n. 3 / march 019 All literary and artistic property rights are reserved.
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A MAGAZINE ON ARCHITECTURE AND VISUAL ARTS BY STUDENTS FROM “MEDITERRANEA” UNIVERSITY OF REGGIO CALABRIA
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OUI, QUI MAGAZINE f ou r - mo n th magaz in e f ou nded in 2 0 17 n . 3 / marc h 0 19 O n 8 Ju n e 2 0 18, th e maga zine ha s b een regis tered a t the Court o f Re ggio Ca la br i a , s ta rti n g w ith th e n . 2 issue I S SN 2 611- 7592 /ou iqu imagazine E d i to r i a l s t a f f tel +39 34 6 37 2 66 0 7 to s u bmi t su ggestio n s and for info email o u iqu i magaz i n e@gma il.com E d i to r - i n - c h i e f M a rio I do n e P u b li s h e r R u ggiero Galati Casmiro A r t is t i c d i r e c t o r Cl a u di a Gi orn o L or e n z o A rlia A r ian n a I so la T r a ns l a t i o n s A r ian n a I so la Co v er: graph ic elabo ration of “U p stairs�, Diego So ttilotta , 201 8
Lost - in my will of renounce and in the indifference of my generation, that’s how I feel. It’s like everyone is standing still, or trying to retrace those-who-came-before’s steps, beating around the bush. I’ve already tried to overcome the deadlock, sometimes I even mend my way and wait for what is waiting for me - I know I want to be ready for what is coming. At times I manage to achieve more than enough but only in words, by making guesses and proposing measures, making deals with people all over the world, designing monuments all the time, planning study programs and writing books, and they all have impressive titles. I’m convinced I’m doing that for me, for the common good, for my bottomless ego and for some change I fancy. Everything’s here, in my head. But no matter how hard, fuzzily I try, I still move in a circle hoping to find the answer - while wandering around aimlessly. I feel pierced by the future, like stuck in the life crisis of one who knows how to achieve something but doesn’t know if he wants to, or if he’s able to get it. Shall I (give up) hope? I live in hunger. A L E S S A N D R O P E R R I Student at the Faculty of Architecture of “Mediterranea” University of Reggio Calabria.
Where do we come from
What are we Where are we going? An interview with DIEGO SOTTILOTTA
Diego, you depicted Reggio Calabria as a real “non-place”: an isolated and alienated metropolis. Can you explain the reason of this choice? And what about the “No Future For You” inscription on the war memorial of Lungomare? I decided to depict Reggio as a "non-place" city for various reasons. First of all, I've always thought that our is an aesthetically pleasing city, concerning landscape and geographic position, but we have never made the most of it, in terms of economic aspects. The results is that nowadays Reggio Calabria has fallen to the last position in the urban-quality-of-life ranking, as well as many other cities of South of Italy did. It follows that the younger age group of population is leaving, or have already left, the town; and that Reggio's cultural life is dying with no hope for resurrecting the fortunes of tourism. I've imagined a Reggio of tomorrow, with super modern but empty buildings, like a concrete desert. The Quote "No Future For You" comes from the popular '70 punk band Sex Pistol's song. I decided to impress it on one of the most representative location of Reggio Calabria, the war memorial, as a way to draw attention to the current situation of our city. It is as Reggio itself speaks to any interested and enthusiastic young guy of the city to tell him: "Hey! There's no place for you. We only want plastic people whose only interest is to go clubbing and drinking... you're annoying, we don't need worthwhile ideas like yours, walk away!" I know that this is an apocalyptic prospect, but it's becoming more and more realistic day by day. 1
In your illustrations classic-shaped figures often stand out from the background. It seems that you first picked up ancient faces and statues from an old time and then have relocated them in a new, minimal setting. Why did you choose to link two such different worlds? I've always been fascinated by ancient art. Since I was a child, ancient greek and roman artists have captivated me so much, especially in their quest for aesthetical perfection (I'm for example thinking of sculpture). Then, growing up, I found myself with more of a taste for minimal art and for such artists like Barnett Newman, Piet Mondrian and the colorful Memphis Group by Ettore Sottsass. Finally, when two years ago I started my self-taught career in digital art, I decided I'd like to explore and mix this two only apparently opposing
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ways of expression. I meant to show the discomfort felt by these classic figures in a geometric and stiff context, and the mockery which they undergo to for having strived to perfection. You know, it's like when a civilization starts to decline because of a new population or a brand new ideology that wipe out the one which pre-exists. And if you add a little bit of esoterica, some John Carpenter's, retro gaming and a wide range of music, everything that follows is the result of my work. 1 D i e g o Sottilotta, T u n n e l 2 D i e g o Sottilotta, M o k a D r i n k
According to your own definition, the concepts of citylife is depictable as follows: beehive-like buildings, geometrical interiors and punk interiors. You said so in a recent interview to “Il Quotidiano”. Are you stating a fact about nowadays world or is this an underlying invective?
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I believe mine is a punk kind of art. The reason lies more in the way I do it than in a supposed, latent invective. I usually work with AutoCad, a software that isn't normally good for artistic design or illustration: I'm a self-taught artist also concerning the technical side. Once in a while I mean to include messages or some quotes. (e.g. See the quote "No Future For You" in the first question). I always try to include a message (or a provocation) in my artwork : I firmly believe art has a social content to communicate in addition to the aesthetical pleasure to convey. Therefore, choosing to illustrate alienating, replicated and monotonous buildings is a metaphorical way to say that we are sticking to certain aesthetical and social patterns and therefore our homes and ways of living are the expression of this rampant conformism.
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Student of Classics at “Alma Mater Studiorum” of Bologna. Born in Rome from an artists’ family, but grown up “down”, in Reggio Calabria, influenced by mythical landscapes that once identified with Magna Grecia. She is interested in the classical world, the contemporary and the human one. 4
3 D i e g o Sottilotta, No Future For You! 4 D i e g o Sottilotta, Modern Age
Sharing community and social innovation in Pensando Meridiano techniques 5
Pensando Meridiano is a Permanent Laboratory which promotes Sustainable Culture, Innovation and Social Cohesion. Born in June 2013 as an association of people under 35 coming from shared university experiences within "Mediterranea" University of Reggio Calabria, it then opened up to other young people coming from Calabria and Sicily. The association has the aim of creating a competent network of young people as active individuals for territorial development, with a participatory and collaborative approach, by exchanging and transferring ideas, knowledge, opportunities and social innovation projects with other communities. The drive for social innovation has come in response to uninterrupted social pressures determined by the lack of satisfaction for basic needs; it also derives from problems related to the waste of resources and to environmental, but also social issues. What does "social innovation" really mean? Pensando Meridiano defines it as "new ideas (products, services and models) which can satisfy social needs in a more effective way than existing alternatives do and that, at the same time, can create new relations and collaborations. In other words, what is good for society and increase opportunities for society itself". All activities are coordinated and put in place by the makers (the ones that "make" the city), through urban sustainable social innovation strategies and tactics shared by building networks with other actors in the territory: social makers (associations, organizations, local authorities...). Makers, active members of the laboratory, with their continuous activity and work form the Laboratory Community and are able to use accreditation of associative curriculum and social funding support, a social policy of circular financial resources management available for support and promotion of learning experiences, purchase of advanced equipment, activation of new visions or dissemination of actions on the territory. Pensando Meridiano is built on three key topics, which are capacity development, city making and knowledge city.
The capacity development, or capacity building, is the process of building individual capacities, which is meant to strengthen and improve the knowledge of each actor: the process by which people, organizations and society systematically stimulate and develop their capability over time to achieve social and economic goals, including through improvement of knowledge, skills, systems, and institutions - within a wider social and cultural enabling environment. (As stated by the United Nations Development Program, 2006) The association promotes a strategy, which is called ErgoSud; it is cultural project whose scientific reference is Professor Consuelo Nava. ErgoSud was born to form and inform all young people from the South of Italy that want to make the most of job and general development opportunities coming from regional, national, and EU programmes. A school for people who want to increase their own skills in coworking, by building and sharing ideas with the help of experts of social and urban innovation for the country. City making is the technique by which it is possible to "create, make the city" thanks to the regeneration actions of both public and private groups, coordinated by
the makers and shared with the community and other actors in the country. This is a method achieved with the help of ReActionCity, a social and urban innovation project made for the metropolitan city of Reggio Calabria. Pilot project in June 2014, it has the purpose of starting a social rescue from below, through the development of new narratives, scenarios and strategies of social cohesion with a direct action in situ of urban makers ("those who make the city", those who make creative visions of cities) and social makers. They have already turned six places of Reggio Calabria, between the centre and the suburbs, into city-labs. The pilot project turned into a permanent innovation scheme for the metropolitan city of Reggio Calabria, in the context of a new perspective towards Europa 2020, and it is always open to new initiatives, such as the latest "ReActionCity Woman", a project on sustainable retraining of a confiscated property from 'ndrangheta in order to realize a social design-studio run by many women in need, for whom the association directed the initiatives "Cantiereevento"and Laboratorio Recycle, planning a set of public and collective moments, in order to transfer the meaning of the initiative to the whole community and to bring life to residual space thanks to objects made up of recycled materials. The knowledge city is "the city that feeds the knowledge, that owns an economy based on knowledge and an environment that helps the creation and the spread of knowledge itself". Through web and social media, the virtual community joins the local one, making possible to transfer and share in an extended way knowledge, experiences and innovative actions. Among the actions that facilitate the spread of knowledge there is Learning City, the technique which Pensando Meridiano uses to propose the learning dimension of the dynamics and transformation phenomena of urban spaces, connecting communities and processes that enable urban, social and environmental regeneration. Learning City proposes actions for the enhancement, correct use and management of collective spaces, which are often of cultural and environmental high standards, and suburbs. To this day, there are two key actions of this technique: the first, in October 2016, which focused on the theme of Reggio Calabria's public spaces, re-reading it through augmented reality
that, through the use of a cardboard designed by ETT Solutions and a georeferenced mapping, returns the vision of the status of three well known places between the centre and the suburbs in their real condition, highlighting the uses that different communities are making of them. The second, from December 2016, is the "Telesio 2.0 Laboratory" project, carried out in cooperation with ActionAid Onlus and the "Telesio-Montalbetti" Comprehensive Institute of Modena (RC) for the reactivation of spaces and cohesion processes in the neighborhood through initiatives shared by teachers, pupils and their parents. Pensando Meridiano promotes this model not only in other urban areas but also in smaller towns and inland areas, confirming its real "metropolitan calling". Since 2016, these territories, which have suffered in the last four decades from phenomena of marginalization and depopulation, losing their ability to offer primary services (health, education, mobility) to citizens, are the scenario for experimentation of the Rural Making Lab, the planning and operational technique of PM for social, cultural, productive and environmental projects for the internal areas of Calabria. Sites are selected as places of experimentation for the activities of some "Laboratories for the growth of territory", which have the aim of triggering processes of inclusion and cohesion for "emerging communities" (young innovators, visitors, entrepreneurs promoting local development, returning citizens, migrants) and are meant to activate local micro-economies and knowledge
5 The “makers” in front of the confiscated p r o p e r t y where there will be the “FabCity”, Reggio Calabria, 2 0 1 8 6 A vision of the “FabCity in Living Lab”, Reggio Calabria 7 Rural Making Lab, Belmonte Calabro (CS), photo ALESSIA P A L E R M I T I 2 0 1 6
through collaborative networks (with a bottomup approach) to respond to the phenomena of marginalization of these territories. From May 2017, this "circular" model has a greater ambition: the "Fabcity" project in Living Lab, a factory of innovation and creativity hosted in a confiscated property in the southern suburbs of Reggio Calabria. A project for social innovation, sustainability and employment for the inclusion of young people. The existing conditions of the building, a confiscated property entrusted by the Municipality of RC to Pensando Meridiano and Reboot, require efforts on an environmental level, because the measure for the redevelopment is a true clean-up and depollution work, because of the presence of asbestos elements on the roof, of a big garbage area and other industrial waste deriving from previous activities and also because of the state of decline of the surrounding areas and neighboring open spaces. The creation of a FabCity in the city, which will be active both inside and outside the factory, is not the mere establishment of a social and production activity of pure concern to the subjects who run it, but a real model of "LivingLab", aimed at urban regeneration. A space for innovation and creativity and a permanent urban laboratory for goods and services, for initiatives of social, technological and creative innovation, of a business-like nature, which seeks to activate training
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From the experiences set out above it emerges that it is therefore necessary to experiment new models of strategic action and innovative techniques, and that they have to be connected to the local development of territories and cities in a global perspective, in order to recover "the creative and doing ability, a power which is able to reconnect the communities with the basic services and products, that is to say primary needs for a more widespread quality of life, through direct tactics and shared actions in the short term for the long". With this in mind, Pensando Meridiano represents a unique and successful model that has been able to achieve internationally recognized awards and acknowledgments. G I U S E P P E M A N G A N O Architect, he graduated from “Mediterranea” University of Reggio Calabria. One of the founding members of “Pensando Meridiano”.
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"Are Humans alone in the Universe?" The question is: how long will it take to get people to the Red Planet? This is one of the great what-ifs in history and it has always triggered Elon Musk, who founded the rocket both fantasies and scientific company SpaceX in 2002, says that researches for the sole purpose of his company is on track to launch finding aliens and life on other planets. people to Mars within five years. And what if it's Man the first That's why SpaceX is working on to settle on other planets? building a space vehicle called the At least a controversial question, Big Falcon Rocket, or BFR, a fully especially here, in our part of the reusable rocket that could reach the world where the socio-economic planet in six months. In the future, backwardness requires to relegate such it could also be used as a regular futurists thoughts to the background. vehicle for people here, on Earth. However, all around the rest of the world, space agencies and research centers are working in a coordinated way in order to let Man be able to soon colonize the Universe. NASA, MIT, SpaceX: everyone there is investigating on a single issue: M a r s . The Red Planet has an orbital period of 687 (Earth) days and the solar days (or Sol) on Mars in only slightly longer than an Earth day: 24 hours, 39 minutes and a bunch of seconds. Mars has seasons like Earth, due to its axial tilt and it is thus considered the most habitable planet in our solar system.
Get to Mars seems easier than never. But what about actual future living conditions? From 2003, NASA has been launching spacecrafts, missions and rovers to study what lies deep beneath the surface of the Planet and if there's any evidence of life in the planet's past and present. Opportunity and Spirit rovers showed that Mars had the perfect conditions in its ancient past to support life. Rovers identified sedimentary rocks that formed late from acidic, rising groundwater: a proof of Mars' watery past. In the last year NASA confirmed the presence of eight ice deposits and ESA's Italian researchers discovered a massive lake of liquid water hidden beneath the planet's southern ice sheets. However, Mars' climate is too cold due to its thin atmosphere and the lack of a magnetic field makes it impossible to retain an ozone layer, which is detrimental in filtering out UV and high energy light. In the light of this big climate challenges, an MIT team led by Valentina Sumini developed a design concept, Redwood Forest City. Sumini describes the project's design and the forest metaphor: "On Mars, our city will mimic a forest using local Martian resources such as ice and water, regolith and sun to support life. The forest symbolizes the potential for outward growth as nature spreads across the Martian landscape". RedWood urban design aims to create domes or tree habitats that can each house up to 50 people. The domes provide open, public spaces containing plants and water; tree habitats would sit atop a network of underground tunnels, like roots, providing access to private spaces and easy transportation to the other tree habitats in the community of 10,000. The roots offer residents protection from cosmic radiation, micrometeorite impacts and extreme thermal variations, in addiction to connectivity. This project design is in line with what J. Hillman said in his "The Politics of Beauty", speaking about the psychological perception of beauty and the need to propose a designs which imitates Nature's forms and proportions . It looks like we are so close to the finish line: because life on Mars is really getting close for us and our actual lifestyle? We only know a thing: future belongs to those who are brave enough to have pipe dreams and make them come true. And we need people like this, especially Here, "Qui".
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W I L L I A M A I E L L O Student at the Faculty of Architecture of “Mediterranea” University of Reggio Calabria.
7 Valentina Sumini, “ R e d w o o d Forest City”, a section
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Three words for Marcello Guido Marcello Guido is an architect born in Acri (CS). He is a student of Bruno Zevi, and he graduated in Rome in 1977. His work, representative of deconstructivist style of architecture in Italy, deals with conceptualisation and dynamism within the borders of Modern Movement. His challenging art seeks to disassociate architecture from every comforting form of narration that merely comes from stereometry, and to reconnect it with a space where there’s no more of hierarchy of construction.
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c r y s t a l l i z e British Crystallise verb 1. form or cause to form crystals. “When most liquids freeze they crystallize “ / 1.1 Make or become definite and clear. “writing can help to crystallize your thoughts” / 2. Usually as adjective “crystallized” / Coat and impregnate (fruit or petals) with sugar as a means of preserving them. “a box of crystallized fruits’
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https://en.oxforddictionaries.com
Imagine you have a three-dimensional figure, like a cube. Think about something that explodes within the cube leaving the outer walls unbroken, but trying, in the process, to leak out the newborn holes on the surface. Now, fancy to capture the exact peak of this e x p l o s i o n : you will be able to see a messy figure made up of triangles, corners and tetrahedrons that nonetheless is submitted to a compositional order.
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8, 13 The exterior and the roof of the Pavilion in S. Giorgio Albanese (CS), 1 9 9 0 - 2 0 0 7 9-10, 16 Piazza Antonio Toscano, Cosenza, 1 9 9 9 - 2 0 0 1
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o v e r l a p verb 1. Extend over so as to cover partly. “the canopy overlaps the house roof at one end” / 1.1 Cover part of the same area of interest, responsibility, etc. “the union’s commitments overlapped with those of NATO” / 1.2. Partly coincide in time. “two new series overlapped”
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Think of having dinner in a crowded place, then to stop for a second in front of your dish and in the end, fork put down, imagine to close your eyes and listen to a multitude of people talking to each other in front of you. The voices' overlap seems to give birth to a new person who holds every single voice and yet is a single being. This is the way in which Guido's last work acts. He's always looking for new shapes to create by overlapping different geometrical elements, trying to emphasize them by using new materials and technologies.
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11, 15 The exterior of Social Centre for Albanian linguistic minorities, San Giorgio Albanese (CS), 1990-93 12 Detail of the ceiling in the hall of the Building Apartments in Via De Rada, Cosenza, 2004-06 14 The relationship b e t w e e n the Skyline Tower and the surrounding buildings, Cosenza, 2007-10 17 Detail of the roof of Social Centre for Senior Citizens, San Giorgio Albanese (CS), 1999-2002 p h o t o CLAUDIA GIORNO 2 0 1 8
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Cosenza is the place where he makes his experiments, where the Skyline Tower skyscraper stands out against the sky with its 77 meters and the Via De Rada residences appear with all their bright colors and reflective surfaces.
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r e s p e c t verb 1. Admire (someone or something) deeply, as a result of their abilities, qualities, or achievements. ‘she was respected by everyone she worked with’ / 2. Have due regard for (someone’s feelings, wishes, or rights) ‘I respected his views’ / 2.1 Avoid harming or interfering with. ‘it is incumbent upon all hill users to respect the environment’ NOUN / 1. mass noun A feeling of deep admiration for someone or something elicited by their abilities, qualities, or achievements. ‘the director had a lot of respect for Douglas as an actor 1.1 The state of being admired or respected ’his first chance in over fifteen years to regain respect in the business’ 2 Due regard for the feelings, wishes, or rights of others. ‘young people’s lack of respect for their parents’
To see Marcello Guido's work is to appreciate the way every single part of his artwork has been linked to the background. Apparently aggressive, Guido's opus shows instead a strong respect for the location and its architectural features. There is an inherent willing to frame every building within its own borders, with a view to create new perspectives and glimpses that provide an image of coherence between the old and the new.
In this way, italian architect's dissonant patterns face the harmonies deeply rooted in the background, whether the latter consists of a hill, of the sea or of a church with its whole story.
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RUGGIEROGALATICASMIRO C L A U D I A G I O R N O from
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