A series of more or less conceptual walkings is what 10b Photography offers the public in Rome until December 20th with Garbatella IMAGES. Continuing on the path started last year with Giovanni Cocco and the artistic director Francesco Zizola, for this the second edition titled “Il tempo sensibile. Fermo - immagine, memoria, sincronicità” curator Sara Alberani meets photographer Silvia Camporesi, videomaker from the neighborhood Lola (Claudia de Nicolò) and Egyptian film maker Mohammed Hossameldin, who has made the hamlet his home since he arrived in Italy at fourtheen. Inspired by the rural districts from the immediate surroundings, and disputed between the so–called Barocchetto style of the early 20's and the Rationalism–Futurism of the following decade, in its elegant balance between urban and natural project (for long time the ratio between green and built areas has been one of the highest in Italy) Garbatella is a perfect as much as unexpected example of garden city, and each site specific work shows a different approach to this city within the city, that in 2020 will turn 100. In Camporesi’s images, who has walked through Garbatella for the first time to realise her series “Area di silenzio”, streets, courtyards and buildings become a stage where, in the deliberate absence of human action, time is the sole protagonist. Like the face of an actor tied for years to one role but whose acting evolves and improves from season to season without ever changing his stage costume, walls, stairs and windows play themselves through the signs the time has left, the accumulations and the subtractions, the history that still permeates them, while trees and animals keep on with their age–old or briefest lives. Photographs and videos realised ad hoc converse with the ones from the past, collected with the participation of the local residents and through the collaboration of AAMOD (Fondazione Archivio Audiovisivo del Movimento Operaio e Democratico) and WPS Photography collective, whilst the app Storywalker Garbatella, developed by spanish artist Fernando Sanchez Canezudo in with the Real Academia de España en Roma underlines the site specific nature of the whole project with a mapping of the neighborhood both historic and private, available to the public during the guided virtual tour that will be held on December 14th and 15th.
Garbatella, a neighborhood through time
Open until December 20th, Garbatella Images is a site specific audio-visual project focused on the Roman garden city.
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- Raffaele Vertaldi
- 11 December 2019
- Garbatella IMAGES, Il tempo sensibile. Fermo - immagine, memoria, sincronicità.
- From 5 to 20 of December, 2019
- Sara Alberani
- Roma, Garbatella neighborhood, various locations
The family of Mr. Gabriele De Nicolò and Mrs. Mirella Mercolini together with their children Fabio and Cristina in a photo on the balcony of their new home in Via Antonio Mannucci where they had just moved, after having lived for many years together with Mr. Gabriele's parents in lot 55 in via Carlo Randaccio 8. 60s.
Ms. Marisa Ferdinandi in 1973 at thirty-five, in lot 20. Born in 1938, she lived in various houses in the neighborhood where she was born and grew up. He currently lives in lot 13. His parents met as boys in lot 13, living in the same building.
Mr. Fernando Poggi, son of Andrea Poggi and Maria Mari in piazza Masdea between 1954 and 1955. Passionate about motorcycles, he is riding his Gilera (probably model 150 Sport) in front of his gate.
The back of the photograph shows the date 10 June 1949, the young Gianni Imperi in the center, his wife Adriana on the right and his sister Clara on the left. They show off as if they were posing for a cover of a fashion magazine of the time, on the hood of their friend's car. Gianni and Adriana have been married for just over a month and a half (April 25, 1949). Adriana leans on Gianni's leg with modesty and complicity. Their hands almost touch.
Mrs. Adalgisa with her brother Amedeo while shaking hands in Piazza Pantero Pantera in the courtyard of the restaurant of that time called "Il giardino". Mr. Amedeo, passionate about photography, enjoyed creating poses before shooting.
The child portrayed is Claudio Imperi, disguised as a Chinese mandarin during the 1959 carnival, within Lot 15. His father Gianni, fond of photography, proud of his son, takes it back under the affectionate and curious gaze of his mother Adriana looking out the window. The dress was designed and sewn by her, a seamstress.
A moment after leaving the church of San Filippo Neri. In the background the sign of the then flower shop. It is 1956 and in the foreground the gentleman who walks is Giovanni Cioci who most likely tries to get out of the frame before shooting: in all the photographs that portray him he never looks at the camera lens because he didn't like being photographed.
September 1, 1973 Lotta Continua takes possession of the Via Passino 20 site, which is destined to become one of the most famous venues of the Adriano Sofri organization. The basement, formerly of the PSIUP, was the reference point for the Gramsci Group and then for local student collectives. Lotta Continua until the end of 1977, even after its dissolution, remains one of the most important presences of the revolutionary left in Garbatella.
March 31, 1976 Initiatives against the high cost promoted by the Garbatella District Committee in via Pullino 2 and the Lotta Continua section in via Passino. The self-reduction of the bills is practiced and the Red Markets are born. The most popular sales counters in front of the Palladium. The price cartel sees meat fluctuating between 3250 and 2500 liras per kilo instead of 5500, artichokes at 80 lire each, chicory at 150 lire a kilo, potatoes at 250, apples at 150, cheese at 120 liras etto, 250 grams of butter at 585 lire, eggs at 50 each, first quality flour bread at 300 kilo.
26 May 1970 Fundamental day in the secular history of the neighborhood. The General Council of NATO is summoned to the EUR and is headed by Rogers, Secretary of State of the Nixon administration. In the world there is a protest against the US war in Vietnam and the most radical wing of the Rome Student Movement convenes an event with an appointment at the Basilica of San Paolo. The assembly is charged by the police and carabinieri. The protest then moves to Garbatella and the neighborhood for a whole day and until late at night it will be the scene of tough clashes. The lots included between Palladium, Piazza Sauli, the Hotels, Via Caffaro, Piazza Ansaldo and Piazza Masdea the most involved.