OMA/AMO's new exhibition "lR100-Rinascente: Stories of Innovation" at la Rinascente, Italy delves into the department store’s century long creative history, presented in a multi-layered context through a series of different visual and physical experiences.

Led by OMA Partner Ippolito Pestellini Laparelli, the exhibition of the lR100-Rinascente: Stories of Innovation was developed to mark the la Rinascente's 100th anniversary and developed with the Milan City Council and Palazzo Reale - OMA/AMO's new exhibition will be on view at Palazzo Reale from 24 May to 24 September 2017.

Image © Agostino Osio  

"Since its early years, la Rinascente has stood out as a laboratory for experimentation. The department store became an influential part of the Italian economic and cultural scene, changing the public’s perception of the relationship between culture, design and commerce," stated OMA/AMO. 

Image © Agostino Osio 

OMA/AMO conceived the exhibition as a living archive that invites the visitor to discover a sequence of wonders. The exhibition is presented through a series of different visual and physical experiences, interrogating the logic of a department store. 

From industrial design to fashion, art to communication, illustrious collaborations to a never fulfilled search for innovation, each of the 12 rooms at Palazzo Reale will display multiple scenographies and outline a different aspect of the production of the first and only department store of Italy. 

Image © Agostino Osio 

Additionally, OMA/AMO has designed eight window installations at la Rinascente which reference the exhibition. They will be on display during the first two weeks following the opening.

To dig into the essence of a department store in the fast-changing digital world, OMA/AMO asks some major questions to move forward - What is a department store? What is its role in different urban contexts? How has the digital revolution affected the practice and particularities of its shopping environment? 

Image © Lorenzo Palmieri

"These questions are at the core of recent debates on the future of retail. They resonate among both fashion and architecture historians, and reverberate also through other disciplines – art, design, cinema, theater – to name few, mirroring larger questions of geo-political history and economy," detailed the studios.

For this exhibition, OMA/AMO adds that there is no precise answer to such questions as there is no way to reduce the notion of "department store" to a single statement. A department store is rather a diverse collection of values and identities, expressing the history of the city it belongs to. More than a place, a department store is an open and adaptable cultural canvas of its location, whether it be London, Paris, New York, Tokyo or Milan.

Image © Agostino Osio 

"Today, after the first appearance in XIX Paris more than 150 years ago, at a turning point of the digital evolution, department stores are the ideal lab to reimagine our physical relationships to products, cities and our everyday context in general."

"La Rinascente is no exception to this tradition. Established in 1917 to replace and renew Magazzini Bocconi with the fire-proof baptism of D’Annunzio, its relentless creative history is both a symbol and evidence of the vibrant Milanese culture, one that has constantly seen the relationship with industry and commerce as an opportunity for daring experimentation and research."

Image © Agostino Osio 

OMA/AMO's historical exhibition examines the store’s history and archive, discovering its heroes, from Dudovich to Ponti, Huber to Munari; understanding its leaders, from the 50-year long direction by Borletti - Brustio to the current management; and decoding its design language and graphic identity. Unfolding the history of fashion and commerce reveals a new perspective on the history of Italy as a whole.

Image © Lorenzo Palmieri

The studios created a collage of identities rather than forming a coherent journey - which echoes the same logic of a department store and presents the many aspects that made la Rinascente a crucial example in the history of European department stores.

"The history of la Rinascente is the story of the people who made it (management, creatives and clients), and the story of their ambition to connect art to life," added OMA/AMO.

Image © Agostino Osio 

Image © Agostino Osio 

Image © Agostino Osio 

Image © Agostino Osio 

Top image © Agostino Osio 

> via OMA/AMO