'Open Sky' in a Milan Courtyard
John Hill, Jenny Keller
19. April 2018
Photo: Lance Gerber
The world of design is focused on Milan this week. As part of the Salone del Mobile, COS's Open Sky installation doesn't reflect a person's new clothes. Instead it mixes the beauty of the Milanese sky with the historic architecture of the Palazzo Isimbardi.
Situated in the courtyard of the Palazzo Isimbardi on Corso Monforte, Open Sky is all about reflections and reinterpretations. "The installation was created in direct response to its location at Palazzo Isimbardi," says artist Philipp K. Smith III, who adds, "the changes in the built and the natural environment are manifested through shifts in light and the passage of time." Smith, who has a bachelor's degree in architecture, placed a mirrored semicircle in the courtyard of the 16th-century building to reflect fragments of the building or sky depending on one's angle and location.
Open Sky was created for the clothing manufacturer COS, which has created an installation each year since 2012 to tap into the hype swirling around the Salone Del Mobile.