Now in its fifth year, in 2006 the Going Public project has developed a series of activities and occasions for reflection and investigation in six cities identified as “case studies” for the topic of the “Mediterranean Atlas”. Artists, students, researchers, geographers and sociologists have all focused their attention on this theme: the flow of peoples, economies and cultures towards the great cities that look over the Mediterranean.
Starting off with “Cyprus Day”, a study day dedicated to Cyprus held at the Fondazione Pistoletto in Biella, and with a workshop in Alexandria, organised together with the “Gudran Association for Art and Development”, in which students and young artists operated side by side with local citizens to renovate a rural area near the city. The project was then followed by a later event in Nicosia from 25th September until 7th October, organised in collaboration with local artists and architects. On this occasion, aMAZElab presented a special project for Nicosia, its inhabitants and their memories: The Memory Box, a mobile unit working on the interplay between “history” in its official version and the “stories” told by those who lived through that history day after day.

The fifth stage, which will take place in the towns of Formigine and Modena, aims to encourage a genuine exchange between cultures and youth, organising an international workshop with artists and students from the Modenese area and young people from five of the cities studied (Istanbul, Beirut, Nicosia, Alexandria and Barcelona) which look onto the Mediterranean. The workshop will be headed by three figures from the world of international culture and artistic research: Achilleas Kentonis (Cyprus), Vasif Kortun (Turkey) and Marti Peran (Spain). The outcome of the artistic research will be put on public display and will go on to form part of the publication/atlas on this theme. The programme will be completed with a round-table discussion on the issue.

Artists: Akram Zataari (Lebanon), Atlas Group (Beirut/NYC), Oda Projesi (Istanbul), Achilleas Kentonis (Nicosia), Sameh Elhalawany (Alexandria, Egypt), Ofri Cnaani (Israel) and Jenny Vogel (Germania).

With the critical contributions of: Bilal Khbeiz (Lebanon), Vasif Kortun (Istanbul), Yannis Papadakis (Nicosia), Jorgos Tzirtzilakis (Greece), Sharon Rotbard (Tel Aviv), Marti Peran (Barcelona), Michelangelo Pistoletto and many others.

The urban installations will be on show in the town centre of Formigine and in the Main Railway Station in Modena from 30th October until 3rd December.

Opening, Saturday 29th October:
- 4pm, public debate together with the artists.
- 6pm, opening with aperitif, followed by a party with music.

For further info and images:
Sara Maestrello
press@amaze.it

aMAZElab
Via Cola Montano 8
20159 Milano
Tel-fax +39 02 6071623
www.amaze.it
info@amaze.it

an aMAZElab project
Artistic director: Claudia Zanfi

Promoted by:
Province of Modena; Formigine Town Council.

With the support of:
The Emilia Romagna Region; the Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio of Modena; the Youth for Europe Programme.

In collaboration with:
Fondazione Pistoletto, Biella; Artos Foundation, Nicosia; Platform Garanti, Istanbul; Askal Alwan Association, Beirut; L’Atelier Collaborative, Beirut/Venice; Fondazione Olivetti, Rome; Gudran Association for Art and Development, Alexandria; Can Xalant Cultural Center, Barcelona; Transit Project, Barcelona; IUAV, Venice.

Sponsored by:
DARC, Ministry of Cultural Heritage, Rome; Università Etica per Condivisione e Conoscenza, Palermo.

Media partners:
Drome magazine, Rome; Phileleftheros, Nicosia; Babel MED, Rome/Paris; Gazzetta di Modena; Modena Radio City, Modena.