Dezeen Magazine

Dirty Art Department fills former slaughterhouse with installations for The Wandering School

Dezeen promotion: a group of students from Amsterdam's Dirty Art Department have created interactive installations to occupy a building in an abandoned area of Milan during the city's design week (+ slideshow).

The Wandering School by the Dirty Art Department
Student have filled the slaughterhouse with various spaces to sleep for the project entitled Hotel

Called The Wandering School, the event was created to emulate a self-contained community. Sleepovers, parties and film nights are all hosted in a space that was formerly a slaughterhouse.

The Wandering School by the Dirty Art Department
Mom's Room by Maarten Hoogendijk for Hotel directed by Carole Cicciu

The space belongs to Macao – an independent centre for art, culture and research in Milan, which is coordinated by an open assembly of artists and activists.

The Wandering School by the Dirty Art Department
Hotel is a 17-night sleeping event with has stepped bunk beds for guests

The initiative started with the occupation of an abandoned skyscraper in the city centre, and is now based to the east.

The Wandering School by the Dirty Art Department
To begin again from the beginning by Nicola Baratto and Alberto Valz Gris is a public platform for printing, screening, and listening

Located at Viale Molise 68, the event is open to both the community of Macao, as well as those attending Milan design week and contemporary art fair MiArt.

Dezeen is a media partner for the event that runs from 1 to 17 April 2016, and will see projects by students from the Dirty Art Department, a masters program of the Sandberg Institute in Amsterdam.

The Wandering School by the Dirty Art Department
To begin again from the beginning by Nicola Baratto and Alberto Valz Gris

Installations will include Hotel directed by Carole Cicciu, a 17-night sleeping experience that responds to the temporary accommodation crisis during these fairs.

The Wandering School by the Dirty Art Department
A place to rest my weary head while I wander with the wayward wind by Anna Reutinger is a tent on wheels, changing locations everyday within the palazzo

The designer has created an environment to host guests, with living spaces that make use of openings in the building and an area furnished with stepped bunk beds.

The Wandering School by the Dirty Art Department
Kitty Maria and Alban Karsten's on-going marathon event of continuous openings is called the Daily Solo Show

Kitty Maria and Alban Karsten are hosting and curating an on-going marathon event of continuous openings, called the Daily Solo Show, which will run from 1 to 17 April.

The Wandering School by the Dirty Art Department
Described as an "open call to all housewives, female idiots, unemployed women, stupid girls", the Collective for fashion will gather everyday in the Macao fashion workshop

All the participants of The Wandering School will present a solo show that lasts one day, with the following show opening at 10pm each evening.

Video of participants sleeping at The Wandering School


As a reference to the confessions cameras used in reality televisions programmes, designer Anna Reutinger's Real Talk will allow visitors to express concerns, gossip and reveal intimate details of daily life at Macao.

The Wandering School by the Dirty Art Department
Anna Reutinger's Real Talk will allow visitors to express concerns, gossip and reveal intimate details of daily life at Macao

Located in a corner of the building, the cubicle has a yellow frame on the exterior and a curtain that can be drawn across to conceal the user.

The Wandering School by the Dirty Art Department
Soft flesh tones on the interior of the booth aim to create a feeling of "comfortable dislocation"

Reutinger chose to furnish the interior with soft flesh tones and an abstract painting by Nate Argen to create a feeling of "comfortable dislocation".

The Wandering School by the Dirty Art Department
Rachel Rose O’Leary and Petros Orfanos' project (A=O) The archive of epistemic collapse is located in the basement

With the slogan "Trash is always closer to the unconscious", The Archive of Epistemic Collapse will occupy the basement of the building for film, workshops, lectures and readings.

The Wandering School by the Dirty Art Department
(A=O) The archive of epistemic collapse will be a rotation of film, workshops, lectures and readings

The Wandering School was initiated by Erasmus Scherjon, Stephane Barbier Bouvet, Valentina Ciuffi, Anita Silva, Emanuele Braga and Jerszy Seymour, and is supported by Macao and the Sandberg Institute.

The Wandering School by the Dirty Art Department
The exterior of the former slaughterhouse located in an abandoned area in Milan. Photograph by Yiannis Mouravas

Photography is by Delfino Sisto Legnani Studio, unless stated otherwise.