On 14 April 2026, the Acquario Civico in Milan hosted “Art for Tomorrow Talks”, an event organised by The Democracy & Culture Foundation. Speakers included Stefano Boeri, Chris Levine, Tim Marlow, Otobong Nkanga and Cloe Piccoli, moderated by journalist Farah Nayeri

Having hosted the Art for Tomorrow symposium in 2025, Milan has renewed its support for initiatives promoted by The Democracy & Culture Foundation: on 14 April, the Acquario Civico provided the setting for Art for Tomorrow Talks, offering an opportunity to hear the reflections of a number of leading figures from the Italian and international cultural scene.
The afternoon session of talks was opened by architect Stefano Boeri, president of Triennale Milano, artist Chris Levine, director of the Design Museum in London Tim Marlow and curator Cloe Piccoli, who were invited by The New York Times journalist Farah Nayeri to explore the blurry border between design and art.
Function, symbolism, the object itself, the creative process, intentionality and context were among the themes addressed by the panelists, who emphasised the differences between the two fields. Whilst for Boeri, design, unlike art, follows a logical process, and the rare transformation of a design object into art is never intentional, for Marlow, design is, unlike art, a matter of problem-solving, and context plays an essential role in defining art and design as distinct fields. The nature of art and design and the context in which they operate are also different for Piccoli who, whilst not recognising the need to establish a rigid distinction between the two fields, urges us to move beyond the object-based approach and to consider performance, process and action as mediums as well, in both art and design.
For Chris Levine, the transition from designer to artist centres on the work Queen Elizabeth II (‘Lightness of Being’), the portrait created in 2008 and held at the National Portrait Gallery in London. It was an experience that marked a turning point in Levine’s career.
Another artist, Otobong Nkanga, concluded the Art for Tomorrow Talks series, engaging in a rich dialogue with journalist Farah Nayeri centred on the motivations that shaped her identity as an artist, the value of roots – both geographical and cultural – and the urgency of questioning how we use our power and visibility in a world dominated by inequality.

https://www.artfortomorrow.org/