The first edition of BIG Biennale Internazionale Grafica, the festival dedicated to communication design and visual cultures, will take place in Milan from May 23 to 26, 2024
Conceived and curated by Francesco Dondina, under the patronage of the City of Milan, Aiap Italian Association of Visual Communication Design, Agi Alliance Graphique Internationale, ADCI Art Directors Club Italiano and AIS Design, the first edition of BIG, Biennale Internazionale Grafica, the festival dedicated to communication design and visual cultures will be held in Milan from May 23 to 26, 2024.
A result of the experience of the Milan Graphic Festival 2022, BIG will take place every two years, have an international profile and a new format. Among exhibitions, installations, talks, events and social projects with free admission, the festival will develop from the main hub of the Milano Certosa District and in the institutional headquarters of the ADI Design Museum spreading throughout the city in collaboration with important Milanese cultural institutions and entities, from museums to galleries, from schools to universities, up to archives, graphic studios and bookstores, and also beyond Milan thanks to the important partnership with Graphic Days Torino.
There will also be numerous Italian and international guests, who will be protagonists of moments of in-depth study and research dedicated to professionals, students and enthusiasts, including Franco Achilli, Silvana Amato, Luca Barcellona, Jonathan Barnbrook, Francesca Bazzurro, Ruedi Baur, Matteo Bologna, Stefano Cipolla, James Clough, Ben Ditto, Anna Dusi, Andrej Krátky, Matteo Bologna, Andrea Fabrizii, Emilio Fioravanti, Federica Fragapane, Francesco Franchi, Alice Guarnieri, Claude Marzotto, Sergio Menichelli, Armando Milani, Sina Otto – Monotype, Mario Piazza, Massimo Pitis, Nicolas Rouvier, Maia Sambonet, Guido Scarabottolo, Marta Sironi, Carlo Stanga and many more.
BIG Biennale Internazionale Grafica: goals and horizons
The goal of BIG Biennale Internazionale Grafica is to promote visual communication design also and above all outside the closed circle of insiders, to make the general public have a correct perception of the discipline and its role.
To do so, BIG addresses a series of cross-disciplinary topics fostering opportunities for discussion and debate: from urban redevelopment to the environment, from gender identity to education, with a special focus on the city, youth and sustainability. This event aims to activate virtuous relationships between design culture and business culture and, finally, to enhance research paths addressed to the social sphere.
The projects in the Milano Certosa District and at the ADI Design Museum
The nerve center of the event will be the Milano Certosa District – a district characterized by an important ongoing urban regeneration project – and the headquarters of the ADI Design Museum – created
around the historical Collection of the Compasso d’Oro Award. Graphic design studios, cultural entities and industry professionals will be involved in exhibition projects rediscovering iconic works by leading international designers, creatively reusing waste from the Mediterranean Sea, combining a passion for music with a passion for graphic design, exploring the link between visual design and business or bringing to light projects that have never been realized.
Moroever, the Certosa District will host talks and moments of research and reflection with Italian and international protagonists such as Luca Barcellona, Jonathan Barnbrook, Ben Ditto, Andrea Fabrizii, Luca
Giulio Ferreccio, Federica Fragapane, Andrej Krátky, Armando Milani, Patrizia Moschella, Sina Otto –
Monotype, Nicolas Rouvier, and many others.
The program also includes are several social projects, carried out in collaboration with local communities and educational and rehabilitation institutions. Many of these, not surprisingly, come to life in the regenerated spaces of the Milano Certosa District, a reality that in its transformation path pays special attention to the values of inclusion, sense of community and social services.
BIG’s social projects promote the use of visual languages as a vehicle for learning and as a tool for expressing one’s subjectivity and act in the areas of neighborhood identity and preschool.
Moreover, BIG Biennale Internazionale Grafica will also take place in the metropolitan city thanks to the active participation of museums, foundations, archives, schools and universities, which present exhibitions, installations, events and special projects, and bookstores such as Hoepli, which, during the festival, will be the hub for publishing.
BIG + Graphic Days Torino
With the aim of spreading the culture of visual design nationwide, for its first edition, BIG establishes a virtuous collaboration with the Graphic Days festival in Turin, scheduled from May 16 to 26, through a mutual exchange of initiatives and projects, particularly with the SIGNS exhibition and the exhibition dedicated to the Neologia call.
AIAP, the Italian Association of Visual Communication Design
BIG Biennale Internazionale Grafica 2024 sees the active participation of AIAP, the Italian Association of Visual Communication Design, to support initiatives aimed at promoting communication design and enhancing the excellence of the Association, through the AWDA and AIAP Community exhibitions, scheduled at the Certosa District hub.
Hoepli’s call for graphic designers under 30
Moreover, on the occasion of BIG, Hoepli is launching a call for graphic designers under 30 to start a new publishing collaboration. This is the second edition of the Hoepli Graphic Contest, which in its first edition saw three winners.
The jury, composed of Fabrizio Falcone (type designer), Laura Gorini (Hoepli editor), Claude Marzotto and Maia Sambonet (òbelo studio), will evaluate the applications and select a winner to design a new manual for the Hoepli catalog with the aim of innovating the design approach while staying true to the founding spirit of the publishing house, which has always been committed to publishing texts for personal and professional training. The winner of the competition will be announced during studio òbelo’s talk at the ADI Design Museum.
For the full schedule of the festival please visit www.biennaleinternazionalegrafica.com
Below, images from Milano Graphic Festival 2022
