Being an active part of a community.
When we decided to unite each of our abilities by creating our Atelier, the primary purpose and motivation was to be able to use our work, our attributes, to become part of a social dialogue. We wanted to enter a community and share its attributes, expectations and problems, in order to search together for a new way forward so that all the potential in play would have the shared goal of improvement and change.
The local area
The first thing we noted about Castelfiorentino was the strength of the young local government dealing with a territory that comes from an important industrial production past and has been suffering from its collapse in recent years. The strength of this local administration, that is made up of young members, is that they are more visionary and hold a concrete and fact-based vision. Instead of wanting to bring back the Castelfiorentino of yesteryear, their focus is to take the city towards a renaissance of new perspectives.
The aims of the project
The project is aimed at the creation and implementation of sustainable art projects as a means of social integration and urban and environmental restoration. The art must interpret, be at the service of, and add value to the community living in Castelfiorentino. The project’s goal is to ensure the pluralism of the cultural offering and incentivize new opportunities for cultural and professional growth to foster emerging artists and the younger generations, relative to contemporary visual arts. But it is also aimed at encouraging projects that increase the exposure of younger audiences to various styles of contemporary visual arts in dialogue with the local area through the use of new educational and training pathways.
The project also aims to enhance excellence and territorial identities that have a new vision regarding the potential and possibilities of reusing production scraps.
The subjects involved in the project are all the players that make up the cultural soul of the city: citizens, the local government, churches, cultural associations and foundations acting as mediators, as well as companies and artists. They are all bound together by their active collaboration.
The artists are matched with places that need to be revitalized (urban spots used on a daily basis by citizens, and urban and natural sites) which are then used as the space for a sustainable artistic project that meets the needs of the community. Artists interact with the local community and territory, involving the citizens themselves in the commissioning and implementation of their projects.
Methods and goals can be found in the regional call for proposals “Toscanaincontemporanea2016.” Last but not least is the aim to build a territorial event that, by involvement and prominence, will become one of national and international interest over time.
2019– Davide dall’Osso’s Widespread Exhibition in Castelfiorentino (FI)
