Sostenibilità is Particle’s second interconnected ecosystem exploring the global theme of sustainability and its common threads across industries and different communities. At present, the exhibition has three types of advocates for sustainability – digital artists, designers, and university students. Each discipline brings a unique sensitivity and practice to foster collaborations giving rise to three distinct projects: the Social Furniture design competition, the Veleni design collection and its exhibition, and a digital art exhibition exploring human-to-machine relationships.

The fil rouge across the above projects and nascent projects is their exploration of climate change. The perceptual experiences around the projects coalesce into a more complete context and understanding of sustainability.

Sostenibilità envisions a conversational framework between art, design, government, academia, business and science, fostered and enriched by a series of talks as a public program supported by the Italian Embassy in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Students' Diary is a series of free flow conversations between students to disentangle major issues and topics from the eyes of the younger generation.

SOS Talks (Sensitivity of Sustainability) is a series of events that involves two high-level professionals, expert in their fields. Each talk explores the encounter of two opposite positions, views, sectors, cultures.

Developed by Particle with the support of the Embassy of Italy in Kuala Lumpur, Social Furniture is a design competition that calls for new ideas to rethink how waste plastic can be reshaped into social furniture using circular design thinking. The competition was free to enter for students and recent alumni from any country in the world and has a total prize money of €6,500.

The ten best proposals have been published in a showcase and are promoted as part of the "Sostenibilità" project. Three projects have been selected as finalists and have started the design refinement process with the support of the designer duo L+W and the tech partner Sculptur as mentors. These are: "Freshly Brewed Seat" by RUFA students, "Stairs" by IAAD students and "Little Great Things" by Domus Academy students. Among the three podium projects, "Little Great Things" has been elected by the jury as the winner of the Social Furniture competition. Furthermore, "Üta", a project by students from the same design school, Domus Academy, won the Particle Prize.

Thanks to the support of RUFA, BASE Milano and the Portuguese coffee brand Bellissimo, Freshly Brewed Seat has been prototyped and exhibited at Milan Design Week 2022 in the heart of the Tortona district.

Within the larger ecosystem of Sostenibilità, Social Furniture aims at raising the voice of young designers on the sustainability issue, offering opportunities for cross-cultural exchanges and international project exposure.

VELENI is a Particle project that was presented to audiences from 14th to 19th June 2022 at Curio Design Miami/ in Basel.

Can the visual and direct language of design serve as a wake-up call to lead us towards a more sustainable lifestyle?

The tableware collection designed by the creative duo Lanzavecchia + Wai, with a curatorial text by Maria Cristina Didero, plays with proportions and volumes, allowing one to visualize the pollutants produced by our lives and by our system to make ourselves aware of human impact on Earth. The substances encapsulated within the objects are colored and attractive to the eye, but what are they actually?

Digital interactions and elements integrate the physical objects to create a strong public engagement, enhancing its experience and awareness of sustainability with a Particle touch.

During Design Miami/ the collection was exhibited in a booth with a neutral visual design to focus the attention on the objects, where the visitor will experience an innovative, multidisciplinary and multi-thematic journey.

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What would we like to sustain and for whom?

Disturbing The Balance is a phygital project produced by Particle, with the support of BASE Milano and A.S. Watson Group, that investigates the relationship between humans, environment and technology.

Disturbing The Balance is a digital exhibition by ://ftp (Marialaura Ghidini and Gaia Tedone), with artworks by IOCOSE, Joana Moll, Sultana Zana and Mark Ramos + Ziyang Wu, imagined and tailored art experience for the Particle app, complemented by an interactive experience in the spaces of BASE Milano.

ONLINE | Through the Particle app and thanks to an environment created by Sultana Zana (online from September 13th 2022), digital visitors are invited to discover the works of the 5 artists, delve into their contents and be part of a contemporary familiar narrative, bringing its risks into our awareness: the fragility of our environment and ecosystems, the controversial role of humankind and technology, the processes and often paradoxes we establish.

ON VIEW | From September 13th to 17th 2022, in the cultural hub BASE Milano, the digital exhibition is articulated into interactive experiences where visitors engage with stimuli, appeals and call-to-actions, starting from the works themselves. The physical reality serves the digital reality (and not the other way around, as it is often the case). Visitors encounter traces of the digital project inside the exhibition space. In addition, a public program of initiatives will animate the days of the exhibition, with artist and partner talks, workshops for everyone and moments designed to bring together diverse audiences.

Download the press kit to discover the full program.