The Regenerators. Action 1
a performative project by Irene Pittatore and Annelies Vaneycken. 2012
Curated by Brice Coniglio and Nicoletta Daldanise on the occasion of viadellafucina 1st edition, the AIR program organized by the cultural association Kaninchen-Haus (within the call for proposal Generazione Creativa of Compagnia di San Paolo, Torino)
Preparatory work for The Regenerators – Action 1. Ph Alessandro De Michieli
Che tipo di interventi artistici gli abitanti, le istituzioni, gli artisti si aspettano o pensano siano necessari per il quartiere di Porta Palazzo a Torino?
Una riflessione sul ruolo e sulle responsabilità dell’artista chiamato ad operare per la rigenerazione urbana, in relazione ad aree segnate da drastiche trasformazioni e disagio sociale. Un confronto pubblico con esperti e abitanti di Porta Palazzo è stato proposto, in Piazza della Repubblica a Torino, nella forma di “opera d’arte”: la discussione si è svolta intorno a un tavolo dalla prospettiva incerta disegnato al suolo e posto al centro di una grande cornice dotata di didascalia.
La piazza, che è cuore del mercato e di numerose attività commerciali, ha recuperato per un momento la sua funzione di spazio preposto al pubblico dibattito e confronto. Al dibattito sono stati invitati una serie di esperti in arte pubblica, trasformazioni urbane e processi di gentrification: Lisa Parola e Luisa Perlo, curatrici (a.titolo), Giovanni Semi e Alberto Vanolo (docenti di Sociologia e Geografia all’Universita di Torino) e un rappresentante della fondazione bancaria sostenitrice del programma di residenza artistica. Alla curatrice Nicoletta Daldanise, munita di targhetta identificativa di guida artistica e mediatrice culturale, è stato chiesto di distribuire biglietti d’ingresso all’opera e di invitare i passanti a partecipare alla discussione.
Which kind of artworks do the inhabitants/ institutions/ artists want/ need/ expect for the neighborhood of Porta Palazzo in Turin?
A reflection on the role of art and the artists in relation to the interventions of urban requalification ongoing in the neighborhood.
The first action of the project resulted in a public performance in the middle of Piazza della Repubblica. A public discussion with experts and citizens has been proposed in the shape of an ‘artwork’: the table of the public debate, enclosed by a frame, has been drown on the floor and described by a big a caption.
The square, which is the center of the market and other business activities, took back its role of place for the cultural debate. Irene Pittatore and Annelies Vaneycken invited to the round table a series of experts in public art, urban transformation and processes of gentrification: Lisa Parola and Luisa Perlo, art curators (collective a.titolo), Giovanni Semi and Alberto Vanolo (professors of Sociology and Economic geography at the University of Torino) and a representative of the bank foundation that supports the residency program. The curator Nicoletta Daldanise, as an art guide equipped with nameplate, invited the public to participate to the talk by handing out free admission tickets and explaining the work.
The Regenerators – Action 1. Ph Alessandro De Michieli
The Regenerators – Action 1. Ph Alessandro De Michieli
“The artists want to question their own role and responsibility in front and inside the community and the institution, which promoted the interventions of urban re-qualification in the area of Porta Palazzo. Using ironically the term/definition of “regenerators” they undertake a path of critical acquaintance, dialogue and restitution of the different points of view of the research. In the show they will have the video documentation and the photos of the action of 24th October in Piazza della Repubblica. The artists set up a round table in the open air square where the market takes place, where experts and citizens could talk about art and re-qualification strategies in the district. Beyond being the place of commercial activities, this action gives the square another ancient role as agorà: the place for the cultural debate“. Text by Nicoletta Daldanise
The Regenerators – Guidelines for practices and methods. 2012
Exhibitions
– Cittadellarte Fondazione Pistoletto, Arte al Centro di una Trasformazione Sociale Responsabile, sezione ARTInRETI Pratiche artistiche e trasformazione urbana in Piemonte (October 2012), in the show has been exposed the poster Guidelines for practices and methods, that presents objectives, intervention strategies, methods and steps of the work developed in Porta Palazzo.
– Solo show for the end of the residency program Viadellafucina ANNO I – Percorsi collaborativi a Porta Palazzo: per un nuovo modello di residenza, in the exhibition the results of the two months residency and the documentation of the Action 1 (Reframing the Action) and the project of a second intervention, Action 2.
– Solo show at nb notabene, Festival di Architettura in Città 2014, in the exhibition the project The Regenerators – Action 1 and research documentation for the creation of an artist’s book that reflects on the proliferation of artistic practices in the public sphere and the reasons why they leave the traditional exhibition spaces.
Talk
In 2013 and 2014 The Regenerators has been presented in Torino:
– to the resident artists and curators of Market Zone, at K-Hole
– to experts and citizens at K-Hole and in the occasion of We-Traders exhibition
– to the students of the course of Sociology of urban cultures (prof. Giovanni Semi) at Campus Luigi Einaudi of the University of Torino.
Press
– Video interview to Irene Pittatore, by Contemporary Art, about the exhibition The Regenerators – Reframing the action: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OwWSH_yTOLY
– Article by Loredana Mascheroni on Domus web about the residency program and The Regenerators: http://www.domusweb.it/it/interviste/2012/11/26/viadellafucina-anno-primo.html