Milan, an exhibition-game at the ADI Design Museum to learn about the history of design

Discover the history of design by playing. That is the goal of the exhibition-game Clocked. This is not an escape room. On the history of design, conceived and promoted by Circuito Lombardo Musei Design with the contribution of Fondazione Cariplo and in collaboration with ADI Design Museum, the venue of the exhibition. The idea behind the event is to present the public with a new, interactive, playful and experiential way of learning about the world of design and its protagonists. In line with the trends that see game design as a design tool that is also cultural, from Oct. 4 to 29, 2023, the basement of the Milan museum will be set up with sixteen of the most famous objects of Made in Italy design marking out a playground divided into stations, in which the playing public is called upon to discover the history of Italian design through a playful-investigative path that proceeds by clues to be interpreted and mysteries to be unveiled.

The scheme of the game, designed by Marta Palvarini, curator of the project, together with a team, moves along an ideal timeline that leads players by the hand along the history of Made in Italy design objects. The end of the story can only be reached by answering all the riddles exactly: each correct answer leads to the unraveling of the next stage and the possibility of reaching the end of the journey. In search of the many hidden (sometimes deceptive) clues at each station, players-publics can return to previous stations, observe and touch clues, and interact with the objects present unhinging the idea of “passive fruition” (so the organizers) that is often associated with museum visits.

The path-game takes place in teams of up to ten members who can show up at the museum already formed or make up on the spot with the help of the facilitators present. Indeed, among the aims of the project is to foster a collective experience of the museum space as opposed to more solitary and individual experiences.

The twofold goal proposed to the public is to have fun, testing themselves with investigative mini-games, and to reach the end of the path. Which is then that of Italian design, with its precious past, its lively present and a future yet to be written. This is why the game, in the organizers’ intentions, does not end with the experience at the ADI Design Museum, but encourages the public to continue to a later stage: at the end of the game in the Milanese museum, each participant will be provided with a personalized card to be completed by December 17 with three “missions” at 14 other museums and museum-archives of the Lombard Circuit. Having finished their card and solved the puzzles it contains, players will be given a mysterious “postcard from the future.” Finally, the game also continues online. Players can share clues, ideas and solutions by posting them on Instagram with the hashtag #clockedroom and following the project’s Instagram page @clocked_room.

The 14 design museums and museum-archives involved in the project are: Piero Bottoni Archives, SDF Historical Archives and SAME Museum, Giancarlo Iliprandi Association, Achille Castiglioni Foundation, Franco Albini Foundation, Vico Magistretti Studio Museum Foundation, Kartell Museum, MAC Museum of Contemporary Art Lissone, Molteni Museum, Fisogni Service Station Museum, Fratelli Cozzi Museum, Sewing Machine Museum, MUMAC Coffee Machine Museum of Gruppo Cimbali, and Officina Rancilio 1926.

The initiative was carried out as part of the “Museo Ludico” project funded by Fondazione Cariplo and with the support of Luceplan Srl, MUMAC Museo della Macchina del Caffè di Gruppo Cimbali, Poltrona Frau SpA, SDF Historical Archives and SAME Museum.

For all information you can visit the exhibition website.

Milan, an exhibition-game at the ADI Design Museum to learn about the history of design

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