The exhibition “White Out. The Future of Winter Sports“ (Triennale Milano, January 28 – March 15, 2026, free admission) addresses a pressing question: what happens to winter sports when the snow disappears? Part of the Cultural Olympics of Milano Cortina 2026, the show brings design, architecture, and technology into dialogue with the increasingly visible effects of climate change.
The title refers to the “whiteout,” an optical phenomenon typical of high altitudes, in which sky and snow-covered landscape merge into a seamless white. This extreme condition serves as a metaphor for an uncertain future and a starting point for a design-driven reflection. The exhibition is organized into thematic sections focusing on disciplines, equipment, materials, and technological innovations, with a special emphasis on sports architecture and its ability to adapt to changing environmental scenarios.
The show is curated by Konstantin Grcic and Marco Sammicheli, with an installation designed by Konstantin Grcic, and realized in collaboration with the Chamber of Commerce of Milan Monza Brianza Lodi. This is not Grcic’s first foray into the intersection of sport and design in an Olympic context: in 2024, he curated the “Match – Design & Sport, A Story Looking to the Future“ exhibition at the Musée du Luxembourg in Paris.
On that occasion, he explained his deep connection to sport: “It would be true to say that sport was my first design teacher,” Grcic said. “When I was a kid, I was obsessed with looking at sports equipment and studied catalogues about it for days, weeks, months, years. I think it really informed my becoming a designer. I feel that I have learnt so much from this equipment which is always at the forefront of technological development.”
This approach resurfaces in White Out, where sport becomes an advanced laboratory for imagining new solutions in response to a changing climate.
