IDI 2025 Shanghai - Italian Design Icons: The Infinite Matrix - Exhibition (curated work)

This exhibition showcases curated works by students who participated in the Infinite Matrix workshop at Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University (XJTLU). Inspired by Gio Ponti’s 1960 tile experiment for the Princes’ Park Hotel in Sorrento, students investigated his modular design process, using the square as a basic unit to generate an infinite series of harmonious rectangles. Through hands-on making, digital translation, and photographic documentation, the exhibited pieces demonstrate a rigorous, transferable design methodology applicable across disciplines reprised by the display of the new generated decorative patterns.

The exhibition booth serves as the visual and spatial scenery for the Family Day Activities arranged for IDI2025, providing an immersive backdrop that brings Ponti's modular principles to life. Within this setting, children engage in Colour Your Tile, while families and high school students participate in Tile Composition + Shooting; both activities directly inspired by the student works on display. The booth thus transforms academic inquiry into an accessible, intergenerational experience that fosters community engagement and creative dialogue. The students who authored the workshop activities also joined the session, working alongside kids, parents, and the tutors, actively facilitating the creative process and bridging the gap between academic research and community participation.

The exhibition also serves as a visual preface to Talk 20, a platform for critical dialogue that will extend the conversation into broader themes of digital-physical integration, participatory pedagogy, and the social impact of design.

Together, the exhibition, Family Day, and Talk 20 offer a unified narrative that bridges academic inquiry, community participation, and public discourse, demonstrating how a single design concept can generate infinite connections across generations and disciplines.