La dematerializzazione contemporanea delle superfici

EDITORIAL
This issue represents the first experiment of the On
Walls working group, formed by sociologists, historians
of arts, architects, cultural studies researchers,
criminologists and philosophers. Contributions to this
issue come mainly from architects who study urban
surfaces and ethnographers who have studied the
practices of the actors who, painting walls, use them
as “outdoor galleries” or as political means to claim
identities.
Walls can be approached from many different angles.
Reflection can be addressed to both the relations
between social actors and the material artifacts that
mediate them. To study walls inherently leads to the
analysis of the nature of social space, as well as to
experimenting directly the transformations related to
their many tactical uses.
This last theme, which in this issue can only be
introduced, will be at the core of the festival Cities
at the Wall (www.citta-al-muro.org) that will take
place in Trento (Italy) from 11 to 25 July 2008. The
event, curated by Eva Maffei, Francesca Quadrelli,
Andrea Mubi in collaboration with the association
Universitando, features as a parallel event to the
contemporary art biennale Manifesta 7. During
Cities at the Wall the streets and the squares will be
transformed by the action of contemporary artists
who interpret the material support of the wall in the
most diverse ways, ranging from the classic graffiti
writing to more conceptual forms of art. On 11 and
12 July a seminar will unite academic research and
and artistic pratice in order to explore the profoundly
political consequences of the usage of horizontal and
vertical spaces in the city.
Blu
(Bologna)
Photo credit: Nini
5