WEEK IN REVIEW

GLOBAL INEQUALITIES TAKE CENTER STAGE AT TRIENNALE MILANO

Under the theme of Inequalities, the 24th International Exhibition of the Triennale Milano tackles one of the most pressing — and politically charged — issues of our time: the growing inequalities that shape our cities, societies, and individual lives. Bringing together artists, designers, curators, institutions, and universities from about 73 countries, the 2025 edition unfolds as a cultural map of the inequalities we inherit, perpetuate, and have the power to transform. This year's theme is addressed through a multitude of angles and projects, including Boonserm Premthada's Elephant Food House, which responds Thailand's growing crisis of elephant food scarcity due to deforestation and climate change; and Andrés Jaque's Transspecies Palace (pictured above), which blends design, biology, and activism in a microbial habitat designed to metabolize toxicity and repair damaged ecologies.

Alongside the thematic exhibitions, 19 International Participations offer localized perspectives on Inequalities, responding through architectural models, urban investigations, social design strategies, and cultural storytelling. Among them, the Polish Pavilion makes a case for rest, transforming into a sanctuary for both human and ecological bodies, exhausted by capitalism, climate crisis, and care work. 'Rest is not something to outsource to individual willpower,' curator Katarzyna Roj tells designboom. 'It’s something we need a policy for.’ Coinciding with the opening of the exhibition, Art for Tomorrow, organized by the Democracy & Culture Foundation, celebrated its 10th anniversary at the Triennale with a three-day conference around the theme of 'Overcoming, Together'. Leading voices from the cultural world, including Jeff Koons, Theaster Gates, Norman Foster and many more, shared their take on how creativity can address society’s most pressing challenges. In one of the talks, designboom unpacked the power of creative graphics and images in visualizing the most salient statistics about inequality – from income to gender to climate – with independent information designer Federica Fragapane, who is also participating in the Triennale with Shapes of Inequality. Explore everything taking place at the 24th International Exhibition until November 9, 2025, with designboom's ultimate guide here.

The weekly is an inside review curated by Sofia Lekka Angelopoulou.