MATTER: Since its founding in 1933, the Triennale has focused its activity on "fostering the growth of the 'culture of design.'"  How exactly does it do this? And how has this role evolved over the years?

Davide Rampello: La Triennale di Milano, born in 1933 as an International Exhibition of modern decorative and industrial arts, is a unique institution in the world, for its research is not only about design, it concerns all visual arts, including music, theatre, and cinema.

After the war it hosted a major debate on design, the one that in 1954 gave birth to the name “industrial design” and throughout the 70’s and 80’s it has been the absolute protagonist of the design world. Today it is the place for the research of contemporary in all its complexity and it keeps the pace with the evolution of the idea of design, which is not only industrial design anymore, but a culture of design.

MATTER: Without a doubt, the history of design is inextricably linked to Italy, and in particular, to the city of Milan.  What do you see as the state of design and manufacturing in Italy?  And what role does the Triennale play in fostering Italian design in particular?

DR: Up until now the condition of the Italian design system continues to be fine: small and medium industries are absolutely at the leading edge for research and technological innovation. The same can be said for the artisanship operating in the world of design, which is constantly up-to-date. It’s necessary, however, [for there to be] a constant renewal in the workshops and in the technological centres, for us to keep a close eye on the productive infrastructure, trying to help in this period of profound crisis.

The Triennale, in this, plays a leading role, because rather than being isolated, it tries to create a layer within the productive infrastructure, industries, universities, and chambers of commerce.

MATTER: The Triennale has a long history of supporting research. Later this year, Material ConneXion will move its Milan Library to Triennale Bovisa, continuing this legacy. What do you see as the role of innovative materials in design? And why is it important for the Triennale to have materials research within the institution’s walls?

DR: One of the Triennale’s souls is research. Hosting Material Connexion is a great opportunity. Today materials are the base on which we can start to design even more than before. Materials are the real and sensible result of the human daily research in the domain of making and of thinking

MATTER: You’ve recently undertaken a strategy of global expansion. What is your global vision for the Triennale? And what role do you see the Triennale playing abroad?

DR: I think that today Italy and Europe need to move into the strategic markets in the traditional ways of communication and commerce. It is necessary to have Italian areas, where we can represent the Italian way of life, that complex network that relates design objects made using modern technologies, with the notion of time and tradition that only we Italians have.

I think that Triennale is, among all the cultural institutions, the one that best represents this way of life and this culture through exhibitions, furniture, food etc.

MATTER: Why do you feel it is important to bring the Triennale to the U.S., in particular, to New York?

DR: We are opening Triennale NYC in a well distinguished venue on 53rd street. [It will be in] a 2000 sq/m space just in front of MoMa, one of the foremost contemporary art museums in the world. We are trying, with the architects Pierluigi Cerri, Michele De Lucchi and Alessandro Colombo to realize an astounding place, with a 1000 sq/m gallery, a chic and refined shop and bookshop and an excellent restaurant with a great and accurate offer. Every detail will be attentively checked in order to offer to the New York audience a site capable to render harmoniously all these features.

DR: I think that more than referring to major exhibitions it would be interesting to say that we opened the Triennale to a new series of themes. As I said before, the Triennale’s strength resides in the ability to represent the cultural complexity of our society. Art and design, but even social matters and the contradictions presented by our society.

MATTER: What will the Triennale present in the next few months?

DR: The new interpretation of Triennale Design Museum, an intense programme of contemporary art exhibitions and, in the autumn of 2011, a major exhibition dedicated to Arte Povera. Curated by Germano Celant, this multi-space exhibition will be held simultaneously in different major Italian museums and cultural institutions in the cities of Bologna, Milan, Naples, Rome and Turin.

This initiative centers on the movement introduced in 1967, and aims to present the historical and contemporary developments of these artists’ research on a national and international scale, while distributing the various phases and the individual linguistic moments in different spaces, from MAXXI in Rome to the Venaria Reale in Turin, and MaDRE in Naples to MAMbo in Bologna and the Triennale di Milano.

Among the other projects, a mention of honor needs to be reserved to the rearrangement of the Teatro dell’Arte, a theatre that returns under the Triennale control after fifteen years and the completion of the internationalization process.

MATTER: If you could present anything at the Triennale, your absolute dream – in any form, be it visual or physical, such as an exhibition, or pure dialogue, i.e. a conference  – what would it be?

DR: [I would] create an exhibition that could be able to show the real genius born and raised in Italy, starting from the ancient cultures and crossing all the history of this country.