Ahhh The Fair ground....so far away and so big that it seems to be like a small country in its own right. The trip on the train was uneventful except for the hundreds of people and the strange gusts of hot air whenever we stopped at a station....weird...
Once we arrived it was a little tricky trying to get our bearings and get to where we wanted to go. The buildings are a little convoluted and dont seem to really aid your progress (at least on the early parts and from the south entrance). I find that cramming everything into a space like this tends to take something away from the pieces on show. Addmitedly the point i suppose is to sell product and having everything in one location is handy. We wandered for hours amongst every possible kind of chair, light and at the end of it all felt a little drained. The Salone Satelite section of young designers was a nice break from the rest, but the sheer volume of product made it hard to focus on anything in particular.
The one thing that did grab my attention was I suppose a headstone replacement. It featured an organic shape in the surface that when filled with water (from rain) it became a human figure. This seemed to have the effect of humanising the space.
On the way back from into the city the rain seemed to increase and it was a big of a struggle to navigate the streets of Zona Tortona without losing an eye from a speeding umbrella or being soaked by the zippy Italian Traffic.
The fairground is not my favourite part of the fair, but a good experience and a valuable source of contacts (some of which i hope will turn into some European projects)
