‘When the Greens Meet’ and ‘Costruendola Insieme! (Building it Together!)’

These two projects form part of a long-term collaboration with a group of inhabitants from the Isola (Island) district at the very centre of the city of Milan - a district which experienced a long process of urban transformation and gentrification. The artist carried out a number of workshops with the inhabitants and neighbours of the ‘Casa Verde’ (Green House), a house which remained trapped within the Regional headquarters building of Lombardy, and its skyscraper, thus becoming a trapped island. Such workshops analysed how the arrogance of conventional urban planning can interfere within the intimate space of one’s home. This led to two performance art pieces. 'When the Greens Meet' is a performance artwork in collaboration with the local inhabitants. The 'case verde', often described by many as a 'green island' was linked to the district's community garden ‘Isola Pepe Verde’, another green island, using red ribbon. The performance departed from Isola Pepe Verde and followed a journey of about 700m until it reached the house at the border of the district. Once arrived at the house the red ribbon 'transformed' itself into an elongated, red flag/banner which was unfurled from the fourth floor terrace. Such an action was also a statement on behalf of the residents who do not give up in face of such a situation and continue to make their voices heard, marking their presence in public space. 'Costruendola Insieme! (Building It Together!)' is a follow-up of the aforementioned performance work. More research led to the writing of a narrative departing from people’s experiences, opinions, needs, and desires, as well as from news items and recent past events, whilst also having a surreal and fictional feel which overtakes the skyscraper. The narrative starts off from the end of the performance 'When the Greens Meet', that is, the unrolling of the red material which in the narrative symbolises the soul of the Green House. This soul of the house was diffused in public space in May 2015 by distributing a relic (a piece of the red material with a hand-drawn illustration representing a scene from the narrative) to the passers-by, inviting them to meet outside the house where they could actually take the temple of the house (a 3D model), go around the streets with it in hand, while its soul narrates the story - a personal and intimate procession between one or two persons and the soul of the house and its neighbours.