WHAT

A BOOK TO/BE …

a project by Irene Pittatore
curated by Nicoletta Daldanise

in collaboration with a.titolo, Giovanni Semi, Alberto Vanolo

A BOOK TO/BE. A DIY user manual for art practices in urban regenerations  is one of the winning projects of the 16th edition of the open call DE.MO Movin’ Up – mobility program for Italian artists in the world, curated by the General Direction for landscape, fine arts, architecture and contemporary arts – Ministero per i Beni e le Attività Culturali and GAI – Association of the Circuit of Young Italian Artists. During a period of residence in Berlin, the artist and the curator compared their experience of art interventions in the neighbourhood of Porta Palazzo (Turin) with the dynamics of urban regeneration involving artists and cultural workers in Mitte, Kreuzberg and Neukölln (Berlin).

After a careful context-specific analysis, carried on in synergy with Movin’ Up, Kaninchen-Haus (supported by Compagnia di San Paolo) and Archive Books (publisher), an artist book will be conceived in relation to these issues and published in December 2016.

The final result will be an ”ironic” user manual about contemporary artistic practices in relation to the public realm.

The aim is to investigate the reasons and consequences of the use of ”creativity” by governments and private investors in urban regeneration projects, the potential contaminations between artistic practices, the social realm, public entertainment and spontaneous socio-cultural embedding.

The project, as a whole, was started by Irene Pittatore and Annelies Vaneycken on the occasion of Viadellafucina AIR (2012), organized in Turin by Kaninchen-Haus. Their performative intervention consisted in setting up a round table in the middle of Piazza della Repubblica (Porta Palazzo, Turin), where a debate about art and urban regeneration strategies on the neighborhood took place. The square, which is mainly a center for trade activities, temporarily took back its role of place for the cultural debate, as the ancient agorà.

Before leaving to Berlin, Irene Pittatore and Nicoletta Daldanise focused on a preparatory study with Porta Palazzo inhabitants and social workers (Tavolo Tessere Interesse), in order to highlight possible themes and contradictions in the use of art in the public space. In particular, a series of workshops highlighted the risks of manipulation and normalization in the representation of such a complex context.

The result was the starting point for a residency in Berlin, where the artist book will be designed. These web-pages will host an “open newsroom” in order to make visible the progresses of this artwork.