TENSIONI URBANE

curated by Bert Theis

Isola Art Center, Milano, Italy, 2005

“In 2005, the artist was asked to intervene in the context of the Isola Art Center in Milan, where civic groups and artists were fighting for the survival of a neighbourhood arts centre, in opposition to the plans of a multinational, supported by the city council, to gentrify the area. In the work he produced on this occasion, Tensioni urbane(Urban Tensions), a steel cable was stretched across the spaces of the self-run centre, connecting them with the neighbourhood. The cable was under tension, like the subjects of the conflict that was under way, and the existence of a space that eluded urban planning dictates represented the possibility to express a different reading of the building trade and the related economy, of the management of public affairs and of its representatives, and finally, of an idea of culture that addresses and connects with the requests of the neighbourhood, as emphasized by the taut cable.”

Matteo Lucchetti