Narrare lo spazio fisico e sociale: arte pubblica e metamorfosi del margine. Il caso studio del progetto di arte muraria nel quartiere 167 b/ San Giovanni Battista di Lecce

Abstract

Narrating physicaland social space: public art and metamorphosis from margin. The case study of the street art project 167 Art Project. In recent years, more and more italian suburbs are experiencing internal transformations, where experimentation with contemporary art forms, such as street art, are a relevant aid during the renewal process of a given urban and social context. The hypothesis asserted is that urban art, as a result of a participatory choice, could become a form of expression capable of safeguarding the redefinition of the identity of a place. The contribution, which looks at the social studies of the process of artification, is a first attempt to explore the narration of urban space as a result of the dialogue among public art, territory and community. The reflection stems from the considerations developed in Italy in the 1970s by the art historian and militant art critic Enrico Crispolti on "relational art" and on the figure of the artist as a "social worker", who places co-operation and the sharing of the artistic project at the centre of his interests through the development of an active and collective participation. By breaking with the classic paradigm that until then had confined art to conventional spaces, this approach has helped to broaden social reflections with respect to the new perspectives dictated by modernity on the usability of the artistic product. What does urban art tell us about? Where does it start from and where does it arrive? The contribution attempts to reason on the transformations that start from the construction of visual narratives that do not distort and make the urban periphery fall into rhetoric. It does so through a preliminary study based on an initial survey of observations and in-depth interviews of the case related to the urban art project 167 Art Project in the suburbs of Lecce, coordinated by cultural Association 167/B street with the active participation of the community living in the neighbourhood.