When we think of art in public space, the first examples that come to mind are the works of art we see in big cities. However, Italy is a country characterized by small towns that offer a series of experiences that must be taken into consideration. The theme of small towns and rural areas has recently come back in vogue, partly because of Rem Koolhas’ studies on the countryside and Stefano Boeri’s recent statements supporting the need to re-inhabit these places. But beyond the enthusiasm for rural and bucolic scenarios, it is necessary to come to terms with the real life conditions in this areas. In Italy, this topic has been a subject of reflection for quite some time now: in 2013, the Ministry for Territorial Cohesion created the SNAI (National Strategy for Internal Areas) which targets “those territories that are at a significant distance from centres with essential service provisions (education, health and transport), rich in important environmental and cultural resources and highly diversified [...] A significant part of the Internal Areas has gradually been affected by severe phenomena of marginalization” and depopulation since World War II.
Public art in Italian small towns, between travel itineraries and enhancement of intangible cultural heritage
Small towns are now playing an important role in the cultural debate. In Italy, on several occasions, contemporary art has been encouraged to intervene in the public space of these places. Here is how.
Concrete memory. Photo Sara Moiola
Maria Lai, “La strada del rito”, 1992, Museo a cielo aperto Maria Lai. Ph. Tiziano Canu. Courtesy Comune di Ulassa
Kiki Smith, “Yellow Girl”, 2003 -2010. Ceramics, painting, wood, permanent installation at the Fortress of Montestaffoli, San Gimignano. Courtesy the artist and Associazione Arte Continua, San Gimignano, Italy. Photo by Pamela Bralia
Jérôme Bel, “Compagnia Compagnia”, 2019, Arena Sinni, Senise (PZ). Courtesy ArtePollino
Bianco-Valente, “Ogni dove”, 2015
Claudia Losi, Voce a Vento, 2018, monte Bulgheria. Courtesy the artist and Associazione Jazzi
Cosimo Veneziano, “mORALE”, percorso 9, 2017, Guilmi. Photo Matilde Martino for GuilmiArtProject
Matteo Rubbi, “Ritorno a Solzaland”, 2016, Solza (Bergamo). Photo Maria Zanchi
Maurizio Montagna, SCENERY//Scenari, A cielo aperto, Latronico, 2017
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- Angela Maderna
- 20 May 2020
A lot of research has been carried out on the subject. From an architectural point of view, we should remember, for example, Mario Cucinella’s Arcipelago Italia, and many other cultural initiatives, the latest being the Alp Project recently launched by FAI. Perhaps, we should ask ourselves what contribution was made by artists and organizations linked to the world of contemporary art in these marginal areas. Retracing a brief history of this kind of experiences could show not only how art has intrinsically changed its approach to public space over the years, but also how in these areas it initially aimed at creating physical cultural and touristic itineraries, which “have become one of the main tools for cultural enhancement” (as Carmen Vitale argues, speaking in particular of internal areas), then gradually started involving more communities and enhancing the intangible cultural heritage.
The theme of small towns and rural areas has recently come back in vogue. But beyond the enthusiasm for rural and bucolic scenarios, it is necessary to come to terms with the real life conditions in this areas
Let’s start with the Sicilian small town of Gibellina, and move to Ulassai in Sardinia, San Gimignano and the surrounding area with the “Arte all’Arte” experience. Let’s visit Abruzzo with the Guilmi Art Project, move to Basilicata and Calabria to experience ArtePollino, then let’s go to Latronico to visit “A cielo aperto”, then to Cilento to meet Associazione Jazzi, and finally finish our tour with the work of Matteo Rubbi in Solza, a small town not far from Bergamo.
These are not operations that have led to an unsustainable economic and touristic satellite activities, as it happened for example on Lake Iseo at the time of Christo’s “The Floating Piers”. On the contrary, in more recent years, many artists have started working on artistic experiences that focus on fitting in and binding to a cultural fabric that is much different than the one with which contemporary art is used to work with. Moreover, they are becoming an instrument to enhance the intangible cultural heritage because they are taking on a new function that could be defined as maieutic.
In 1968, the earthquake in the Belice Valley destroyed the small town of Gibellina. In 1980, Alberto Burri built on those very ruins one of the most impressive works of Land art in Europe: a five-foot stratum of white concrete that absorbed the rubble of the old town into the Great Cretto. In new Gibellina, which was situated about 10km to the west of the original town, mayor Ludovico Corrao (the same person that had invited Burri to visit the town) ventured into an ambitious project that involved the reconstruction of the city by many contemporary artists and designers, such as Giuseppe Uncini, Arnaldo Pomodoro, Mimmo Paladino, Alessandro Mendini, Fausto Melotti and many others. In some cases, the projects (not only works of art and monuments, but also buildings) remained incomplete, such as Pietro Consagra’s theatre, and they all had to come to terms with the fact that the utopian ideal city they wanted to build was a failure.
In 1981, in Sardinian Ulassai, Maria Lai created one of the most incredible public and relational works of art of our time, “Legarsi alla montagna” (“Tying Ourselves to the Mountain”). On that occasion, the artist involved the entire Ulassai community by tying the whole village with a blue ribbon fashioned from jeans. This operation started the process, which lasted about thirty years, that led to the creation of what is today the “Stazione Dell’Arte” (Museum of Contemporary Art which also houses many works by Lai) and the ‘widespread museum’ of Ulassai. The latter has about ten or so works by Maria Lai located in the urban space (as well as works by Nivola, Veronesi and Strazza), installations that in some cases, such as in “La strada del rito” which refers to a traditional festival, make explicit reference to local history.
Arte all’Arte was an experience promoted by Associazione Continua in the Sienese area between San Gimignano, Colle Val d’Elsa, Poggibonsi, Montalcino, etc. with the aim of “making the culture of the big cities interact with the culture of the small towns”. This event was held annually from 1996 to 2005. Each edition, a couple of curators invited some artists to work in the urban space, thus creating permanent works to be displayed in the public space, but also temporary works (such as the artistic performances of Tania Bruguera and Marina Abramovich, to name a few). Over the years, Arte all’Arte has involved 84 artists and 20 curators, including those of Joseph Kosuth and Jannis Kounellis in San Gimignano, Ilya Kabakov in Colle Val d’Elsa and Mimmo Paladino in Poggibonsi.
Arte Pollino is an association founded in 2008 with the aim of “encouraging the cultural growth of the territory of the Pollino National Park” and aims “to involve local communities”. Here, we should start with the works by Carsten Holler, Anish Kapoor and Giuseppe Penone that are still displayed in the territory, and then focus on the projects related to the territory, such as “Comunità Locali” that have seen for example in 2009 the intervention of Claudia Losi entitled “Qui e non altrove. Qui” (“Here and not elsewhere. Here”), a participatory work through which the artist gathered the personal memories of the inhabitants of the area and then transformed them, with the help of local embroiderers, into objects used during a final action. In more recent times, ArtePollino (with Matera2019) gave life to the Ka Art project curated by Katia Anguelova, which aimed to bring out the richness of the places where it took shape and saw the participation of artists such as Jérôme Bel and Lucy and Jorge Orta, of the latter is “70x7 the Meal Act” of 2019, dinner-performance that involved the network of Pollino producers.
In Latronico, since 2009, the Vincenzo De Luca Association has been carrying out the project “A cielo aperto”, curated by Bianco-Valente and Pasquale Campanella. In this case, the aim is to create a widespread museum, but the operation has the declared intention of working on “the relationship and the non-instrumental involvement of people living in the territory [...] by creating moments of reflection on the history of the community and recovering vital, cultural and communicative processes”. Artists such as Maurizio Montagna, Giovanni Giacoia, Francesco Bertelé and many others have worked with the local population, living in Latronico for some time and building with the inhabitants many narratives and creative processes that have then led to the realization of the works permanently installed in the urban space.
The activities of the Jazzi Association took place in the National Park of Cilento and Vallo di Diano and Alburni, in the three-year period between 2016 and 2019. This project was carried out with awareness of the studies on Internal Areas. In particular, in 2018, artist Claudia Losi was invited to intervene on Mount Bulgheria and she did so through a series of walking workshops open to anyone, and then, at the end of this process, the realization of “Voce a Vento” (curated by Katia Anguelova), a work that in addition to the permanent installation of windsocks designed by the artist, also saw the staging of a performance whose protagonists were thirty women (who were part of local choirs) whose polyphonic singing flooded the mountain (this was later incorporated in the first edition of “Passo chiama passo”, a series of artist editions).
Guilmi Art Project (GAP) is a 2007 residency project started by Federico Bacci and Lucia Giardino, who, on an annual basis, invite an artist to stay in the village in order to create a work that dialogues with the territory and that involves the intervention of the population. A very significant project was the one carried out by Cosimo Veneziano in 2017, on the anniversary of the first ten years of GAP, entitled MORALE, an oral museum set in the homes of the Guilmese, a community that after having actively participated in the artistic processes of previous years, on that occasion had the opportunity to tell their stories.
In Solza, in 2016, Matteo Rubbi realized a work that unfolds along the streets of the village. It is called “Ritorno a Solzaland” and is characterized by a series of ceramic mosaics that have been scattered throughout the old town centre, reproducing the photographs found by the artist during his residence in the village, inside the library archive. They are images of popular festivals, fairs and moments of conviviality, taken by the inhabitants of the village themselves, “a widespread monument to the most genuine spirit of the community”.