For the entirety of the second week of June, Milan is in bloom as the city plays host to the renowned Milan Design Week, a celebration of art, design, fashion, and furniture. As visitors from across the world settle into the city for the fair, a dizzying array of parties and exhibitions crop up to capture the imagination of the public.
This year, Porsche, through its initiative The Art of Dreams, has launched a captivating installation in Milan. With the help of Berlin-based flower designers Studio Mary Lennox, the luxury car manufacturer put together an immersive exhibition at the Palazzo Clerici, a 17th-century neoclassical former residence in the center of the city.
Just beyond hallways adorned with ornate frescoes and tapestries, the Palazzo’s courtyard opens up to reveal a hedge maze of rose bushes, all sourced from across the Lombardy region. Attendees are invited to meander through the immersive installation where a custom soundtrack made by sound artist KMRU plays in the background. Every two hours, a special drone performance engineered by a team of 10 drone operators takes place.
Ruby Barber, who helms Studio Mary Lennox, was tasked with conjuring up the space in collaboration with Porsche. According to Barber, “The idea was to recreate a type of movement and suspension using the drones. Both nature and technology serve as inspiration to humans in our day and age, and I wanted to create a space where the two worlds meet and interact.”
Her botanical creations feel playful, imaginative, ethereal, and thought-provoking — a perfect match for Porsche’s global creative initiative, The Art of Dreams. Barber’s piece, titled “Everywhereness,” is Porsche’s second commissioned piece. Featured in the installation is a unique restoration of a 1972 Porsche 911 S 2.4 Targa that pays homage to 50 years of iconic Porsche Design.
The brand has a longstanding history of championing creative projects and this endeavor in Milan is no exception. As it turns out, cars and flowers have a lot more in common than one might think. As Barber so aptly said about her collaboration: “Porsche is an ambitious brand, and its initiative The Art of Dreams is a very unique project where creativity and dreaming big is encouraged and cultivated. Our studio is also very much about that — breaking the boundaries, always looking for the new challenge, and making dreams a reality."
Everywhereness is on view and open to the public at Palazzo Clerici until June 12.
