ASSAB ONE
Assab One is a non profit organisation founded by Elena Quarestani that aims at providing artists with a non-conventional environment for research and expression.
In Italian, the title cittàinattesa conceals a pun between “in attesa”, in wait, and “inattesa”, unexpected.
This project wants to create an ideal city, assembled with all the places that. virtually meet the basic requirements of modern life. All the. buildings ended the purpose which they sew built. Some of them would still be able to see the. citizens. Others are simply out of date. Others have remained unfinished. Places ready to transform. In some cases they do so.
A silent. flight is what they are facing. Against the deterioration that slowly crushes their groundwork’s and against nature that. quietly gets back he. spaces which had been. taken away from her.
They are not suburbs of a retreating city, but places scattered through time and in the urban context of a metropolis which challenges the sky by new towers. Our ideal city built with pieces of forgot Milan: one of the most faster growing city in Europe, one of the financial capital in the World, famous for its role in Fashion, Design and trend setting. Metaphor for the Western World.
cittàinattesa è un viaggio in una città ricostruita con pezzi di Milano dimenticati. Una città dormiente, rannicchiata fra grattacieli e grandi opere. È assemblata con luoghi a volte anacronistici, che sembrano aver esaurito la loro missione. Ma anche con edifici che sarebbero ancora in grado di vivere e servire la cittadinanza. È un puzzle di spazi pubblici che ricompongono virtualmente le esigenze primarie del vivere sociale nel mondo moderno.
Incuria, fallimenti, ragioni economiche, motivi politici, progetti abortiti ancor prima di essere compiuti. Sono molteplici le cause che hanno reso questi edifici invisibili e, spesso, rifugio degli “invisibili”.
Non si tratta di periferie di una città in ritirata, ma luoghi sparsi su tutto il tessuto urbano di una metropoli che sfida il cielo con nuove torri. Una Milano assente, troppo distratta dal cementificare ogni vuoto, per ascoltare i silenzi di edifici in attesa di idee e di coraggio. Luoghi che non chiedono di rimanere uguali a loro stessi, ma che sono pronti a trasformar- si adeguandosi a nuove funzioni.
Una lotta silenziosa quella che devono affrontare. Contro il deterioramento che sbriciola piano piano le loro fondamenta e la natura che, quieta, si riprende gli spazi che le sono stati portati via.
Limited edition
Printed on Hahnemühle cotton paper
Dimensions 50 × 40 cm
Exhibition
curated by Alberto Amoretti
introduced by Gabriele Basilico
piuarch –Milano Photoweek 2018
June 4th – 10th 2018
Italia inside Out – Palazzo della Ragione – Milan
21st March – 21st June 2015
Galleria Belvedere – Milan
8th May – 15th June 2013
Casa Testori – Milan
5th October – 4th November 2012
DUEPUNTILAB – Bologna
20th November – 9th December 2012
visit cittàinattesa on DOMUS
Gallery
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Giovanni Hänninen, Via Santa Marta, 18, 20123, Milan, Italy, e-mail: studio@hanninen.it — all images © Giovanni Hänninen 2021