This article was originally published on Domus 1042, January 2020
The chronic gap between Northern and Southern Italy has grown as can be seen in the Svimez 2019 report. Calabria is not untouched by the abandonment phenomenon, especially in the countryside. This is the context Orizzontale found at Belmonte (Cosenza) in 2017, conceiving the series of workshops “Crossings” coordinated by the cultural association La Rivoluzione delle Seppie.
These opportunities gave life to temporary, heterogeneous and always different communities, while gradually the locals, from the elderly to inmigrants, were engaged in a process that Orizzontale calls “beyond bottom-up”. The goal is to train the collective imaginary on the future of Belmonte, which Le Seppie call “Belmondo”. All this has been consolidated in the collaborative rooms in the former nunnery, today Casa Belmondo, the new community office: the space where firm resistance to the marginalisation of the land has taken hold.
- Project:
- Casa di Belmondo Collaboration Rooms
- Location:
- Belmonte Calabro, Italy
- Design team:
- Orizzontale, Le Seppie
- Cultural partners:
- The Cass - London Metropolitan University EX-Convento, Belmonte Calabro
- Other collaborators:
- Nicola Barbuto, Barbara Cammarata, Landscape in Progress - Università Mediterranea di Reggio Calabria, Accademia delle Belle Arti di Catania, Accademia delle belle arti di Napoli - Nuove tecnologie dell’arte, Armando Perna, Cooperativa Sociale “Il Delfino”, Belmonte in Rete, Medine Altiok, Luigi Vitelli
- Crossings 2019 participants:
- Andrea Pusinieri, Antonio Rizzo, Asghar Furqan, Alessandro De Luca, Barbara Cammarata, Carola Wegener, Caterina Scarpino, Cham Talibo, Concetta Inglima, Corinna Haenschel, Cristina Muto, Cristian Mazzuca, Daniele Polacco, Diallo Abdoulaye, Eleonora Causin, Eleonora Ienaro, Federico Armeni, Francesca Bova, Francesca Naccarato, Francesco Osso, Franco Marano, Filippo Mercuri, Gerardo Cleto, Gennaro Perri, Giovanni Amendola, Giuseppe Grant, Guido Picardi, Hannah Glaser, Harry Breeden, Hossain RajibInes, Isabel Liborio, Iqbal Nasir, Ivan Simonetti, Jane Mcallister, Jaqueline Danielle, Jean Charles Malou, Joe Douglas, John Jeffers, Jose David Heras Barros, Karla Cerovac, Lida Franco, Louisa Ling, Luca Pitasi, Luigi Vitelli, Luke Vouckelatou, Maiga Yussif, Manvir Hansar, Marina Addis, Margherita Manfra, Matteo Blandford, Maximilia Hogrebe, Medine Altiok, Nasrin Mohiti Asli, Nicola Barbuto Paola Gasparri, Precious Ehigie, Reem Bou Hamdan, Rita Elvira Adamo, Roberto Pantaleoni, Sandra Denicke, Sakho Omar, Sako Oumar Al Farouq, Stefano Cuzzocrea, Valentina Procopio, Vincenzo Giannetti
- Lighting system:
- Cristian Mazzuca
- Techical sponsors:
- Tempo Marmi, Delizia Srl, Arredi Srl, Flixbus
- Client:
- Associazione Culturale “La Rivoluzione delle Seppie”
- Institutional partner:
- Comune di Belmonte Calabro (CS)
- Site area:
- 650 sqm
- Built area or Total floor area:
- 140 sqm
- Cost:
- 15,000€
- Design/construction phase:
- 2019