MOSCAPARTNERS VARIATIONS AT MILAN DESIGN WEEK 2026 — METAMORPHOSIS

Images courtesy of MoscaPartners Variations

Metamorphosis in Motion: Main Courtyard installation by Lina Ghotmeh

At Milan Design Week 2026, MoscaPartners Variations returns to Palazzo Litta with Metamorphosis—a curatorial framework that approaches design as an evolving ecosystem rather than a static object. Anchoring this vision is Metamorphosis in Motion, a site-specific installation by Lina Ghotmeh that unfolds in the Main Courtyard as both a scenographic gateway and the conceptual heart of the exhibition.

Paris-based and Lebanese-born, Ghotmeh presents her first solo outdoor installation in Italy through a project rooted in her philosophy of the Archaeology of the Future. Drawing inspiration from the courtyard’s historical role as a place of reception and transition between the city and the palace, the installation reimagines architecture as a lived experience. Conceived as a living structure, the pavilion invites visitors into a choreographed journey shaped by movement, perception, and time—gradually transforming the historic courtyard into an activated commons.

Set against the Baroque symmetry and axial clarity of Palazzo Litta, Ghotmeh introduces curved geometries, shifting perspectives, and a sequential path that subtly disrupts monumentality. The pavilion unfolds as a labyrinthine environment in which the visitor’s body becomes part of the spatial composition.

Here, metamorphosis is not expressed through spectacle, but through use—through the way bodies, light, and natural elements continuously reshape the experience of space.

Presented by Magran Living

Rather than altering the heritage architecture, the installation operates as a reversible layer—an architectural gesture that mediates between preservation and activation. Its modular zones allow for different modes of engagement, from moments of pause and contemplation to encounters shaped by collective presence. Through this gentle yet deliberate intervention, the courtyard evolves from monument to lived environment, becoming a spatial ecosystem where interaction is integral to the design language.

Reflecting on the project, Ghotmeh describes the courtyard as “both passage and representation”—an intermediate realm designed to guide movement and intensify experience. “Metamorphosis emerges through use, as the space evolves from threshold to commons, from representation to participation,” says Lina Ghotmeh.

As the first point of encounter, Metamorphosis in Motion establishes a dialogue with the exhibitions unfolding throughout the Baroque rooms of Palazzo Litta. Curated by Caterina Mosca and her team, MoscaPartners Variations brings together designers, studios, and brands whose practices explore regeneration, adaptation, and new material sensibilities—extending the idea of metamorphosis beyond form toward interconnected systems of research, production, and responsibility. “The pavilion represents the ideal gateway into the universe of MoscaPartners Variations 2026,” states Caterina Mosca. “It is conceived not as a scenic backdrop, but as a living space shaped by participation—shifting the focus from the individual object to a collective ecosystem.”

Through the dialogue between Ghotmeh’s installation and the diverse proposals presented by the exhibitors, MoscaPartners Variations reaffirms Palazzo Litta as a laboratory for contemporary design.

Architecture, objects, and people converge in a shared exploration of change—one that keeps human experience at its centre while expanding its perspective to include the planet, its resources, and the environments we inhabit.

More than an exhibition, MoscaPartners Variations at Milan Design Week 2026 becomes a reflective lens on transformation itself—inviting visitors to look beyond the object and toward design as an ongoing, collective act shaped by time, memory, and lived experience.

Palazzo Litta
Corso Magenta 24, Milan
April 21–26, 2026