What? A homage to Alessandro Mendini by Philippe Starck

The French creator has invited Soundwalk Collective in his project, a collective of artists and musicians founded by Stephan Crasneanscki and internationally acclaimed for their concept albums, sound installations and live performances, often in collaboration with artists, musicians and writers, including, recently, Jean-Luc Godard, Nan Goldin and Patti Smith.
Triennale and Fondation Cartier have collaborated with Philippe Starck on several occasions, and some of his works are part of Triennale's permanent collection and have been featured in many exhibitions. Starck has also collaborated with the Fondation Cartier since the beginning of the institution's life, participating to one of its first exhibitions, Vivre en couleur (1985).

Alessandro Mendini
Alessandro Mendini (1931-2019), architect, designer, artist and critic, was born in Milan. He was one of the theorists and instigators behind the renewal of Italian design. His interests lay in writing and theorizing as well as designing, and he edited the magazines Casabella (1970-1976), Modo (1977-1981) and Domus (1980- 1985; 2010-2011). Monographs have been published in several languages on his work and on the projects he worked on with Alchimia. He created a fairytale world of objects, furniture, environments, paintings and architecture. He collaborated with international companies and was a consultant for various industries, including in Asia. He was an honorary member of the Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design in Jerusalem, and received three Compasso d'Oro awards for design (1979, 1981, 2014); he was made a Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres in France, and was awarded an honorary title by the Architectural League of New York, as well as the European Prize for Architecture 2014 in Chicago. He received four honorary degrees from Milan, Paris, Wroclaw in Poland and Seoul in South Korea. Works by Mendini can be found in many museums and private collections. His body of work seems to have two souls: one that is solitary and introverted and the other devoted to group activities. Many of his works were created alone, in fact, but many also with groups that he set up. He founded the Mendini Workshop in 1989 together with his brother, architect Francesco Mendini, with whom he designed the Museum of Groningen in Holland, the Art Stations of the Naples Metro in Italy and various public and private buildings in Europe and Asia.

Philippe Starck
Philippe Starck, world famous creator with multifaceted inventiveness, is always focused on the essential. His vision is that creation, whatever form it takes, must improve the lives of as many people as possible. This philosophy has made him one of the pioneers and central figures of the concept of "democratic design". By employing his prolific work across all domains, from everyday products (furniture, a citrus squeezer, electric bikes, an individual wind turbine), to architecture (hotels, restaurants that aspire to be stimulating places) and naval and spatial engineering (yachts, habitation module for private space tourism), he continually pushes the boundaries and requirements of design, becoming one of the most visionary and renowned creators of the international contemporary scene.

Soundwalk Collective
Soundwalk Collective is the contemporary sonic arts platform of founder and artist Stephan Crasneanscki and producer Simone Merli. Working with a rotating constellation of artists and musicians, they develop site- and context-specific sound projects through which to examine conceptual, literary or artistic themes. Evolving along multi-disciplinary lines, Soundwalk Collective has cultivated long- term creative collaborations with musician Patti Smith, late director Jean-Luc Goddard, photographer Nan Goldin, choreographer Sasha Waltz, and actress and singer Charlotte Gainsbourg, among others. In doing so, their practice engages in the narrative potential of sound across mediums such as art installations, dance, music and film. A unique artistic approach to sound ties together the different forms in which Soundwalk Collective work. Whether in original composition or the use of archival recordings, they treat sound as material that is both tactile and poetic. This allows them to create layered narratives that address ideas of memory, time, love and loss.