The story of an urban cultural activation project, small in terms of management but big in results

Within a suggestive and experiential setting Filtro Brescia reconfirms the success of the last edition, going further and accompanying the visitor on a sensorial and reflective journey, welcoming and inclusive.

On the occasion of Bergamo and Brescia Capital of Culture, Filtro Brescia (4-14 May 2023) transformed the former abandoned Fabbrica Ferro Bulloni into a place of new narratives and temporalities .

Nicola Falappi, creative engine of Studio Quaranta and curator of the event explains how to build a cultural project of cooperative activation, shared and able to animate a wider audience, not only that of the provincial town.

Looking forward to the next September edition.

How did you think about 'dressing' Filter when you created it?

Nicola Falappi: “During the preparation of the first edition we 'removed the dust'. The former Fabbrica Ferro Bulloni was undressed, naked, raw, it was a square, concrete.

We used the space in an almost brutal way, untouched, leaving the boxes where they were... In the second edition we started dressing up the place. I find it interesting to layering, so we paradoxically started with iconic elements of the house: a rug and a sofa. I wanted them at all costs.

From the kitchen you pass into the living room and the guests of the talks are deliberately all on the sofa personally designed by me.

We then added the paintings, as if they were house works, not placed in a gallery. For example, the works of Gabriele Picco, which I find perfectly fitting, recall the still lifes typical of Italian houses. Today no one has a still life anymore, yet all the great artists like Filippo De Pisis and Giorgio Morandi painted them. So the reception was: sofa, carpet and still lifes.

Every day at the entrance there were sweets (marshmallows) and a vase of flowers. A space 'dressed' also from an olfactory point of view with a specific essence (Aramara by Culti).

Another element is the sound: some composers from Brescia have created the music for Filtro, including the piece “.memo[lo0ps]” by Alessandro Pedretti.

The environment does not have a 'shot' light as is fashionable now, but an atmosphere of an old house, where the works are struck by glimmers."

On the opening night, you stressed that you chose artists you liked…

Nicola Falappi: “I would have liked more, time has prevented us also because the idea of stratification of the house, of the space it has to host, is very much connected to the collector's house.

Not tidy, but in which magazines, objects and works of art accumulate.

We are still in the embryonic stage, some artists have not been able to supply all the works and in the end I have given space to the most interesting ones to be exhibited in this container.

Giuseppe La Spada paradoxically speaks of the concept of the power of communication and of what will remain of this continuous stimulus created by images. I find it curious that he dialogued with Gabriele Picco, who dusts off a type of painting in the old fashioned way (still life). Cris Devil makes his art something related to the visual digital image.

A more contemporary art, which has surpassed photography, painting, a 'non-real' created with the computer. The artists are connected to each other by a strong cultural value.

They present, propose and explain the house in a different way. No longer a room, but a concept, a vision… from the metaphysical to the surrealist.

Barbara Crimella creates monumental works that are installed in squares, roundabouts, streets, all with a crazy cultural guise. Now, exposed in Filter with small crosses, it is located between Berzo Inferiore and Bienno.

Pinky's project with bicycles is an object to be thrown away, albeit a historical one, reinterpreted by characters such as Antonio Marras.”

What emerged from the talks?

Nicola Falappi: “The concept that to make art and design today you have to be culturally prepared at 360 degrees. Not only following the fashions of the present but also knowing the past. The relationship of our life with time is fundamental, because we are passing through.

Filtro is a project born by chance, in response to the months spent at home during the Covid emergency which, like other initiatives of that period, made us understand that time is more important than anything else. We have chosen to remain small in management, but big in the final result: to leave something profound in every person.

There are 120 seats in the hall: every evening they are all occupied and some people remain standing. There is a need for enrichment: I stop, listen, reflect.

For this reason at Filter there is always a person who accompanies you, explains the works and the reason why they were created, chosen and positioned.”

What emerged from the talks?

Nicola Falappi: “The concept that to make art and design today you have to be culturally prepared at 360 degrees. Not only following the fashions of the present but also knowing the past. The relationship of our life with time is fundamental, because we are passing through.

Filtro is a project born by chance, in response to the months spent at home during the Covid emergency which, like other initiatives of that period, made us understand that time is more important than anything else. We have chosen to remain small in management, but big in the final result: to leave something profound in every person.

There are 120 seats in the hall: every evening they are all occupied and some people remain standing. There is a need for enrichment: I stop, listen, reflect.

For this reason at Filter there is always a person who accompanies you, explains the works and the reason why they were created, chosen and positioned.”

Nicola, how is your home?

Nicola Falappi: “I refer to Giuseppe La Spada's answer, in which he still doesn't feel like he has a home, but it's obvious that he does. His answer is much deeper.

Today we continue to see wonderful houses in magazines. Those are commercial windows, they are not houses.

Mine, on the other hand, is just like Antonio Mancinelli said: stratified because I've been buying since I was 14. The house is small, it's 90 square meters.

Imagine how many things start from the ground and reach the ceiling. I have two other houses, one - being somewhat D'Annunzio - in Gardone Riviera, the other in Puglia.

I almost never sleep for long periods in the same place; to feel at home, I have to go down and back up, see the lake again and then reciprocate."

Anticipations of Filter in September?

Nicola Falappi: "The only thing I can tell you is that 90% will talk about sustainability, a topic that I feel I have to address, even if I did it in unsuspecting times about ten years ago."

Could Filter also be itinerant, not only in Brescia?

Nicola Falappi: “I find that you are stronger in your own city, where you know people. It's not easily duplicated."

Will this location remain?

Nicola Falappi: "Perhaps yes, it could be that it doubles and that there is also another space, still in Brescia. Two worlds at the extremes. One structure is what you have seen, the other you will discover: it is completely different, but both are crazy.

Nice that during the artists' talks it rained, drops of water got in and six buckets were used, as if it were normal... In the end we always see such perfect, glossy, thought out, studied things that are almost boring."

Are you satisfied?

Nicola Falappi: “Yes a lot. I can summarize this edition of Filtro in: communication, time… and passion. If we didn't have the passion we would most likely do something else.

I've found help from simple people: the ice cream vendor, the car dealership, the clothing store, the water company, the cleaning company.

Entrepreneurs are only interested in the return in terms of marketing. If you don't invest in culture in the city where you're billing three, four, 500 million euros, you haven't understood anything. This makes me suffer."