2016 EDITION: AFTER THE CATASTROPHE

 

The natural catastrophe is a seminal event. It marks the territory and the cities that are affected by changing their characteristics. It marks society, families and ordinary people, who have to face mourning, loss, destruction and the difficulties of rebuilding things. It marks the institutions, which face an emergency situation and must employ new resources and new developments.

Catastrophe is a liminal event. There is a “before” and an “after”. It is a sharp cut.
The 2016 edition of In\visible cities festival offers a dedicated section to explore, through multimedia urban languages and tools, what happens after the catastrophe.
How do urban environments change?
What does it mean to restart? By yourself? With other people’s help? In spite of all?
Which are the new reconstruction and regeneration projects and in which way new technologies and multimedia can offer a specific point of view?
How to collect, preserve and hand down memories connected to the catastrophic events? How to narrate emotions, life stories, solidarity?
How to imagine the future of the territory and the society?

Artists, thinkers, architects, local administrators will be invited to reflect upon these subjects, creating an interaction amongst new technologies, artistic creations and historical documentation.
The main topic will be the cities and territories affected by earthquakes, floods and other natural catastrophes; also, their capacity to narrate the past, the present and the future.
A specific section will be devoted to the fortieth anniversary of the earthquake in the Friuli region. An event that deeply affected the citizens in that area but, at the same time, became a new starting point for all the region. The challenge for the festival will be to create new ways of storytelling, intertwining history, technology and arts; having the goal of keeping the memory alive, while generating a cultural discourse.