In the article, the concept of atonement, aside from any pessimistic consideration, is referred to the opportunity that this recession brings with it: the global economic situation offers architects the possibility to purify their approach and to return to the basic principles of the profession, abandoning the excesses that have characterised the European architectural panorama and its icon-projects to address reality with a more ethical and aware attitude.
While Spain offers an important viewpoint regarding the change occurring in European architecture, the condition observed by curator Giampiero Sanguigni and Marco Brizzi with the exhibition Triggering Reality. New conditions for art and architecture in the Netherlands, currently on display at Centro Luigi Pecci for Contemporary Art , adds further food for thought to this complex consideration, describing how the global economic dynamics and the political, social and cultural situation of a country are helping to define a new possible horizon for future artistic and architectural production, through the work of eleven practitioners.
![Top: DUS architects' <em>Bucky Bar</em> (Rotterdam, 2010) allows for a spontaneous party on the street during wintertime. Photo by DUS architects. Above: Wouter Klein Velderman, <em>Ivory and Pride</em>, 2010 and <em>Now it can rain</em>, 2012. Photo by Ivan-D'Alì Top: DUS architects' <em>Bucky Bar</em> (Rotterdam, 2010) allows for a spontaneous party on the street during wintertime. Photo by DUS architects. Above: Wouter Klein Velderman, <em>Ivory and Pride</em>, 2010 and <em>Now it can rain</em>, 2012. Photo by Ivan-D'Alì](/content/dam/domusweb/en/art/2013/01/31/triggering-reality/big_404943_2744_02_32.jpg.foto.rmedium.jpg)
![Haas & Hahn and Philadelphia Mural Arts Program, <em>Philly Painting</em>, Philadelphia, USA, 2011–2012 Haas & Hahn and Philadelphia Mural Arts Program, <em>Philly Painting</em>, Philadelphia, USA, 2011–2012](/content/dam/domusweb/en/art/2013/01/31/triggering-reality/big_404943_5900_03_14.jpg.foto.rmedium.jpg)
Curators Sanguigni and Brizzi bring together projects and works that — to return to the title of the exhibition — "trigger" new realities starting with already existing conditions
![Anne Holtrop and Bas Princen, <em>Batara</em>, 2012. Photo by Bas Princen Anne Holtrop and Bas Princen, <em>Batara</em>, 2012. Photo by Bas Princen](/content/dam/domusweb/en/art/2013/01/31/triggering-reality/big_404943_7251_04_71.jpg.foto.rmedium.jpg)
![Left, Anne Holtrop and Bas Princen, <em>Temporary Museum (Lake) & A Tower</em>, 2011. Photo by Bas Princen. Right, Krijn De Koning, <em>5 spaces. Work for the Pecci Centre</em>, 2012. Photo by Bas Princen Left, Anne Holtrop and Bas Princen, <em>Temporary Museum (Lake) & A Tower</em>, 2011. Photo by Bas Princen. Right, Krijn De Koning, <em>5 spaces. Work for the Pecci Centre</em>, 2012. Photo by Bas Princen](/content/dam/domusweb/en/art/2013/01/31/triggering-reality/big_404943_6809_05_8-91.jpg.foto.rmedium.jpg)
![Onix, <em>Naturing Architecture</em>, 2012. Photo by Ivan-D'Alì Onix, <em>Naturing Architecture</em>, 2012. Photo by Ivan-D'Alì](/content/dam/domusweb/en/art/2013/01/31/triggering-reality/big_404943_2760_06_111.jpg.foto.rmedium.jpg)
![NIO architects, <em>Walk with me</em>, 2012. Photo by Ivan-D'Alì NIO architects, <em>Walk with me</em>, 2012. Photo by Ivan-D'Alì](/content/dam/domusweb/en/art/2013/01/31/triggering-reality/big_404943_9632_07_101.jpg.foto.rmedium.jpg)
Triggering Reality. New conditions for art and architecture in the Netherlands
Centro per l'Arte Contemporanea Luigi Pecci Prato, Florence
![Nicoline van Harskamp, <em>Any other Business</em>, Amsterdam, 2009-11. Courtesy of D+T Project Brussels. Photo by Willem Sluyterman van Loo Nicoline van Harskamp, <em>Any other Business</em>, Amsterdam, 2009-11. Courtesy of D+T Project Brussels. Photo by Willem Sluyterman van Loo](/content/dam/domusweb/en/art/2013/01/31/triggering-reality/big_404943_6883_08_61.jpg.foto.rmedium.jpg)