Location 02 / On hope and inheritances

Via del Campo – Islands of Time – Location 02 / Genoa, Italy.

On hope and inheritances. Part of the project research trajectory Islands of Time – Location 02 / Genoa, Italy.

In collaboration with Associazione Culturale MIXTA, Divago Biennial Festival, Palazzo Ducale fondazione per la Cultura and Comitato Amici di Via del Campo.

Placed on the west coast of the Italian, Genoa is a Mediterranean harbor city belonging to the so-called “imperfect” cities. These kinds of cities are shaped by the ferment of irregularities characterizing them. These socially perceived “imperfections” can be traced to particular urban spaces, crossing areas characterized by continuous transitions and exchanges of individuals between the visible and invisible universe. In such places, cultures are never homogeneous; they always emerge from cross-breedings, conflicts, and exchanges. Inhabiting a specific geographical area or a temporal territory is a necessary condition towards the construction of a personal identity. In these terms, following the research conducted into previous geographical areas strongly influenced by different forms of migratory processes, Islands of Time Location 04 delves into the particular constructs characterizing specific areas of the historical center of Genoa. In an attempt to convey the relationship between tangible/intangible and the construction of geographical identity, both personal and imposed, analyzing how the immaterial self is composed of local and international representations, along with, on the one hand, processes of identity building and belonging, and on the other, invisibility and erasure.

Developed in collaboration with Associazione Culturale MIXTA and the Divago Biennial Festival 2021, the on-site research relates migratory mapping and traces, as part of an attempt to articulate the inherent instability of any memory, absence, or un-recollection. Unavoidable stage of contemporary exodus, Genoa and its historic center are historically characterized by a complex stratification of various migratory flows. Collecting fragments, traces, and dust deposited on the surfaces of several areas of Via del Campo and the Jewish ghetto of Genoa, these visual poems reflect upon the elements describing the interplay of feelings of belonging and not belonging, in relation to a particular urban area and the historical, architectonical and social elements that defines it. Marginalized areas typically include multiple frames of reference. This is especially the case within the narratives related to migratory processes. Perhaps, rather than isolating layered or nested identities, it is potentially sensible to recognize the traces left in this “marginal” portion of spaces as a mosaic of situationally relevant fragments of identities. Thus, reframing the elements of those transitory absences could re-iterate the superficial layers characterizing the perversion of territorial knowledge production and construction of borders narratives. In these terms, fragments and shadows of visible/invisible gestures acknowledge potential re-interpretations of place-making policies and forms of alterity.

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SPES NOSTRA (Our hope) – It may contain traces of Colonialism, idolatry, imperialism, romanticism, salt, pessimism, nitrogen, diaspora, tides, liesexploitation, isolation, indifference, inertia, salts, superstition, saturated fat, joy, antioxidants, fanaticism, fascism, stereotypes, failures, honorifics, industrialization, shadows, loneliness, globalization, oil, dust, nights, poverty, speculation, stereotypes, aromas, friendship, confinement, universes, nostalgia, sugar, dreams, reality, and false promises.

SPES NOSTRA – Islands of Time – Location 02 – Site-specific urban installation: collected location’s fragments and dusts, ink, and wood on a concrete votive shrine – 40x46x2 cm, Divago Biennal, Genoa, Italy 2022

SPES NOSTRA (details) Site-specific urban installation: collected location’s fragments and dusts, ink, and wood on a concrete votive shrine – 40x46x2 cm, Divago Biennal, Genoa, Italy 2022.

TO FALL BEHIND THE CURTAINS – Site specific urban video intervention – 11min [looped] Divago Biennal, Genoa, Italy 2022.

TO FALL BEHIND THE CURTAINS (details) – Divago Biennal, Genoa, Italy 2022.