Laboratorio SaccardiViterbo, Italy
http://www.cantieridarte.org
http://www.myspace.com/progetto_cantieridarte
“Cantieri d’Arte” is the name of a project intended to culturally, spiritually and formally recuperate certain locations of Viterbo (medieval-style town located north of Rome). Its main purpose is to explore the thematic relationship between the town and art by studying its contemporary artwork.
The event has developed its rapport with the town beginning with the single neighborhood of San Pellegrino and ending with the entire urban area. From the periphery to the historic center, from the streets to the abandoned buildings, the various artists and architects intervened with diverse installations specific to each location. The goal was to actively recuperate the importance, the historic value and the memory of the original structures through conferences, debates, workshops, video projections in order to highlight the multiple possibilities offered by contemporary art and the complexity of its approach. This is the entity of this town which aims to evidence within its urban areas the aspirations, dreams, and individual visions of its community.
The latest edition – Visioni Urbane Contemporanee – is presented differently than the ones that preceded it. It serves as the exploration of the city but of a different nature: the reading and the theoretic approach will no longer be of history-sociological emphasis but one of visual and perceptual prominence. Thus the city will no longer be tied to its history and tradition but to its structural properties and to its contemporary dimensions. The observation angle will therefore be the one visualized through the understanding of the capacity that the city has to express itself by means of communicating its representative, visionary and utopist objectives.
The project will be temporarily subdivided in two sections:
The first one – Spazi Manifesti (27 October – 10 November 2008) – will look to expand on the relationship between the interior of the city known for its dynamic structures which transpire a strong cultural diversity and the exterior of the walls where the contemporary lifestyle of the city is exposed. This contrast will be perceived by young artists as fresh and irreverent, capable of highlighting the dynamics of the town and overpowering the visions, evaluations and common sense.
The project will feature two different courses of action: (sotto)passaggi e Murati fuori! The first course of action entails the underground passage of Piazza Crispi which is the point of conjunction between the inside and outside of the city. It will be transformed in a sort of urban gallery in exposition by Elena Arzuffi, Andrea Mastrovito and Andrea Salvino.
The second section – S(piazza)menti (November 2008) – will transpire when the Gruppo A12 will intervene in the Piazza del Sacrario, one of the more traffic-concentrated areas of the town which is characterized by the underground passage of the Urcionio river. The river was the initial fountain of life and energy of the city. By using a sound system that reproduces the sound of water the A12 will emotionally awake suggestive notions which have been dormant for a long time.
The presence of the internal work will be permanent inside the urban areas.
Lastly, the cloister of Museo dell’Opera di Guido Calori in San Gemini (TR), will feature an exhibition of Flavio Favelli (5 – 19 October) with the title Interno china.
The project is supported by the PARC- General Department of quality assurance of the contemporary art and architecture of the MiBAC.
For more information go to: http://www.cantieridarte.org
