From Dizzying Swirls To Icebergs: 3 Must-See Immersive Installations At Brera, Fuorisalone 2025

Explore Brera’s immersive installations lineup at Fuorisalone 2025, from surrealist swirls to crystalline sculptures that blur the lines between art, technology, and mystique for a celebration of ingenuity.

Save Article
  • 7 Apr '25
  • 3:39 pm by Simran Almeida

Beyond being a cultural phenomenon that sets the pulse for global design trends, Salone Del Mobile extends its influence far beyond the fairground, embedding itself in the very fabric of the city. Milan transforms into a vivacious repository where art, culture and design congregate. With more than 2,100 exhibitors this year from 37 countries, this year’s event will take place from 8th to 13th April. With Fuorisalone and Milan Design Week—its creative counterparts—Salone Del Mobile. Milano becomes a constellation of multifarious collateral events seamlessly complementing the dazzling main spectacle.

 

Fuorisalone emerges through the city’s most captivating districts—Brera, Tortona, 5vie and beyond—where brands, designers, and visionaries take over historic palazzos, veiled courtyards, and bustling urban areas to showcase trailblazing designs. An essential counterpart of Salone Del Mobile. Milano, this event shapes Milan’s landscape, drawing professionals and enthusiasts into a city-wide celebration of artistry and ingenuity. Akin to many of the locations on the Fuorisalone exhibition trail, the Brera district—once the stomping ground of bohemian literati—now unfolds as a labyrinth of cobbled streets, magnificent palazzos and tucked-away ateliers. This year, as always, the district transforms into a canvas adorned with galleries and immersive experiences, embracing the theme of ‘Connected Worlds’ through a spectrum of installations— from vibrant, surreal swirls to crystalline iceberg sculptures. DP curates a journey through these immersive must-visit pit stops, shaping Brera’s revered artistic landscape.

 

1. Hyperportal By Glo- A Psychedelic Courtyard By Michela Picchi At Palazzo Moscova 18

The courtyard of the Palazzo Moscova 18, Brera features a symphony of lights, colors, and shapes. (Image Credits: Courtesy of Glo and Michela Picchi)
The courtyard of the Palazzo Moscova 18, Brera features a symphony of lights, colors, and shapes. (Image Credits: Courtesy of Glo and Michela Picchi)

 

Within this open-to-sky storied courtyard of Palazzo Moscova, this dreamscape—painted with sinuous forms, vibrant swirls that drench the central rectangular structure, almost disguising it—blurs the boundaries between history and contemporary. Aptly christened ‘HYPER PORTAL’—a captivating canvas of art and technology—surrealist artist Michela Picchi crafts this immersive installation in collaboration with Glo. “HYPER PORTAL is an immersive journey where the audience’s touch after touch creates interconnected worlds and becomes a co-protagonist of the work through sharing and positivity, perfectly in sync with glo’s spirit,” notes artist Michela Picchi.

 

Also Read: 3 Trailblazing Indian Designers Who Showcased Their Works At Salone Del Mobile Milan, 2024

 

The courtyard of the Palazzo Moscova 18, Brera features a symphony of lights, colors, and shapes. (Image Credits: Courtesy of Glo and Michela Picchi)
The courtyard of the Palazzo Moscova 18, Brera features a symphony of lights, colors, and shapes. (Image Credits: Courtesy of Glo and Michela Picchi)

 

Drawing inspiration from the fluidity of interaction, this installation stands as a symbol of openness and connection, bridging past and future and the tangible and imperceptible. In the Palazzo Moscova 18, Brera, flamboyant surrealist swirls whisk visitors into a spectacle of colour, light, and movement. This installation is “an immersive experience that goes beyond entertainment, making art more accessible and interactive, in line with our traveling artistic project ‘glo for art, ’” says Fabio de Petris, President and CEO of BAT Italia.

 

2. Frozen By Grand Seiko Europe – A Sculptural Iceberg By Tokujin Yoshioka At Palazzo Landriani

 

Left: The Ice sculptures titled ‘Frozen,’ sit under the vaulted corridors of Palazzo Landriani in Brera. Right: The sculptures are a prelude to the Grand Seiko exhibition that unfurls inside. (Image Credits: Courtesy of the Tokujin Yoshioka)
Left: The Ice sculptures titled ‘Frozen,’ sit under the vaulted corridors of Palazzo Landriani in Brera. Right: The sculptures are a prelude to the Grand Seiko exhibition that unfurls inside. (Image Credits: Courtesy of the Tokujin Yoshioka)

 

Set within the revered walls of Palazzo Landriani in Brera, a seamless melding of nature, time, and design materialises. In collaboration with Grand Seiko Europe, Japanese artist Tokujin Yoshioka unveils ‘Frozen,’ an ethereal sculpture. This masterpiece defies water’s inherent fluidity, capturing its ever-shifting essence as it crystallises into a poetic freeze-frame of transformation. Freezing water’s fleeting movement into sculptural permanence, Yoshioka seeks to distil the intangible, pushing the boundaries of materiality while tugging at the human desire of crystallising even the ephemeral.

 

Also Read: Everything You Need To Know About The Freshly Reopened Palazzo Citterio In Milan

 

The courtyard of the Palazzo Moscova 18, Brera features a symphony of lights, colors, and shapes. (Image Credits: Courtesy of the Tokujin Yoshioka)
The courtyard of the Palazzo Moscova 18, Brera features a symphony of lights, colors, and shapes. (Image Credits: Courtesy of the Tokujin Yoshioka)

 

In Frozen, Yoshioka—renowned for his works that use light as a material—channels water’s serene fluidity, capturing its elemental character through his latest creation, the ‘Aqua Chair.’ This piece emerges from ice, fluid yet frozen in time, allowing light to waltz and cast shadows that shift every time of day. Echoing this philosophy of harmony between rigour and fluidity, Grand Seiko’s Spring Drive watches bridge the gap between form and masterful craftsmanship. In an evolving world constantly shaped by the balance of the physical and digital realms, Frozen reminds us that connection lies in transformation, adaptation, and the beauty of fleeting moments.

 

3. Paradise City- A Dreamscape By Mario Cucinella Architects At Solferino 28

The representation of Paradise City at the Solferino 28 by Mario Cucinella Architects. (Credits: Visuals by MCA)
The representation of Paradise City at the Solferino 28 by Mario Cucinella Architects. (Credits: Visuals by MCA)

 

Solferino 28 reopens its historic doors this year in Brera to explore the ‘future of urban life’ through multi-faceted installations, talks, and interactive showcases. Amidst this medley of events is an ethereal installation monikered ‘Paradise City,’ by MCA—Mario Cucinella Architects. Drawing inspiration from a space that lies between dream and reality, this immersive installation conjures cities sculpted by collective imagination, where floating biospheres cradle desires and artificial intelligence breathes them into evolving urban landscapes.

 

The representation of Paradise City at the Solferino 28 by Mario Cucinella Architects. (Credits: Visuals by MCA)
The representation of Paradise City at the Solferino 28 by Mario Cucinella Architects. (Credits: Visuals by MCA)

 

Underscoring four distinct city models—’City Without Nature,’ ‘Earth City,’ ‘Biosphere City,’ and ‘Forest City’—this installation nudges visitors to contemplate the delicate equilibrium between ingenuity, sustainability, and human connection. By integrating artificial intelligence into its design process, ‘Paradise City’ transcends boundaries, altering the very fabric of the urban spaces—no longer static constructs but reflections of a consciousness, evolving in response to daily occurrences. Echoing Brera’s, it forges a connection through an interplay of fluid, ever-shifting design.