X-TALK #25 BY MARCO FERRARI AND ELISA PASQUAL

On Visualization: By Studio Folder

X-Talk #25 by Marco Ferrari and Elisa Pasqual co-founders of Studio Folder

The lecture will present Studio Folder’s most recent works as an insight into the office’s design methodology and research interests. Studio Folder is a design and research agency founded by Marco Ferrari and Elisa Pasqual, and based in Milan, Italy. The studio’s work spans between the cultural and commercial domains and the investigation of autonomous research path, while working through a diverse range of outcomes, from data visualisation to the design of exhibitions, editorial products and digital platforms. Studio Folder’s ongoing research project and interactive installation Italian Limes—a cartographic and political inquiry into moving national borders and climate change—has been awarded a Special Mention at the 2014 Venice Biennale Architecture Exhibition, a Silver Winner nomination at the 2015 European Design Awards, and is part of the permanent design collection of the V&A Museum, London. Recent projects include the participation to the 2016 Oslo Architecture Triennale, After Belonging, with Uncharted, a project that investigates the political infrastructure behind contemporary cartography; Åzone Futures Market, an online exhibition for the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum on the impact of emerging technologies; the design of the new Serpentine Galleries’ online radio platform.

Marco Ferrari (1981) is an architect and designer based in Milan, Italy. Together with Elisa Pasqual, he is the co-founder of the design and research agency Studio Folder. Ferrari’s main research interests pivot around the understanding of contemporary technology and its effects on society, and the relationship between cartography and politics, working across a diverse range of outcomes and methodologies, from data visualisation to the design of interactive installations, editorial products, digital platforms and teaching. Between 2007 and 2011, he has been one of the founding partners of the architecture collective Salottobuono. He has been Creative Director of Domus magazine between 2011 and 2013, and a regular graphics editor for Abitare magazine between 2007 and 2011. Besides the professional activity, Marco Ferrari has been teaching ‘Methods and Tools for Representation’ at ISIA in Urbino since 2010, and led the Information Design research laboratory at the MA Communication Design at IUAV University in Venice, between 2013 and 2016.

Elisa Pasqual (1980) is a visual designer and PhD researcher based in Milan, Italy. Together with Marco Ferrari, she is the co-founder of the design and research agency Studio Folder. Besides her professional activity, after completing a MA in Visual Communication Design and a BA in Industrial Design, she is currently a PhD researcher at IUAV University of Venice. The research investigates the intersection of design, politics and identity - analyzing the visual language of artifacts, media and communication strategies - along with the evolution of the modern State concept, borders, globalization and new technologies. She teached Visual Design both in the graduate and postgraduate programs at IUAV University in Venice, between 2008 and 2015.