CIAL, the Italian National Consortium for Aluminum Packaging, returned to Milan Design Week through a prestigious collaboration with NABA, Nuova Accademia di Belle Arti, bringing a key concept to the center of the international debate: aluminum was a fundamental material for a circular future, especially in packaging.
From April 21 to 26, 2026, the installation Extreme Environments was on view at one of Milan’s most iconic venues, Palazzo Litta (Corso Magenta, 24), as part of MoscaPartners Variations 2026, the collective exhibition whose theme that year was Metamorphosis.
The installation featured sculptural totems made of aluminum sheets, integrated with LED screen video content, engaging in a dialogue with the historic spaces of Palazzo Litta through contrasts between natural and artificial, lightness and solidity, reflection and distortion. The metallic surfaces became perceptual devices capable of amplifying and reinterpreting the spatial experience, transforming an everyday material into a powerful artistic language.
CIAL’s participation in Design Week is no coincidence: aluminum is, by its very nature, a material suited to art. Ductile, lightweight, reflective, and capable of taking on any form without losing its intrinsic qualities, it has long been part of the vocabulary of contemporary art, from architecture to design, from sculpture to installation.
But there is more: aluminum is the material par excellence of the circular economy. Infinitely recyclable without any loss of quality, its production from recycled material requires 95% less energy compared to primary production.
Every piece of aluminum packaging that is recycled becomes raw material ready to be transformed into something new and with Extreme Environments, this transformation becomes art, a sensory experience, and a moment of collective reflection - said Stefano Stellini, General Director of CIAL - For CIAL, art has always been a privileged channel for conveying the values of circular responsibility in a direct and lasting way through aesthetic experience. Collaborating with NABA means engaging with a generation of designers who look to the future with critical awareness and a sense of wonder together building a deeper and more enduring vision of sustainability.
