UP – Urban People
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Photo of the set up of “UP-Urban People” project by Vanessa Vettorello
The project
The project focused on issues of inclusion, insecurity (real and perceived), multi-ethnicity and marginality of four suburban districts of the city of Milan (Giambellino-Lorenteggio, Adriano-Padova-Rizzoli, Corvetto-Chiaravalle-Porto di Mare, QT8-Gallaratese), proposing new and innovative looks towards themes often ideologized by the media and politics.
The project objectives were to:
- foster a critical and shared reading of the potentials and critical aspects of the changes in the territories in progress through the creative languages of the visual and multimedia arts;
- turn the spotlight on areas considered marginal and problematic of the city, but full of suggestions and potential beauty;
- promote and enhance the work of young local and international artists, who will obtain an important showcase for their work;
- thanks to the support of the administration, the project intends to contribute to the construction of policies increasingly aware of the data coming from urban contemporaneity and widespread and qualified perception, starting from the experience and creativity of young people who, thanks to their biographical experience, can approach the topic the suburbs and integration with new prospects to overcome critical situations;
- foster new cognitive paths to visit and experience Milan in an unusual way and to help change through the innovative gaze of the artists, the point of view of the observer is a citizen or a tourist, also in connection with the tourism promotion and marketing strategies urban area.
The launch of the call and the selection
BJCEM Association has prepared an international call, in Italian and English, subsequently approved by the Municipality of Milan and disseminated through its social channels (website www.BJCEM.org, Facebook page, Twitter and newsletter) involving the whole network of members (55 members from 21 EuroMediterranean countries).
The executive office collected and divided 97 candidacies received by country and member of origin, sharing them with the Municipality of Milan via Dropbox.
On November 12, 2018, the jury was convened in Milan, composed by Anna Prat, Manager in charge of the suburban development unit of the Municipality of Milan (Chairman of the jury); Andrea Tripaldi, Project Manager cultural area of modern and contemporary art pole, network office and cultural cooperation, Federica Candelaresi, General Secretary BJCEM, for the selection of the 8 artists (4 photographers and 4 videomakers) to be involved in the project.
4 photographers were selected (Ciro Battiloro, Valentina Casalini, Maria Contreras Coll and Agnese Morganti) and 4 videomakers (Sabrina Iannucci, Orestis Mavroudis, Beatrice Surano and Carlo Tartivita). Even if not selected, the jury decided to assign a special mention for the quality of the works to the following artists: Alberto Morici, Camillo Pasquarelli, Valeria Scrilatti, Monica Taverna and Alessandro Tricarico
The final event
On December 18th at 5.30 pm the final presentation started, with the following program:
17.30 Institutional greetings
Councilor for Culture of the City of Milan, Filippo Del Corno
Manager in charge of the Piano Periferie Development Unit, Anna Prat
Director of the Youth, University and Higher Education Area, Fabrizio Chirico
Secretary General BJCEM, Federica Candelaresi
* 18.00 Presentation of project results Leave the sign
Introduced by Federica Candelaresi
Speakers Federico Manzone and Angela Avila
* 19.00 Presentation of the UP-Urban People project results
Introduced by Federica Candelaresi
The following spoke: Vanessa Vettorello, Davide Greco, Federico Tisa and Vincenzo Greco of Fluxlab
The artists involved from the residency intervene (Ciro Battiloro, Valentina Casalini, Maria Contreras Coll, Agnese Morganti, Sabrina Iannucci, Orestis Mavroudis, Beatrice Surano, Carlo Tartivita)
* 20.00 Small refreshments
The exhibited works were as follows:
– Incredibly close. Photographic project by Valentina Casalini. (Series of 20 photographs printed on fine art paper).
– Spectrum. Video by Beatrice Surano.
– Food. Photographic project by Agnese Morganti. (Series of photographs printed on fine art paper + fanzine with images and texts)
– Mole. Video by Sabrina Iannucci.
– Kicking. Video by Orestis Mavroudis.
– Sounds of the suburbs. Photographic project by Maria Contreras Coll. (Series of 12 photographs printed on fine art paper + postcards available for the audience + audio with excerpts from interviews with the subjects portrayed)
– New beginning. Photographic project by Ciro Battiloro. (photo book + large fine art prints)
– Contemplation. Video by Carlo Tartavita.
Many thanks for letting us use their spaces to:
