PREVIEW – MILAN DESIGN WEEK 2023
Hidden gems

Valentina Ciuffi and Joseph Grima launched the analogue platform "Alcova" in 2018, a new exhibition concept during Milan Design Week that always takes place in enchanted places and was explored by around 60,000 visitors last year.
 Valentina Ciuffi is the founder of the multidisciplinary Studio Vedèt, Joseph Grima is co-founder of the design research studio Space Kaviar and creative director of the Design Academy Eindhoven. In 2018, Alcova debuted in the ruins of a former panettone factory (Cova & G Bakery) north of Central Station, and in parallel in 2019 in a former 1930s cashmere spinning mill, Alcova Sassetti.

Esther Strerath: Alcova has moved and, after being present twice in a former military hospital, will once again take place in a previously unknown location. Did you want to change the location?

Valentina Ciuffi: Yes, we wanted something new. It's in our DNA to change things, to unveil new places, and it's part of our job to organise exhibitions whose venues change. We are now in the "Ex-Macello", in former slaughterhouses at Porta Vittoria, much closer to the centre, nine minutes by taxi from the Duomo.

How did you find the "ex-Macello"?

Valentina Ciuffi: Joseph and I often wander around Milan without a fixed destination and are both fascinated by abandoned, forgotten places in the city. The first year, 2018, it was a private place, an ex-panettone factory that belonged to a bakery. It was an amazing, haunted place, with a huge, unthinking arch. Every other day we went to the pastry shop of the owners, who had absolutely no idea what we were aiming for there. We were very insistent about that - that's also part of our DNA. Today, by the way, we have our office there nearby. We discovered the butcher's shop four years ago, but at that time the location was not available. Sometimes it is complicated to find the owners. But we were in love with the area and at some point we found out that the city of Milan was in contact with the owners. In fact, it belongs to a company that is planning a school, social housing and a museum there. In the interim phase, we are allowed to work there.

How did the name "Alcova" come about, which could perhaps be translated as niche?

Valentina Ciuffi: The panettone factory was called Cova, but we were not allowed to use that name at the time, we came to derive Alcova from it. There we had 3000 square metres of rampant greenery, without a roof, but with an intimate atmosphere. We still show "hidden gems". Baggio, the grounds of the hospital, was well known, but the part we played on, no one had ever seen before. Likewise, the slaughterhouses with their 15 hectares, which we now partly play on. And the percentage of young designers also outweighs the total of 90 exhibitors.

Are there basic requirements that exhibitors at Alcova have to fulfil? And, if so, are they subject to contemporary trends?

Valentina Ciuffi: No, Alcova is a platform and we would like to give mature projects the chance to be seen. But it's not a show that we curate. Every person who is there has their own passion, research, their own project that they have been working on for at least a year. At the end of the day, it is space for rent. Nevertheless, we are selective. Around 1000 proposals reached us for 2023. We select what is in line with our interests. That can be innovation in terms of a material, or a manufacturing process, an aesthetic, or in terms of sustainability, even though I don't like the word because it is used inflationarily. And sometimes the projects are just beautiful.

This year, for the first time, there will be a curated area alongside the exhibitions, what will be shown there?

Valentina Ciuffi: Yes, we call it Alcova Project Space. Here we decided not to rent. It's a big investment for us and completely crazy in terms of budget, considering that we have to bring electricity, light, water there. In this zone we curate and the exhibitors were invited by us. The space will continue to exist after Milan Design Week. There are three themes there: "Digital Ornamentalism", the post-apocalyptic "After Party" and "Argumented Nature", which refers to super-natural materials.

Sounds very complex.

Valentina Ciuffi: True, maybe it's better if we don't curate. (laughs)

In 2018, 20 designers/companies exhibited in Alcova, today there are around 90. Milan can also be quite merciless. Lambrate has failed, Tortona is hardly exciting any more. How do you protect yourself against exhaustion?

Valentina Ciuffi: We are in motion. You have to take into account that the projects that died have died richer than we are. 
They destroyed all the energy of the district. The reason it didn't look good in the end is that the organisers couldn't take over every single place, both in Tortona and in Ventura. There, the shops in the neighbourhood were then able to organise exhibitions themselves. So the quality dropped quite quickly. Perhaps something similar will soon be said about Alcova. But we will never lose our soul. We have never published an "open call" on the internet. Basically, we remain as we were at the beginning. We select, we try to make solo exhibitions possible, we put a lot of energy into finding the right place for each project. It's not going to be perfect. And it never was. Next year, however, we have to get bigger to make sure we are the only ones to play this place, which will be demolished afterwards.

Will there be an Alcova outside Milan in the future?

Valentina Ciuffi: We are working on it, very concretely. It will be in a city, next to a fair, where young design reality cannot be represented. Our format works when we work collateral to a big exhibition. Of course, in this other city we will start small again. We are still a tiny, independent team of not even five people.

Which exhibitions will you see during Milan Design Week?

Valentina Ciuffi: The Nilufar Depot, where I curate an exhibition, and also the annex in Via della Spiga. In any case, I'm visiting the Triennale, as well as the shows by Nicolas Lecompte, Robert Stadler, Bitossi. Drop City sounds exciting. It's a long list. I think we're going to have a good Milan design week!

Alcova
Ex Macello
Viale Molise, 62
20137 Milan

Opening hours:
17 to 23 April 2023
11 a.m. to 7 p.m., last admission at 6 p.m.
Free admission

Materials Bar:
19, 21, 22 and 23 April 2023.
7 to 9 pm