The exhibition, designed by Tspoon studio, pays tribute to one of the most influential figures in Italian and international architecture and design of the late 20th and early 21st centuries, with the first major monographic exhibition covering her entire career, which spanned over sixty years.
From May 22, 2024, to January 12, 2025, Triennale Milano will present the exhibition Gae Aulenti (1927-2012), organized in collaboration with the Gae Aulenti Archive and curated by Giovanni Agosti along with Nina Artioli, director of the Gae Aulenti Archive, and Nina Bassoli, curator for Architecture, Urban Regeneration, and Cities at Triennale.
Practical info
“Gae Aulenti”
From May 22, 2024 – January 12, 2025
Triennale di Milano
Viale Emilio Alemagna, 6, Milano
Italy
Triennale Milano has been closely tied to Gae Aulenti’s creative journey more than any other institution, as it was here that her career began in the early 1950s, and it was here that she returned on October 16, 2012, to receive the Gold Medal for Lifetime Achievement for her contribution to Italian architecture.
The exhibition offers a concise yet spectacular review of her personal and professional journey, with a particular focus on the intersections between architecture and other arts, as well as culture and politics. Rather than a simple display of drawings, projects, prototypes, models, and photographs—which will also be present—the exhibition aims for a comprehensive rethinking through life-size reconstructions of segments of Gae Aulenti’s works.
The selection focuses on a range of typologies (exhibition and museum designs, private homes, showrooms, subway stations, theater sets), creating a sequence of environments that visitors can explore. These interconnected spaces are designed to reflect her life’s work, marked by consistency, loyalty, but also detours and departures. The journey starts with the reconstruction of her work Arrivo al mare from the 1960s, originally seen and awarded at Triennale in 1964, and ends with a fragment from the small Perugia airport (2007-2011), named after St. Francis, where the architectural elements are painted in the red favored by Gae Aulenti.
The exhibition is accompanied by editorial products published by Electa, including a guide illustrating the spaces and projects, a deck of cards representing Gae Aulenti’s various connections, and a catalog set to be released in the fall. The catalog, richly illustrated and based on firsthand documents, offers a biographical reconstruction that aims to elevate her story from mere chronicles to history.
The exhibition is supported by partners like Regione Umbria, the Umbria Chamber of Commerce, Martinelli Luce, technical partner iGuzzini, media partner IGP Decaux, and design and architecture partner Idealista, as well as institutional partners Lavazza Group and Salone del Mobile.Milano.
