Unknown Unknowns: An Introduction to Mysteries

The 23rd Triennale Milano International Exhibition Unknown Unknowns. An Introduction to Mysteries opens on July 15 and runs until December 11, 2022. It addresses the theme of the unknown, asking questions about the mysteries of the known world, and opening up a discussion concerning the issue of what we do not know that we don’t know.

Unknown Unknowns takes the form of a constellation of exhibitions, installations and projects and brings together 400 artists, designers, and architects from more than 40 countries; 23 international participations, with a strong presence on the part of the continent of Africa, represented by 6 national pavilions (Burkina Faso, Ghana, Kenya, Lesotho, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Rwanda).

The main curators of the manifestation are Ersilia Vaudo, astrophysicist and Chief Diversity Officer at the European Space Agency, and Francis Kéré, architect and the winner of the 2022 Pritzker Architecture Prize.

“Unknown Unknowns does not aim to gradually conquer the vast territory that is beyond our knowledge. It aims rather to explore it with the attitude of those who choose first of all the challenge of empathy, the exclusively human ability to see with the eyes of the other living beings and to map the confines of the contemporary unknown from these varied perspectives. The 23rd International Exhibition offers a new perspective on the unknown: from the most distant universe of dark matter, from the bottom of the oceans at the origin of our consciousness. What we do not know that we do not know is not the realization of a limit, but the perception of a form of knowledge that respects the unknown, sometimes embracing it, sometimes crossing it, sometimes eluding it. But always accepting it as a constant presence in our life,” states Stefano Boeri, President of Triennale Milano.

In line with the tradition of Triennale’s International Exhibitions, the 23rd edition includes the thematic exhibition, curated by Ersilia Vaudo, and a section dedicated to international participations, invited under the auspices of the Bureau International des Expositions, through government channels.

The thematic exhibition is the nerve center of the manifestation and presents more than a hundred works, projects and installations by international artists, researchers and designers dealing with the unknown. It addressess a series of themes including: gravity, seen as “the greatest designer,” an artisan that tirelessly shapes the universe to which we belong; maps, systems by which trajectories and routes are determined; the new challenges facing architecture, that is opening itself up to brand new prospects such as how to live in extraterrestrial space; and, ultimately, the mysteries linked to deep space.

The thematic exhibition includes four special commissions that Triennale has handed to the Japanese designer Yuri Suzuki, the Italian designer Irene Stracuzzi, the US architects’ and designers’ collective SOM, and the Turkish-American artist Refik Anadol. Moreover, the show displays a series of site-specific installations, including those produced by Andrea Galvani, Bosco Sodi, Protey Temen, Julijonas Urbonas, Marie Velardi and the adaptation of a work of Tomás Saraceno.

Francis Kéré curated four installations, placed in the common areas of Triennale, that are dedicated to the images and voices of the African continent, including Future’s Present, a 12-mt high tower that stands in front of Triennale entrance. 

The 23rd International Exhibition also hosts two major exhibitions: Mondo Reale, conceived by Hervé Chandès, General Artistic Director of the Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain, and La tradizione del nuovo, curated by Marco Sammicheli, Director of Triennale’s Museo del Design Italiano. There is also a series of installations and special projects involving the art historians Giovanni Agosti and Jacopo Stoppa, the musician and writer Francesco Bianconi, the philosopher Emanuele Coccia, the researcher and lecturer Ingrid Paoletti, the artist and Triennale Grand Invité for 2021-2024 Romeo Castellucci, and a master of architecture and design, Andrea Branzi with the architect Lapo Lani.

The whole program is available on triennale.org.