Abstract
Artist statement
I took these photographs in Rome on a winter day in 2013. They show Mussolini’s EUR (Espozisione Universale di Roma). The surreal architectural images of horses and classical buildings show places with few people. Many buildings are unique and architecturally interesting, polished and well preserved, but they either have no clear function or they are in an urban morass. The roads are hard to cross and the footpaths are hard to negotiate as they are lined with parked cars.
The focus of the walk is the surroundings of the Palazzo della Civiltà Italiana, also known as the Palazzo della Civiltà del Lavoro or simply the Colosseo Quadrato (Square Colosseum).
The ghostly images of emptiness, the out-of-scale and quite impeccable buildings mixed with vulgar restaurants patronised by second-rate businessmen, the ride in an ugly and graffitied train, the decaying former well-to-do flats around the site help to increase the bizarre and eerie character of this experience.
Jeffrey Smart meets De Chirico in the EUR.
Research statement
This project is about documenting and understanding public spaces through observation while walking, and forms part of a bigger project entitled ‘The Architecture of Public Space’.
EUR (Espozisione Universale di Roma) is a neighbourhood at the south of Rome that was built for the 1942 world’s fair, to showcase Fascist Italy and to be a new city centre for Rome. Today most of the EUR area is still owned by the Ministry of Economy and the Rome municipality. In 2013, the Square Colosseum was just renovated, but closed to the public. From 2015 it houses the headquarters of luxury fashion label Fendi.
Is the EUR haunted? Maybe it is haunted by the spirit of many bad political decisions.
I took these photographs in Rome on a winter day in 2013. They show Mussolini’s EUR (Espozisione Universale di Roma). The surreal architectural images of horses and classical buildings show places with few people. Many buildings are unique and architecturally interesting, polished and well preserved, but they either have no clear function or they are in an urban morass. The roads are hard to cross and the footpaths are hard to negotiate as they are lined with parked cars.
The focus of the walk is the surroundings of the Palazzo della Civiltà Italiana, also known as the Palazzo della Civiltà del Lavoro or simply the Colosseo Quadrato (Square Colosseum).
The ghostly images of emptiness, the out-of-scale and quite impeccable buildings mixed with vulgar restaurants patronised by second-rate businessmen, the ride in an ugly and graffitied train, the decaying former well-to-do flats around the site help to increase the bizarre and eerie character of this experience.
Jeffrey Smart meets De Chirico in the EUR.
Research statement
This project is about documenting and understanding public spaces through observation while walking, and forms part of a bigger project entitled ‘The Architecture of Public Space’.
EUR (Espozisione Universale di Roma) is a neighbourhood at the south of Rome that was built for the 1942 world’s fair, to showcase Fascist Italy and to be a new city centre for Rome. Today most of the EUR area is still owned by the Ministry of Economy and the Rome municipality. In 2013, the Square Colosseum was just renovated, but closed to the public. From 2015 it houses the headquarters of luxury fashion label Fendi.
Is the EUR haunted? Maybe it is haunted by the spirit of many bad political decisions.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Type | Lens-based Practice Architectural Design Architectural Heritage and Conservation |
| Media of output | Visual Arts |
| Publisher | Belconnen Arts Centre |
| Number of pages | 2 |
| Place of Publication | Canberra, Australia |
| ISBN (Print) | 9781740884242 |
| Publication status | Published - 2015 |
Publication series
| Name | Traces and Hauntings |
|---|---|
| Publisher | Centre for Creative & Cultural Research, University of Canberra |