Going Public 06

At its 5° edition, the Going Public project develops over 2006 a series of activities and appointments for reflection and research, over six cities identified as “case study” for the event, Atlante Mediterraneo. Artists, students, researchers, geographers and sociologists carry out their own research into the chosen topics: the flow of people, economies and cultures. The year opened with “Cyprus Day”, round table at Fondazione Pistoletto, Biella; the second appointment is a workshop in Alexandria with “Gudran Association for Art and Development” to implement a rural area near the city. Third part of the project is dedicated to Cyprus. Since three years aMAZElab is working with artists and architects form Nicosia, presenting them internationally. In this specific occasion aMAZElab created a project for the city of Nicosia, its inhabitants and their memories.

THE MEMORY BOX The history of the XX century as told by common people

WHAT IT IS The Memory Box is a mobile device which works on the comparison between ‘History’ understood as the official and political version, and the ‘Stories’, meaning the tales told by those who actually lived through the making of that ‘History’. It is thus a collector and a container of people’s tales, a free space where each of us can recount episodes of our own lives, of our own passions, of our own dreams and frustrations. It is a means of ‘democratic activation’, a portable voting booth, where our own preferences (our tales) express a past and present far richer and more complex, yet less functional and abstract. The Memory Box is a participatory project for all the people of both part of the island (students, women, older, immigrants, ect…).

THE PROJECT FOR NICOSIA Given the peculiar aspects of the recent history of the island, the strong interests of the dominant nations which continue to influence its development, and the recent changes brought about by the island’s entrance to the European Union, the most urgent issue to investigate through the Memory Box, what repercussions these overwhelming external pressures have of the lives of the inhabitants. In Nicosia, people will be asked to contribute with their stories on the big issues concerning the recent history of the island, and their concept of “Home”, through simple questions, in both languages.

THE AIMS OF THE PROJECT The aims of the project lie in the reactivation of a common feeling of belonging, and in the transmission of thoughts, opinions, memories, dreams and desires of the peoples of the two part of the city, independently by the official channels of political communication and mass media. Through the means of direct, interpersonal dialogue, linked to their feelings and the stories they have to tell, the goal is to divert the “Cyprus problem” from the channels of geo-political debate and interests, giving back the word and the chance to influence their own destiny to their rightful owners: the Cypriots.

THE MEMORY BOX is part of the on-going project Going Public ’06. Atlante Mediterraneo and will work as a cultural “antenna”, with different events, to be held on public places of the city. Under the campaign “Lemonades for Tales”, the “Memory Box” device, a kiosk for lemon juice, sound installations, perfomances, video projections, ect, will functions as a common platform for the opening evenings on central Squares Nicosia.

a project by aMAZElab, Milano Artistic direction: Claudia Zanfi Concept: Gianmaria Conti

In collaboration with: Artos Foundation, Nicosia and: Anatolia Fine Arts High School, Nicosia and Asik Mene Studio; Graphic Design Institute, Nicosia

Pressetext

Going Public 06
ATLANTE MEDITERRANEO
Part 3 Nicosia
“THE MEMORY BOX”
memory as identity
künstlerische Leitung: Claudia Zanfi

mit The Atlas Group / Walid Ra´ad, Tony Chakar, Ofri Cnaani, Vasif Kortun, Yannis Papadakis, Marti Peran, Jenny Vogel, Akram Zaatari, Jorgos Tzirtzilakis ...