building's inherent structural grid. This deliberate arrangement extends the architectural logic into the very fabric of the curatorial design. These spaces function as concentrated, museological environments, where each room pairs a significant sculptural work with a corresponding architectural object. A distinct chromatic palette, a hallmark of Rossi's artistic approach, is introduced in each setting, further enriching the visual experience.
Visitors embark on a journey through precisely calibrated environments, where the interplay of light, scale, and contrasting materials shapes their perception and engagement. Rossi's creations—Cartesio, Consiglio, Parigi, and Museo—are presented not just as furniture, but as architectural elements themselves. These pieces encapsulate both deeply personal and archetypal recollections, simultaneously conjuring vivid images of hypothetical urban landscapes. Bookcases transcend their utilitarian function, becoming evocative facades, while cabinets transform into civic structures, characterized by their rhythmic modularity. Through these works, Rossi's concept of the "analogue city"—a hypothetical urban construct woven from memory, typology, and recurring patterns—manifests as a tangible reality.
Sculptural Counterpoints: Engaging with the Modern Metropolis
In a striking juxtaposition, Somaini's architectural sculptures introduce a powerful material and formal tension to the exhibition. Conceived during the 1970s, these works emerged from his profound engagement with the constructed environment, viewing the city as a dynamic field of forces rather than a static image. For Somaini, New York represented a quintessential context to critically examine the relationship between art and architecture within an expansive urban scale. When placed alongside Rossi's object-architectures, these sculptures significantly deepen the ongoing dialogue concerning memory, materiality, and the urban experience.
The convergence of these distinct artistic visions gives rise to a dynamic landscape where the lived reality of the city intertwines with its imagined counterparts. The installation effectively constructs what can be interpreted as an "analogue city," a realm shaped by shared memories and placed in insightful contrast with a re-evaluated perspective of the contemporary metropolis. Within the expansive framework of MuseoCity's In Vetrina initiative, Spazio UniFor serves as a crucial conduit for "The City of Objects: Aldo Rossi and Francesco Somaini." This exhibition provides a precise and intimate examination of two parallel investigations into how art and design can fundamentally reimagine our understanding of urban environments.