‘Piazza dell’architettura’– Architecture’s Square, an event promoted by the Ordine degli Architetti, Pianificatori, Paesaggisti e Conservatori della Provincia di Trieste (the Association of architects, urban planners, landscape and conservation architects of the Province of Trieste), in collaboration with the Assessorato alla Cultura del Comune di Trieste (the local culture authority) and the participation of the Province of Trieste, of the Faculty of Architecture and of the architectural and urban design Department of the University of Trieste, of NABA-Nuova Accademia di Belle Arti in Milan, of Edilmaster and Tosetto Allestimenti, of the Consiglio Nazionale degli Architetti, Pianificatori, Paesaggisti e Conservatori (CNAPPC) (the National council of architects, urban planners, landscape and conservation architects); of the Regional Association of Architects PPC of Friuli Venezia Giulia, of the Foundation of the Ordine degli Architetti PPC of Milan, (the association of Milan architects), of the Committee for the separate administration of the civic heritage of the town of Opicina (Trieste); of the University of Westminster (London) and with the patronage of the Architects’ Council of Europe (ACE-CAE), ‘Piazza dell’architettura’– Architecture’s Square, will consist of four main events:
the exhibitions
the activities
the encounters
the side events
As already mentioned, the event will take place in Trieste, partly at the Salone degli Incanti-Ex Pescheria (the city’s former fish market, now an exhibition space), and partly at the Revoltella Museum. In particular, the latter additional location will host the exhibition ‘Archiprix Italia 2010’ on the fifth floor and, additionally, the awarding ceremony and exhibition related to the ‘8° edizione della Rassegna Biennale di Architettura e del 5° Premio Marcello D’Olivo’ (8th edition of the biennial architecture festival and of the 5th edition of the Marcello D’Olivo Award), to be held at the auditorium and in the adjoining halls.
EXHIBITIONS
The eight main exhibitions will all be hosted at the ex-Pescheria:
‘The vision of space’, curated by Roberto Mutti: a photographic exhibition that gathers together nine authors with different attitudes and styles. Alongside the linear images of classic authors such as Italian photographer Gabriele Basilico and British John Davies, the spectacular pictures by Austrian artist Margherita Spiluttini will be displayed. A photographer renowned for shooting interiors, she will present on this occasion the result of the research on the relation between architectural elements and natural landscape. Swiss-born Stefania Beretta and the Italian artist Andrea Garuti have dealt with the theme of the city, the former by means of a double parallel interpretation – what is ‘above’, and what is ‘below’ – to be found in her metaphorical diptychs; the latter using a composition charged with poetic atmospheres. Belarus-born Vladimir Sutiaghin was assigned the task to evoke a past that, in his land, conversely, looks like a well-described present: his pictures portray a world that maintains the atmosphere of a past grandeur. In total contrast with the research carried out in a rather original way by three Italian artists on the same theme: Maurizio Galimberti interprets the architectural work through a game of constructions and deconstructions of planes, Franco Donaggio by creating an urban fabric full of surreal suggestions.
‘Siza’s Museography’ is an exhibition curated by Maddalena D’alfonso, showcasing 36 shots realized by Marco Introini, the Italian photographer specialized in architecture and landscapes. The main focus of the images displayed are two symbolic buildings that perfectly summarize the poetics of the Portuguese architect and his personal approach to the project: the Museo Iberè Camargo in Porto Alegre (Brazil) and the Museum of Contemporary Art of the Serralves Foundation, in Porto (Portugal). The pictures by Marco Introini provide an original interpretation of Siza’s work and enable to get a deeper understating of the conceptual and creative project upon which his work is based. The two museums, designed in different times, testify the thoughtful approach by the Portuguese maestro towards the peculiar features of the place, his sensitivity in expressing the relation between architecture and landscape, leading to extremely poetical results.
‘Expo after expo’ showcases the vision of five photographers on the urban and environmental heritage of five Expo’s realized in Europe: a sort of photographic report on the current state of Lisbon, Hannover, Seville, Saragoza and Switzerland, fixed through the lens of Gabriele Basilico, Marco Introini, Claudio Sabatino, Claudio Gobbi, and Maurizio Montagna. The International Exhibitions, from last century to nowadays, have always been a great occasion to represent national identities and organizational skills, with a remarkable deployment of means and great material involvement on the part of the cities hosting the events, both on an architectural and on an infrastructure level.
‘European Architecture Award Ugo Rivolta 2009′ is an exhibition based on the award organized by the Ordine degli Architetti di Milano, the association of Milan architects, aiming at fostering the research and the debate on social housing in Europe. The 2009 edition of the Award, characterized by high-profile projects from several European countries, underlines the different types of financial resources and of social and normative contexts, making the debate between participants stimulating and complex. The exhibition will also showcase the four finalists of the first edition of the Ugo Rivolta award and the 24 projects chosen for the final phase of the second edition, selected according to their level of sustainability and to the overall quality of the environment constructed.
‘CCS – Caracas’, a photographic exhibition by Stefano Graziani, an investigation on the city of Caracas, in the 23 Enero neighbourhoods and the informality of the barrios; a research on the features of self-construction and self-management in the barrios, accompanied by selected material on several ‘gated communities‘.
‘Stanzas’ are the shots taken by Stefano Graziani in Yona Friedman’s home. Architect Yona Friedman has taught in many American universities and has collaborated with the United Nations and with Unesco. He is the author of a far-reaching consideration upon the use of architecture in contemporary society, that he has interlaced with various fields of knowledge, from sociology to communication theory, from philosophy to art. For his reflection he has created the term ‘feasible utopias‘.
‘Vedetta d’Opicina’, The Opicina Lookout, is an exhibition showcasing the projects of young designers that aims at reconstructing the panoramic Lookout in Opicina (near Trieste), organized by the Committee for the separate administration of the civic heritage of the town of Opicina, with the support of the OAPPC. The contest is based upon a project seen as an important stage within the development and enhancement policies of the tourist and natural aspect of the Carso territory, besides being a recovery of the cultural and traditional elements that have characterized the social and sports city life during the 20th century.
‘London – Trieste’. Projects for Trieste, 4th and 5th year student work, curated by Andrew Peckham and Dusan Decermic, Department of Architecture, University of Westminster, London UK.
ACTIVITIES
The Activities provide an opportunity for proposal and construction, through which we will try to determine and carry out all the actions required to trigger off or spread processes and projects whose goal is to improve and transform the city.
Three very different activities, in terms of features, structure and timing, are scheduled:
‘atelier Green (s)trip’. Trieste’s territory is placed amidst the Carso plateau and the sea, and is characterized by a neat coastal line, yet profoundly altered by infrastructures. On the contrary, the inland layout is more complex and articulated, with woodlands and fields running through it and penetrating into the city. Working on the re-design of their configuration, but also using the imagination to re-interpret them as places capable of accommodating new uses and re-appropriation and management modalities, may become an opportunity to provide the city with a new role and to establish a new virtuous relation between the city and the natural environment. The Atelier is structured as a place for debate. Its goal is not to to conceive ‘closed-in’ projects, but rather to ‘teach’ and to discuss on themes, issues, transformation potentialities, starting from a thoughtful interpretation of spaces, of the way they are conceived and employed, by talking with people who inhabit and use them. The concrete results of the Atelier are not definable a priori: on the contrary, they will be the output of a work-in-progress that may stretch even beyond the two weeks dedicated to the initiative, and develop also after its conclusion.
‘Space and ri-creA(c)tion’.Free workshop devoted to children and organized by the architect Christina Kruml in collaboration with the association AnDanDes and the Social Cooperatives Querciambiente and La Quercia. Children from 7 to 11 years old, divided in groups and handed by a team of adults, will learn the techniques of construction and the properties of materials..
‘set-up-and-recycle’. Each ‘ephemeral’ event will inevitably produce ‘leftovers’, often not re-used. In today’s economic and environmental context it is not sustainable to produce big events deploying great financial efforts. From this viewpoint, the entire setting up of the event will the subject of a workshop organized by NABA Nuova Accademia di Belle Arti of Milan, an innovative educational institution and at the same time a dynamic cultural and artistic centre, in collaboration with Edilmaster and Tosetto Allestimenti, the main technical sponsor of the event.
ENCOUNTERS
They are the ‘core’ of the whole event. A place for reflection and cultural interchange, encounters are a unique opportunity to exchange ‘knowledges’, and to interact on the relation between architecture, the city and the territory.
Three main themes, each of them developed in various dedicated days, will include lectures, encounters and debates, all closely connected with the other events.
‘THE ARCHITECTURAL PROFESSION IN EUROPE’ will open the event: its goal is to provide an outline of the architectural profession in Italy and Europe, of its relation with the community, the market and with local institutions.
‘landscape and urban green areas’, will focus on the system of urban green areas as the main asset upon which the strategies to improve the standard of living in our cities are based. Today, the borders between the city and the countryside are inevitably blurred and the environmental issues become more and more relevant and urgent, so that the design and planning of green areas become the necessary means to improve our standard of living, but also to provide our cities with a new identity, a ‘green structure’ that the European Union itself recommends in order to improve the sustainable urban handling of our territories.
‘housing’. In recent years, following a period of scarce interest in the theme of housing, also due to less and less available resources on a national level, the need was felt to promote a housing policy in order to realize, with upgrading interventions or new constructions, new diversified housing typologies, with flexible and easy-to-use solutions and integrated services, asking for the involvement of public institutions and private initiatives at various levels.
‘urban visions’, will be assigned the task to ‘draw the conclusions’ of the event, by giving ample room to the design experiences dealing with the contemporary city, a city that has been obliged to change its transformation rules to adjust to the changes of modern society. Many cities in Italy and Europe are now equipped with new instruments capable of dealing with the changes through ‘design by scenario’, or through ‘urban vision’ solutions, that is to say, with all those initiatives that are being already carried out in many cities worldwide, being aware that, within the frame of the rules for the new millennium and the related challenges, a new vision and a future scenario expressing the ideals, the values and the aims of goal-setters and movers are the key factors we require to face the challenges of the contemporary world.
SIDE EVENTS
Side events will be numerous and varied, and will take place both at the ex Pescheria and around the city.
‘Archiprix Italia 2010’ - In the wake of the remarkable success of the first edition, that was closed by the awarding ceremony held in Turin within the 2008 UIA XXIII World Congress of Architecture, and the publication of the accompanying catalogue, the CNAPPC is promoting the second edition of the Archiprix Award. Called Archiprix Italia 2010, this particular edition features a special prize awarded by the judging Committee to best dissertation thesis dedicated to a project dealing with natural calamities, aiming at focusing, with a constructive attitude, on the disastrous earthquakes and floods that, in 2009, have unfortunately affected important historical Italian centres such as L’Aquila and the area surrounding Messina. The exhibition will take place in the fascinating setting of the upper floor hall of the Revoltella Museum, close to the roof top terrace.
The 8th edition of the Rassegna Biennale di Architettura, the biennial architecture festival, and the 5th Marcello D’Olivo Award, organized by the Association of Architects of the Friuli Venezia Giulia region “Arte&Architettura” that will showcase at the Revoltella Museum selected architecture works realized on the national territory from 2002 up to now.
The ‘URSUS multimedia project’, organized by cultural association Gruppo78, curated by Maria Campitelli, is based on a project by Daniela Frausin for ‘La città radiosa’, (The radiant city) comprising a vertical dance show performed by dance company IL POSTO accompanied by the Marco Castelli Small Ensemble (sax, loops and live electronics) and by a multi-projection show, a video-graphic project conceived by Cecilia Donaggio, to be held on the mobile structure located at the Molo IV.
‘open studios’: the members of the Association of architects will be asked to open up their studies for an event modelled upon the 1999 ‘Atelier ouverts’ that started in Strasbourg and later spread to the entire Alsace-Lorraine and Baden-Wurttemberg departments from 2004. The aim of such events is to promote the work of architects who will meet the visitors in the very place of ‘production’. Architects who will choose to meet the citizens outside their studios will be allowed to use the hall within the Association’s premises.
‘disEnchantments’: local cultural associations will be invited to propose their own exhibitions in total autonomy, yet within the curatorial context fixed by the event. The openings of the single events will have to be agreed according to the general calendar of the whole event.
‘a bookshop in the fish shop’: during the first two weeks of the event a local bookshop will occupy temporarily the bookshop inside the Salone degli Incanti and, at the same time, the cultural association Mimexity will organize the presentation of books related to the themes of the event.
‘party’: two events that will take place during the week-ends of the event, the opening party and a final party with a DJ set.
‘bar/DJ’: during the event the bar inside the Salone degli Incanti and the space in front of the main entrance will host a temporary hangout run by the staff of a well-known local club.
