MILAN
MILAN GRATOSOLIO
THANKS TO THE SOUL
From September 11 to 17, 2023 Details was in Residency at the Pim Off Theater in Milan. thanks in part to the support of the Milano Viva project.
Together with Pinar Bekaroglu we spent a very intense week, which felt like a month, in the Gratosoglio neighborhood, Milan suburb.
Gratosoglio, from the Latin Gratum Soli – Grateful soil, a beautiful place to be.
Around the 1960s, this suburb lost its agricultural vocation, due to the migratory pressure of workers who came from southern Italian regions to work in northern industries, to become a residential neighborhood of public housing.
An “innovative” neighborhood characterized by green spaces, sports facilities for public use and experimental school facilities.
Later The neighborhood was affected by austerity after the energy crisis and was later considered a dormitory neighborhood, marginalized from the rest of the city and with a deteriorated social fabric: a neighborhood of more than 9,000 people and with 16 percent immigration.
THE TOWERS
A neighborhood dominated by large rectangular buildings and the famous “White Towers” – 8 towers housing 94 families each.
Almost the entire neighborhood is managed by Aler, Azienda Lombarda per l’Edilizia Popolare.
A neighborhood in which coexist for better or worse a large percentage of elderly people, the old immigrants from southern Italy, and a new generation of migrants from the various “South of the World.”
A neighborhood with great housing problems, occupied houses, boarded-up houses, homeless people trying to take refuge in any available hole, problems of drug dealing, drugs, alcoholism, out-of-control youth gangs, unserviceable services, piles of garbage everywhere.
The dazzling white of the towers contrasts with the darkness of the “secret life” that hides in occupied basements and garages.
Darkness that also pervades the neighborhood’s main square at night – Nameless Square!!!!
GRATUM SOLI
Gratosoglio: Gratum Soli – Grateful soil, beautiful place to be!!! “Something has gone wrong” is our first impact while walking around the neighborhood.
Then slowly, walking in slow steps, looking for details, changing perspectives and meeting the many associations in the area, and the many residents who privately and voluntarily make incredible small gestures for the neighborhood we began to see the hidden beauty, the enormous richness of this neighborhood and the potential that “diversity”-if supported properly-can bring to a community.
Within a week we began to “feel at home.”
Gratosoglio – Gratum Soli – Grato Soul – Thanks To the Soul!!!
With our drawings we tried to pay homage to the countless “Souls of Gratosoglio” a quartieredai thousand contrasts, where everything is possible!
PATH IN AUTONOMY
See the 13 simple rules to follow during urban exploration.
Dear explorers, dear explorers, welcome and welcome to the Details #Cuneo “La Granda Arte” itinerary.
By placing the cursor over each point you will be able to consult the rules for walking the route correctly.
Enjoy your exploration!
If you enjoyed the experience, follow us on social channels related to @details .
Don’t stop exploring, and at the end of all our going we will return to the starting point and know that place for the first time.
Four Quartets – T. S. Eliot.
DEPARTURE
Start the route from No. 1 and continue to the end.
RESPECT
Respect the community you are exploring, whether it is public or private property.
INTERPRET
Before framing the Qr Code try your own interpretation of the stain.
If you are with amicihe or family members, do this exercise as a group.
POINT OF VIEW.
Look at the stain up close and from a distance.
Change the point of view!
SCAN THE QR
Scan the Qr code with your internet-connected phone or tablet and look at the drawing.
Slide the cursor over the image with your finger to view the drawing.
ENJOY THE DETAILS
After looking at the design as a whole you can pinch the image to enlarge it.
Take the time to enjoy all the details.
Look without judging.
CONFRONT
Compare the drawing with the stain again by moving the cursor up and down.
This can also be done with the enlarged image.
CONTINUE
When you feel satisfied proceed to the next spot.
If you do not have a paper map help yourself by opening the map link found in the relevant route on the website.
STORIES
Pay attention to the micro and macro stories around you.
LOOK UP
Occasionally look up, if there are beautiful clouds pause to look at them!
THE OBSTACLE.
Along the way you will encounter "an obstacle" -- a mistake.
Will you be able to face it and solve it?
REINVENE
Along the way you will encounter many other peeling walls, if you have time and desire have fun reinventing them.
FOCUS
Along the way try to stay focused on this activity and try not to talk about ...soccer, cars, video games, shopping, food (...).
THE PATH.
BELOW ARE THE VISIBLE IMAGES ALONG THE Details route in MILAN – THANKS TO THE SOUL!!!
By clicking on the image the work will be opened in full screen you can view the imperfection of the wall before and after the artistic intervention.
Click on the image to view full screen before and after.
DON PAUL
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Drunk
The abuse of alcohol, and drugs.
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RICCIO
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Bear Rap
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The Map
We always like to find a spot to allocate as a map of the work area.
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Boxer
Activity that brings together several young people from the area.
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COPS
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Crocco Sleep
In this image a Homeless Crocco, with the brand new housing unit designed by Aler (Azienda Lombarda per l’Edilizia Residenziale) – a sleeping bag that is practical and convenient to place anywhere!!!
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Black Tear
Gratosoglio is a multicultural neighborhood.
So many are migrants from all parts of the “global south.”
A tribute to one of these communities.
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Shot Dance
In the glass walls of The Towers Association – Cultural Recreation Center For Seniors, we can see cracks, breaks, bullet holes (compressed air) from vandalism.
In particular, we were intrigued by these two adjoining windows with these two different holes…and in the middle a small marker writing“love.”
The vision of a somewhat retro affair between a dancer and her admirer was immediately clear to us.
We talked about it with the senior center manager, who complained about the numerous acts of vandalism and “artistic futility”…but at the same time he couldn’t help showing all his senior* friends the delightful (his words) drawings we had made.
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Shot Man
Blade
On the ground in Gratosoglio you find everything … including many human “oral secretions” … which are turned into “Blade spit” here.
We shared this stain with several people in the neighborhood and launched an online “Challenge”… and there were countless interpretations of this so interesting stain!!!
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Miró
On a torn Aler poster we liked to imagine a tribute to the neighborhood that the painter Miró might have made.
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Mostrino
Beautiful Drawing made by Ana Hordila of the Civil Service Municipality of Milan.
Instagram @qanaqq
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Bansky
Small spot in a gate of a dog area used mostly as a “pub” with cheap, high-alcohol beers.
Homage to a famous work by Bansky.
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Wall bordering the Eurospin.
Wall bordering the Eurospin.
Skate Satyr
The Skate Ramp in Gratosoglio – the Grato Bowl – a beautiful work until a few years ago much used by young people in the area and beyond.
Now, after some wrong and very expensive renovations, the ramp no longer works, floods in bad weather and has become a real open-air dump.
This little satyr is still there waiting to be able to use this space.
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Rain
A white tile wall full of signs.
A rain-laden cloud that can provide relief in some areas of the Global South.
Climate change is one of the new reasons for mass migration.
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Super homless
There are so many homeless people in Gratosoglio that finding a place to sleep is an incredible adventure.
Any space can become a “sleeping place”-abandoned houses, landings, doorways, balconies, benches.
First come first served best lodging!
Superhero work!!!
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Pinuccia
Mrs. Pinuccia lives on the top floor of one of the White Towers.
She constantly monitors her landing, which is periodically squatted.
We met her one morning when with a hairbrush in one hand and a large parrot key in the other she “gently” opened the door to the towers’ terrace.
We liked to imagine her as a kind of white-haired Cyrano.
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Whale
Abandoned the white towers here, the neighborhood turns out to be greener and the scenery changes.
The trees in the area are home to a lot of birds and budgerigars that, in hot weather, sing their hearts out between 2 and 4 pm.
Closing your eyes and listening gives you the feeling of being in a jungle.
Therefore, we enjoyed giving more space to nature.
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Dog
The many dogs in Gratosoglio that can be found walking between green spaces and piles of garbage.
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The Gruffalo
In this area of Gratosoglio, the White Towers are now almost a memory, or for some monsters they may even become a “game” to be carried under one’s arm.
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On one of the two garbage houses.
On one of the two garbage houses.
Mantis
Garbage heaps are yet another major problem in the neighborhood.
Giant, smelly piles in which anything can be found.
However, the area is filled with red brick cottages specially reserved for garbage collection.
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Cat
Penguin
Looking at the clouds is a constant and a fundamental training of the Details project.
Penguins do it too, you should remember it more often too!
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Child Secret
Finally arriving on Gratosoglio Street, in this area we can find the origins of ancient Gratosoglio.
This area is dominated by the former Cederna Cotton Mill, a historic factory covering some 30,000 square meters on the banks of the Southern Lambro.
This entire building is currently abandoned.
What could be more exciting than an abandoned factory?
Who wouldn’t want to peek inside?
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Antonio Cerada
Portrait of Antonio Cederna, born in 1841, patriot and Garibaldian, the industrial progenitor of a Valtellina family, best known for two descendants, who in their own way have marked the last fifty years of Italian history: Camilla Cederna, historical journalist and writer, and Antonio Cederna, archaeologist, journalist and writer.
Antonio Cederna is the founder of Cederna Cotton Mill, built in 1886.
One can see from the painting his Garibaldian outlook and his being a man of fashion, atypical for those times.
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Fashion Pig
The end of this Details residence right in front of a former Cotton Mill coincided with the beginning of Milan’s world-famous Fashion Week.
What better way to pay homage to it?
To remember what is the real Milan made of famous and unmissable social events…while in Gratosoglio…life goes on despite everything!
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WE GIVE THE NUMBERS ON THE ROUTE!
The following are some data characterizing the route taken in Milan Gratosolio.