TROUBLE MAKING_Who Is Making the City?
An Exhibition on Mass Phenomena and Virtual Networks Shaping our Cities
A project by Raumplan for BASE Milano on the occasion of Milano Design Week 2018

"In a time when the discipline of city planning is increasingly beleaguered, who are the players and what are the processes that really “make a city”? This is the question that Raumplan addresses to the authors of the six works that constitute the exhibition. The answers articulate different interpretations elaborating on six themes involving the urban dimension. The contributions on show examine the consequences and impact of the huge flows of capital, data, goods and tourists on the city and people’s lives. Apparently independent phenomena that run parallel—home sharing, platform capitalism, mass tourism, the internet of things, advanced logistics and gig economy—seem to converge in a cohesive economic model which in turn shapes the urban and domestic spheres. The conflict between flows and places, between virtual and real worlds, between planning and proliferation, is redefining the cities by changing environments, power balances and the way people interact within the city itself."

The exhibition design of Trouble Making relies on the careful placement of few simple elements. A curved wall of corrugated steel and a circular curtain of PVC - together with minor elements such as custom made mirror and aluminium stools of different shapes - inject unexpected tension within the pristine industrial hall of BASE allowing for different, unpredictable spatial conditions for each contributor.