Quartieri della memoria was an artwork for public spaces created under the direction of Alessandro Marianantoni. It focused on oral memories and set up a theater of memory as a cultural rite in the audience’s mind. Rieti, a town in the center of Italy, was chosen as the project’s case study—because of the way the relationship between its residents and public space changed due to economic policy.
The pre-design phase consisted of cultural research on anthropological meanings, focussed on the history that builds the identity of social places. It investigated social-economical aspects—reviewing documentation of the area, and conducting numerous interviews with its citizens. Those interviewed also provided old photos, which, along with their recorded stories, contributed to a data collection.
Particular attention was placed on the relationship of the river with three neighborhoods the river crossed, populated primarily by those holding traditional occupations. All three neighborhoods were impacted by excessive floods (“pianare”), which impacted the rhythm of daily life, and forced them to move in and out of their homes, and change job according to the season. In the local dialect, the term “pianara” stems from “making flat”, i.e., once the flooding happens, the water flattens the neighborhoods.
Provincia di Rieti, Italy and Los Angeles—2005-2006.
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