Lavinia Tribiani – Zsuzsa Bakonyi: MONUMENTOL’AQUILA – A monument to the city of L’Aquila

Curated by: Gabriella Csizek

Open to the public:
July 31 – October 4, 2015
on Weekdays 2pm - 7pm
on Weekends 11am - 7pm

Project description
The city of L’Aquila, located in the heart of Italy, was hit by a strong earthquake in 2009, which the city has not recovered ever since from. Real estate speculation, controversies on reconstruction, impotent media and ambiguous political acts followed, leading to the disillusionment of the inhabitants and a disability of recovering fast from the trauma of the natural disaster. The medieval city center, which rather resembles a ghost town today, echoes the lethargy of the city’s inhabitants.
The project consists of a series of twenty-five photographs that portray citizens in groups standing across some of the most significant places of their city. They are all shown with their bare feet touching the cobbled stones of piazzas, the ground of gardens or road surfaces, as if, like shrubs, they had grown out of that very land that they belong to. They express their strong feeling of belonging with tenacity and confidence, longing or hoping to see the rebirth of their city.
The artists aimed to create an opportunity for people to make a statement to the world: here we were, here we are, and here we will remain. The main purpose of the project is to raise awareness about the real conditions of the city and thus keep alive the debate on one of the major Italian cities, which much has been said about – except for its beauty and the attachment of its inhabitants.