THE EMPTY SPACE. OUTLINE OF ARTISTIC STRATEGIES OF URBAN REAPPROPRIATION
introduction
Emanuele Quinz
In 1979, the “anarchitetto” Gianni Pettena published an unusual book with an alluring title, “Effimero Urbano e città” (Urban Impermanence and city). It is a manifesto, in response to the intense debate on urban planning and urbanism of that age. Actually, it is a historical inquiry on the holidays of Revolutionary Paris, ranging from civil celebrations to funeral commemorations, from Hébertist parades to Jacobin gatherings, until the public executions in the Reign of Terror. In Pettena’s reconstruction, these manifestations seem to be a sort of “experimentation field”: on holidays, the city is transformed by a number of decorative elements that Pettena defines as urban impermanence: decorations, ornamental installations, triumphal arches and obelisks. Their temporary nature is opposed to the stability of the monuments, which are on the other hand signs to permanently mark the urban fabric…
