Presented the selected projects for two new urban installations on the occasion of Bergamo Brescia Italian Capital of Culture 2023

Bergamo and Brescia are cities of ancient beauty, rich in history and art heritages. So are the valleys, lakes and plains of their territory. Both, together, will be Italian Capital of Culture 2023. And they will tell, through initiatives, events and projects this richness through a slow and sustainable path throughout the coming year.

Illuminated Cities

As evidence of the capacity for urban re-generation that characterizes the two cities, and which inspired the Illuminated City concept, the pathway to design new urban spaces in the two capitals was born in view of the events planned during 2023.

Urban installations

Comune di Bergamo and Confindustria Bergamo, with the collaboration of GAMeC (Galleria d'Arte Moderna e Contemporanea di Bergamo), have promoted a competition to create two urban installations that will redesign the central Piazza della Libertà and the square in front of the new Confindustria Bergamo headquarters at Kilometro Rosso, an ideal bridge between the city and the suburbs, between the historic urban core and the current innovation and industry hub.

Inclusive projects

"The two projects (temporary the one in Freedom Square - destined to have a different location at the end of 2023 - final the one in Kilometro Rosso) will be integrated into the city. The creative action will not only reread the territory from the center to the periphery, but will also fit into the entrepreneurial fabric that animates Bergamo's identity. The two projects will also be inclusive, open to a diverse audience, consistent with the connection between the business world and the community, and above all sustainable," explains Bergamo Mayor Giorgio Gori.

Creativity in power

Five international creatives were chosen for the Piazza della Libertà project, recommended by as many advisors: Agostino Iacurci, selected by Domitilla Dardi; Objects of Common Interest, selected by Federica Sala; Space Popular, selected by Ippolito Pestellini Laparelli; Marjan van Aubel, selected by Angela Rui; Teresa Van Dongen, selected by Formafantasma. The second project will transform the entrance space to the Confindustria Bergamo headquarters within Kilometro Rosso Innovation District into a square dedicated to the concept of Industrious Nature. In this case, seven Italian designers were selected: Ecòl, False Mirror Office, Matilde Cassani Studio, Parasite 2.0, SalottoBuono, Studio Francesco Faccin, Studio Ossidiana.

Innovation and industriousness

"In the cues provided to the designers, special attention was paid to the concepts of innovation and industriousness," says Giovanna Ricuperati, president of Confindustria Bergamo, "which represent the founding values in the design of the Association's new headquarters built at Kilometro Rosso. It is the vision of Industrious Nature, which inspires an important change, that for a further approach and opening to the territory in which business culture dialogues with other actors, promoting the search for a balance between innovation, social and environmental responsibility."

Architecture, design and art

Two separate juries will choose the winning projects after the summer, which will be inaugurated in early 2023 to coincide with the opening of the celebrations for Bergamo Brescia Italian Capital of Culture. The two site-specific projects are united by a language that mixes architecture, design and public art, in which GAMeC's collaboration is part of by identifying a shortlist of young designers to be involved for an ideas contest.

Interconnection between knowledge

"The two installations," concludes Lorenzo Giusti, director of GAMeC, "represent another opportunity for the museum to relate and dialogue with the city through the language of design and architecture. The field of interaction between these disciplines and visual art today constitutes an important space of interconnection between knowledge and codes of the contemporary world, in which to experiment with applied creative thinking."