Biennale svizzera del territorio
October 5, 2024
Project Leaders: Maria Clara Castioni, Roberto Zancan
Villa Saroli’s park, Lugano
Night alters the city's appearance and rhythm, unlocking new realms of imagination. It reveals urban spaces that, when empty and silent, unveil their unexpected potential. Lugano doesn't have many cultural spaces, but it does have many parking lots. These lots fill up in the morning and empty out in the evening. When the offices close, the downtown parking areas transform into free, open spaces, inviting us to dream of a different future for the city and its inhabitants.
Notti Future proposes to bring these spaces to life when the sun goes down, turning them into places of resilience. By tracing a constellation of urban parking lots, the project creates an itinerary to be followed in several stages. Through a series of short performative interventions, the public is led to rediscover and rethink the function of parking lots in the contemporary city.
Proposed by Maria Clara Castioni and Roberto Zancan for the Interior Architecture department at HEAD - Genève, the project has been selected for the next edition of the Biennale svizzera del territorio. The event, organized by the Istituto Internazionale di Architettura, will take place in Lugano from October 4 to 6, 2024. Participation in the Biennale will include five Interior Architecture students as part of the Scènes de Nuit research project, providing a valuable opportunity to continue questioning and experimenting with nocturnal urban spaces.
The Notti Future itinerary will be approximately one and a half hours long and will feature up to five stages around Villa Saroli’s park, the headquarters of the Istituto Internazionale di Architettura, which will serve as both the starting and ending points of the walking tour.
A guide will lead the public, with each parking lot revealed by a luminous balloon illuminating some of the performances. These performances will include the reading of a poetic text, a dance solo, an acoustic music piece, the projection of a silent video, and other short plays, all directly connected to the chosen locations. The preparation of the event will take place in dialogue with the invited artists and the city of Lugano. The aim is to understand and define the legal framework within which it would be possible to take over a public place, such as a parking lot at night, for spontaneous, light-hearted cultural moments.
Project: Department of Interior Architecture, HEAD – Genève
Head of Department: Javier Fernández Contreras
Scientific Deputy: Valentina de Luigi
Project Leaders: Maria Clara Castioni, Roberto Zancan
Students: Aline Blanc, Toyine Humair, Stéphanie Hemidi, Carolina Rodrigues, Nina Wallimann
Images: Maria Clara Castioni
