S for Staging

The original meaning of the concept of staging (or setting up) was basically that of ‘preparing quickly’ and, if you will, also of ‘building provisionally’. It was only later that the term ‘staging’ was linked to the idea of the ‘exhibition’, thereby giving rise to a particular form of visual representation that can generally be defined as the “phenomenon by which the object to be displayed is made perceptible, visible, evident”1. “The sense of a word like ‘staging’ is creatively uncertain in our language, midway between process and product, muddled by visions of hastily setting up an exhibition … and suspended between myriad interpretations: for example, celebrations and parades are staged, along with lunches and banquets, theatrical, operatic, cinematographic, scenographic and choreographic works, not to mention canals and aircraft, automotive and domestic interiors, as well as shop windows, stands, and museums. Giuseppe Pagano’s words, especially with regard to the relationship between temporary architecture and the ‘formation’ of Italian design, bring us to the central theme of this text: why give a Compasso d’Oro to the staging of an exhibition? Isn’t this award inherently associated with industrial production? What, then, is the relationship between industrial design and staging?