From June 9 to 12, NABA participated in the first-ever New European Bauhaus Festival, reaching nearly 200,000 people. NABA travelled with POP!, crossing the Italian borders to demonstrate that discourses around social housing are common throughout Europe. Alongside other institutions, the Academy took part in the event dedicated to discussions and vision exchanges in an intriguing location, the Gare Maritime & Mont des Arts in Bruxelles. It was the first step to entering the Europe of designers and artists through a dialogue that will transform into research and then projects.
POP! and the EU-promoted festival
Since 2018, the magazine “POP! Abitare, voce del verbo Popolare” tells stories, projects, desires and visions taking shape in the outlying districts of Milan. The magazine is printed on recycled paper and freely distributed to the tenants of the social housing owned by the Municipality of Milan. The project comes from the cooperation between the Academy and MM Spa (a publicly owned company of the Municipality of Milan). It is born thanks to the efforts of NABA's students, lecturers, area leaders and staff.
During the New European Bauhaus Festival, NABA has been part of the NEB Forum - three-day of inspiring, high-level conferences to share bold ideas about the future. The forum included prominent speakers worldwide: Francis Kéré, Shigeru Ban, Rem Koolhaas, Stefano Boeri, Hans Ulrich Obrist, Francesca Bria, Sandrine Dixon and the President of the EU Commission Ursula Von Der Leyen. NABA took part in the Round Table "Habiter, Peupler, Populaire" (Dwelling, Populating, Popular) on June 9 at the Victor Bourgeois Auditorium of the Faculty of Architecture, Université Libre de Bruxelles.
The New European Bauhaus Festival is the new flagship event of the European Commission, aiming to bring together talents and ideas from all over Europe. It seeks to accomplish social inclusion and sustainability goals in accordance with the European Green Deal. From concerts to conferences, all the events were part of a format combining festival, fair and forum. The purpose is to involve an increasing number of players from all corners of the European Union.
