During this week, the already artistic and creative streets of Milan get a thousand times more artistic and creative, with every door and facade hiding behind them hundreds of proposals, installations, fairs, and activations by some of the biggest brands in the world. As a symbol of savoir-faire, good design, and successful business, Porsche couldn't be any less, and a couple of days ago, just in time for the kickoff of Milan Design Week, they introduced to the world their new edition of a relatively new but already really successful project The Art of Dreams, where they dive into their more artistic side and invite artists to reintreperate and translate key points of their philosophy into a new and personal narrative.
The Art of Dreams was launched in October 2021, and with the same global mindset that Porsche has promoted through the years, their objective is to take this chance not only to create something new but to visit each time a different part of the world with it, making the clients and audience from all across the globe a part of this. With past editions happening in places like Paris, Singapore, and Miami, it makes sense that the project lands in Milan, especially during a week where the best of design is having one of its main encounters in the Italian city.
Dreams are always a good concept to explore when it comes to creative expression. There's an alternative world we are part of during some hours of our lives, and each one of these words is as unique and different as the person witnessing it, so it makes sense that the perception of dreams varies radically depending on who you ask. Porsche has found in this almost never ending concept the opportunity to create alongside artists and performers a brand new universe each time, with key design elements of the house working as a common thread between them. On this occasion, this element is the signature and iconic Peppita black and white pattern, born in the 1960s and used multiple times on the interiors of some of their most recognisable models of vehicles.
Taking the geometric, symmetric, and repetitive characteristics of this pattern, the international collective formed by Sven Jonke, Christoph Katzler, and Nikola Radeljkovi called Numen/For Use created an impressive interactive installation that filled the central open space of the Palazzo Clerici almost in its entirety. Working in the fields of industrial and spatial design, they are well-known for creating displays that involve an efficient use of the area where the pieces are located, building sorts of web-like constructions that become bridges between each wall and corner.
Here, with the piece called Lines of Flight, they are inviting the viewer to be part of the art piece and submerge themselves into it, just like how we dive into the world of dreams every night. They mention, “Our idea of a dream is an inhabitable utopia," and that's just what this art piece is. Made in black and white and acquiring different shapes depending on which side you look at it, it definitely feels closely connected to the pepitta pattern that serves as inspiration.
To emphasise the human element that needs to be an integral part of this installation, the experienced choreographers and performing artists Imre and Marne van Opstal staged a dance performance carried on by a team of eight skilled dancers, dressed in custom designs made by Alessandro Vigilante https://www.instagram.com/alessandrovigilante/, that engaged in a rhythmic and hypnotising choreography divided into two parts. The first one took place inside the same installation, with the dancers climbing, hanging, and tangling themselves with it, expressing the "complicated net comprising our thoughts, feelings, and relationships." The second part took place inside the Palazzo, in front of the iconic Porche 911, and making use of another key part of this project, the collaborative chairs made between Vitra and Porsche, where the memorable models of the chairs Eames, Petit Repos, and ID Trim L were infused with the Pepitta pattern's natural elegance.
Despite its irrefutable legacy and the already established cultural relevance of Porsche, their work and commitment to the art and the culture are truly admirable, with the interest in reaching and connecting with their clients in a deeper and more meaningful way increasing with each edition of The Art of Dreams. We already know the next stop of this journey is already in talks, and it won't be too long from now. We can't wait to see which new side of their dreams they will share with us next.
