Inga Sempé: La casa imperfetta
From April 15 to September 15, 2024, the Triennale Milano is presenting the exhibition: Inga Sempé: La casa imperfetta. Curated by Marco Sammicheli, Director of the Museo del Design of the Triennale Milano, the exhibition opens to coincide with the museum’s programming for Milan Design Week 2024.
La casa imperfetta forms part of one of the projects staged at the Design Platform, the exhibition space that is part of the Design Museum at the Triennale, and which is dedicated to exploring key themes and figures of contemporary design. The exhibition is an immersive installation by Paris-based designer Inga Sempé in which different environments – bedroom, kitchen, corridor, vestibule and outdoor space, have been filled with various products designed by Sempé. Viewers are invited to interact as if there were in a real home, outside of a museum. Lamps can be turned on and off, visitors can sit on the couch, read a book, or sit at the kitchen table and have a conversation. Sempé is a household name in the design world but she has always pursued a career that stays out of obvious marketing campaigns or following trends. As she told Lise Coirier in an interview for a Carte Blanche portfolio in the 2023 edition of TLmag39: The Culture of the Object, “I draw, I seek, it takes time, everything must be ultra-precise in relation to the materials and the craftsmanship I explore to create, whether it’s lighting or furniture. The essence of the object precedes everything else.”
The layout was conceived by Sempé and designed by Studio A/C, turn by Alessia Pessano and Chiara Novello. In addition to works by Sempé are a selection of objects by Vico Magistretti, Massimo Morozzi, Gilbert & George, Domenico Gnoli, Mette Ivers and 7 works by Saul Steinberg.
The exhibition is accompanied by a catalogue published by Electa with texts by several leading design critics including Giampiero Bosoni, Megan Dinius, Laura Maggi, Massimo Orsini, Eugenio Perazza, Marco Sammicheli, Inga Sempé, Patrizia Vicenzi and Pilar Viladas.
La casa imperfetta provides an interesting counter-balance to the rush of Milan Design Week which is all about new projects and products. Here, viewers can sit and relax, take in the designer’s work, and experience something surprisingly fresh and fun. As Sempé told Coirier, “I don’t have a culture of objects; I don’t read books on design, but rather novels, and I observe objects in their everyday environment. I enjoy going to the Flea Markets in Paris. This visual culture, which is not academic, doesn’t rely on any classification. What interests me above all are objects and their uses”.
Inga Sempé: La casa imperfetta is on view at the Triennale Milano through September 15, 2024.
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