Migropolis. Venice. Atlas of a Global Situation
OF ARCH magazine, Italy / 0|12|2009
Migropolis is a project that takes a close look at the transversal qualities of the urban territory subjected to globalization. It explores the system through an excellent exhibition which has been organized in great tangible detail. It examines the global structures inside a defined urban territory, with procedures that involve the reapplication of the affirmative methods and the visual techniques of the performing society in a descriptive manner. The objective of the project was to develop visual strategies to allow the structures of Migropolis to emerge, basing them on the Venetian territory which can be described as an anticipatory model of globalization due to the excessive number of tourists and immigrants within its confines. The metropolitan area of Venice is subjected to an empirical investigation and examined as a complex and contradictory paradigm, because it is exceptionally exposed to the changes due to world connectivity and the interdependence of the predominant values of economy and culture. The first phase of the project began in Winter 2006 when the theoretical foundations were laid; the second phase in 2008, perfected the structure for the organization and the presentation of the results. The exhibition is being held in the Bevilacqua La Masa Foundation in Venice. It was organized by Wolfgang Scheppe, Veronica Bellei, Katerina Dolejsova and Nera Kelava, and is accompanied by a book published by Halje Cantz, with a preface written by Angela Vettese and containing articles by Giorgio Agamben, Valeria Burgio, Wolfgang Scheppe. (P.R.)