At Design Variations 2022 by MoscaPartners, the façade and the windows of the Circolo Filologico Milanese will be the backdrop for an installation that pays homage to the cultural heritage of the building through a play of contrasts with the austere liberty architecture.

This year’s edition features the work of Olimpia Zagnoli, internationally renowned artist and illustrator. Olimpia Zagnoli began her career when Italian and international publishing houses chose to print her illustrations with their intensely personal style made up of soft shapes and intense colours. She has worked with many magazines and book publishers including The New York Times, Taschen, La Repubblica, Penguin Books, Apartamento Magazine and in 2019 she created her first cover image for The New Yorker. While continuing to work on collaborations, Zagnoli also pursues on her own field of personal research which is built on visual experiments such as music videos, design objects and moving sculpture.

The artist presents the site-specific work Contemporary Caryatids, which plays on the concept of the caryatid of classical architecture, drawing parallels between the past and the present through the filter of the Circolo Filologico Milanese, the city’s oldest cultural association.

With Olimpia Zagnoli’s pop aesthetic and bold colour palette the anthropomorphic figures will alternate with elements that represent the world of design, celebrating human ingenuity and paying homage to the vocation of the city of Milan. The work will adorn the façade and arched windows of the building, with large abstract, cartoon-style silhouettes.

The installation Contemporary Caryatids was also made possible thanks to the collaboration of 3M, main partner of Design Variations 2022, the multinational company leader in technological and scientific solutions for a number of industries. 3M’s architectural finishes allow designers to completely re-imagine spaces providing a whole new range of creative possibilities.