The
exhibition, Disobbedienti, made in collaboration with Miklos Erhardt,
consisted of the reconstruction of some fragments of a specific environment
and a specific context, in the 'neutral' environment and context of a
gallery. The specific context was that of Corso Brescia 14, Torino, Italy,
the office and social centre run by the Senza Frontiere Cooperative. This
is the location of weekly meetings by the Torino Disobbedienti'. Disobbedienti
(the disobedients) are a nationwide network of leftist political activists
with a similar philosophy towards protest i.e. that of provokative but
peaceful disobedience.
In the gallery, a creative work in the traditional sense of the term was
not produced, but rather some of the elements e.g. wall decorations, posters,
lighting, leaflet shelves, video projector stand, of this quite specific
environment were selected, photographed, then reproduced in the gallery.
The atmosphere evoked was the one of an activists' club. Each element
which was reproduced, had its original reference image exhibited next
to it, in the form of a photograph. Other elements of the exhibition included
textual information and short video clips on a monitor which illustrate
some of the activities of the group. On the opening night, a beamer projected
one of the meetings of the group in the same space that is reproduced
in the gallery. Many of the fragments reproduced can be seen in the background.
At this meeting, on 12th September, they were planning for going to Treviso
the following Sunday (15th September) for a demo in support of 15 migrant
families who had occupied a disused public building for two years. The
local council decided to evict them and destroy the building, so the families
were homeless and staying outside the town's prominent cathedral as a
protest. The other topic was about the planning of a large national demonstration
to be held in Torino against the immigrant detention centre at Corso Brunellesci.
As it has a big wall around it and they couldn't get in - they were planning
to paint the wall, as a metaphor - in the way the Berlin wall was painted
- as a first step towards the wall being destroyed.
The video also includes
an interview with some of the group's members. In it, they speak about
the factors that influence their position, about their connections to
other groups nationally and worldvide, the directions and purposes of
their activity. During the exhibition, in the environement of this reconstructed
Disobbedienti meeting space, we organisied a meeting of leading Hungarian
activists that were planning to go to the European Social Forum in Florence
and posed them the same questions, recorded their responses and plan to
translate and play to the Torino Disobbedienti back in their original
environment.
The social purpose of the exhibition was to make connections, create a
dialogue and give information through presenting, in the relatively apolitical
Hungarian art and social scene, a concrete example of the activity of
one of the players that make up Italy's lively array of contemporary social
movements.
Exhibitions:
Disobbedienti, Liget Galerie, Budapest. 31 Oct - 15 Nov, 2002.
More Information at: www.bighope.hu/disobbedienti
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