On the occasion of its 30th anniversary, the Department of Design, together with the School and the Poli.Design Consortium here inaugurate  Philology | 1963-2023. 

Design Philology is at once a digital archive, a publishing palimpsest, and a platform for temporary exhibitions and hypertextual narratives. It is a multifaceted and open system that reflects the identity that has always characterized Italian design and its polytechnic component, capable of welcoming a multiplicity of visions and giving space to contributions that are at times even dialectical.. The project is based on a sophisticated digital infrastructure capable of organizing and giving access to documents, images, objects, and video testimonies. Philology Archive includes Timelines as well as curated Narratives.

Traces on the timeline 

Philology is based on a “philological” approach, meaning it lays its foundation in the reconstruction and understanding of history through concrete traces, primarily documents and texts - but also images, videos, and data - painstakingly collected and organized on a timeline that, by making the most of the potential of digital technology, may be explored in multiple dimensions. 

A living memory 

Philology is an open and dynamic infrastructure, meaning it presents itself as a digital archive system not oriented towards the “crystallization” of contents but rather to the possibility of being continually corrected and implemented, also exploiting the potential of the most current data-mining models in which the relationships between documents, events, places, and protagonists are more relevant than the single content.  

A story made up of many stories 

Philology supports the narrative dimension, meaning it embraces the possibility of anchoring narratives and testimonies to the timeline, itineraries that make room for the storytelling and in-depth analysis of different “curators” in a plural and multiple vision of history, inaugurated with the launch of seven narrative paths, that will eventually be integrated with the periodical addition of new ones.  

The past to look through the future 

Philology is accessible, meaning it can be enjoyed in a simple way, particularly by the new generations of researchers and designers both inside and outside the Politecnico, thus capturing the spirit of Renaissance philological research, in which the study of classical texts was not oriented towards their replication, but rather towards understanding their inspiring principles to be projected into a new vision of the future.

Do you have something to contribute?

Write to us at comunicazione@polimi.it

Scientific curators 

Paola Bertola, Giampiero Bosoni, Antonella Penati, Agnese Rebaglio

Project coordination

Agnese Rebaglio, with the support of Laura Carugati, Marta Cecchi, Annalinda De Rosa, Xue Pei 

Documentation research

Paola Bertola, Giampiero Bosoni, Barbara Camocini, Elena Caratti, Laura Carugati, Marta Elisa Cecchi, Luisa Collina, Clorinda Sissi Galasso, Davide Fassi, Maria Teresa Feraboli, Vincenzo Ficco, Luca Guerrini, Eleonora Lupo, Walter Mattana, Anna Meroni, Andrea Manciaracina, Antonella Penati, Giovanna Piccinno, Francesca Piredda, Agnese Rebaglio

Digital platform design

Marco Quaggiotto, Arianna Priori, with the support of Michele Mauri, Silvia Ferraris

Archive research and development

Marco Quaggiotto, Michele Mauri, Laura Carugati with the support of Walter Mattana

Digital platform development

Inmagik Srl

Graphic design and visual identity

Umberto Tolino, Marco Quaggiotto, Andrea Manciaracina, Arianna Priori

Communication coordination

Eleonora De Marchi for the Communication Office of the Department of Design

Video-testimonial design

Giampiero Bosoni, Barbara Camocini, Gabriele Carbone, Francesca Piredda, Andrea Manciaracina, Anna Meroni, with the support of Antonio Aiello, Martino Zinzone and with Mattia Fagnano, Giulia Di Gregorio, Michela Mattei, Andrea Taverna, Lucia Viganego, for Service Design Drinks

Video production

Gabriele Carbone for the Lab Immagine of the Department of Design

Voice

Valentina Auricchio

Exhibit ideation and design

Barbara Camocini, Raffaella Trocchianesi with the support of Laura Carugati, Emma Torreggiani

With the support of

Venanzio Arquilla, Valentina Auricchio, Matteo Bergamini, Ruben Calegari, Alba Cappellieri, Mauro Ceconello, Flaviano Celaschi, Manuela Celi, Paola Checchi, Mariano Chernicoff, Valeria Cima, Chiara Colombi, Simona Colombo, Barbara Colombo, Giovanni Conti, Luca Cosmai, Matteo Dall’Amico, Alessandro Deserti, Emanuela Di Stefano, Silvia Ferraris, Marinella Ferrara, Valeria Iannilli, Matteo Ingaramo, Iolanda Margiotta, Marzia Mortati, Martina Motta, Marina Parente, Stefania Palmieri, Silvia Piardi, Elisa Piccinni, Lucia Rampino, Lucia Ratti, Valentina Rognoli, Marzia Saitta, Claudio Scaccini, Anne Schoonbrodt, Marco Sedazzari, Francesco Scullica, Giuliano Simonelli, Gloria Sironi, Federica Vacca, Beatrice Villari, Francesco Zurlo

Video testimonial contributions by

Andrea Branzi, Ezio Manzini, Cesare Stevan

and alumni

Giulia Bassan, Alessandro Benedetti, Paolo Casati, Patrizio Cionfoli, Giovanni Colombara, Federico Elli, Gabriele Faoro, Francesco Franchi, Simon Giuliani, Giulia Grotto, Alessandro Manzi, Jessica Prunotto, Clara Romano, Giulia Salem, Anna Vezzali, Elena Vezzali, Marta Redigolo, Alice Casiraghi, Marco Chenhao Yang, Riccardo Agosto, Sara Biancaccio, Francesca Jakin, Ana Ospina Medina

Technical support

Archivi Storici Politecnico di Milano
Area Campus Life Politecnico di Milano
Area Public Engagement e Communication Politecnico di Milano
Lab Immagine from the Department of Design
Lab Prototipi from the Department of Design
Polifactory from the Department of Design

Design Philology project and Design Convivio exhibition are promoted and supported by the Department of Design at Politecnico di Milano as part of the "Design for Systemic Change" project, funded by Ministero dell’Università e Ricerca under the Departments of Excellence 2023-2027 program.