Everyday Experiments at Milan Triennale

Between 1866 and 1868, a tenth of the Finnish population died from starvation as summer frost destroyed farmers’ crops. Today, Finland ranks among the richest and happiest countries in the world. This comfort comes at a cost, though. If everyone around the world lived like the average Finnish consumer, the resources of nearly four planet Earths would be needed.

Bearing in mind this contradiction of caring for nature while acting against it, ‘Everyday Experiments’ presents twelve experimental projects that address and raise debates around real-life demands such as: the need for more sustainable lifestyles; the growth of Arctic tourism; the relationships of policymaking and civic life; or the rights of indigenous communities.

Design cannot understand or solve complex problems on its own. In order to achieve societal change, it must join forces with the natural sciences, social sciences, technology, craft, policy-making and activism. Each project presented in ‘Everyday Experiments’ challenges the boundaries between design and other disciplines, each in their own way.

‘Everyday Experiments’ does not present design as the outcome of individual designers, therefore, but as an intrinsic part of the many activities that take place within and between institutions, organisations and communities. Above all, the exhibition invites visitors to think about some of the everyday human-to-human and human-to-nature actions that we can take in pursuit of a sustainable and equal society.