59°19'50.1"N 17°56'56.5"E
20.04.2024, 14:06-14:31
Map: https://drive.google.com/file/d/14qCLnqwjyCI585bH9fq7GRGv1Q_lvIZx/view?usp=sharing

Bromma is a residential neighborhood of Stockholm, urbanized between the 60’s and the 90’s.
It is a middle-class neighborhood that in a way symbolizes the combination of advanced welfare, growing economy, and attention to the environment that has characterized this country until recent years, or at least has been the backbone of a deeply rooted self-narration. Seen from the outside this Neighborhood can symbolize all that, while sitting and listening for a while to its sounds is revealed a more complex situation that has to deal with climate change and social challenges that the present country is facing. 
The number of bird species spotted in the area according to Stockholm Environmental Agency, for instance, has decreased to one-fifth of what they were just 10 years ago (information available through Artportalen: https://www.artportalen.se/ ). As a consequence we can hear a slightly monotonous tweet soundscape. Alterations of bird’s behaviors can be seen in the presence of black-throated loons, that in late springtime should already have migrated.

Stockholm, Sweden

37°59'01.2"N 23°43'14.3"E
16.03.2024, 07:06-07:36
Map: https://drive.google.com/file/d/14p4iDAUmyw7BwgfIA3lPsyW5xAo21XVK/view?usp=sharing
Metaxourgeio is historically an industrial centre. Its name, derived from the Greek word for silk factory, refers to its textile manufacturing past. Today, Metaxourgeio is a vibrant tapestry of contrasts, blending its working class roots with burgeoning gentrification.
Walking its streets, one encounters a juxtaposition of crumbling neoclassical buildings and sleek modern developments that embody the neighbourhood's ongoing evolution. The area's diverse architecture reflects its layered history and the influx of diverse demographics. Immigrant communities have long called Metaxourgeio home, adding a rich cultural texture that is evident in the array of ethnic eateries and shops.
Art plays a central role in Metaxourgeio's identity. The neighbourhood is a canvas for street artists, with vibrant murals transforming drab facades into lively urban art galleries. This creative spirit is further nurtured by the many galleries and alternative spaces that have sprung up in recent years, attracting a young, bohemian crowd.
However, this wave of artistic renaissance and investment brings with it the complexities of gentrification. Long-time residents face rising living costs and the threat of displacement, fueling debates about the neighbourhood's socio-economic future. Despite these tensions, Metaxourgeio remains a microcosm of Athens' broader urban narrative - an area where history, culture and modernity intersect in compelling and often contentious ways.
This multi-layered situation has resulted in an incredible diversity of spaces: busy streets next to abandoned plots of land taken over by trees, vegetation and birds; street musicians and construction sites; office buildings next to squats. All this complexity is reflected in the unique sound of this place.

Athens, Greece

45°29'10.7"N 9°05'55.7"E
13.04.2024, 18:06-18:36
Map: drive.google.com/file/d/14qCLnqwj…view?usp=sharing

Located in the western part of the city, Bisceglie has historically been a suburban district characterised by its residential buildings and green spaces. In recent years, however, it has undergone a transformation, fuelled by urban expansion and infrastructure projects. The area is a mixture of mid-20th century housing complexes and newer developments. This mix reflects the neighbourhood's gradual evolution from a quiet, peripheral area to a more densely populated and vibrant community. Green spaces such as Parco delle Cave offer residents a respite from the hustle and bustle of the city, maintaining Bisceglie's reputation for livability. The neighbourhood's population is remarkably diverse, with a significant immigrant population contributing to its multicultural character. This diversity is reflected in the local area. Despite its growth, Bisceglie faces typical urban challenges. The tension between development and maintaining community identity is palpable, as new projects often spark discussions about the future character of the neighbourhood. Issues such as affordable housing and infrastructure strain are central to ongoing debates between residents and urban planners.Bisceglie is a testament to Milan's dynamic urban evolution. And, interestingly, it is close to areas of major land-use conflict. The former military area of Baggio is now one of the most controversial urban developments in the city, with strong protests against the municipality's development plan for this vast renaturalised area. The presence of such biodiversity hotspots (Parco delle Cave, Caserma di Baggio, etc.) coexists with many open spaces for human use, including parks, playgrounds and communal gardens.
The strong presence of a mixture of human and non-human habits is clearly perceptible in the recordings of this area, where the sounds of rare species of birds and endangered amphibians overlap with children playing and adults chatting.

Milan, Italy

41°54'55.9"N 12°28'56.4"E
20.03.2024, 08:08-08:35
VIDEO: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1kw49IWuVVV5vGR9gn5p6rUtvr8uN04ob/view?usp=sharing

This Audio was part of Scamp! a temporary installation by Federico Godino and the design collective Forme Tentative in the Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Moderna in Rome for people with cognitive disabilities on the autism spectrum.

Why?
Scamp! extends the view of the Villa Borghese depicted in the painting into the museum space through a physical and sound installation, searching for a new relationship between the art space and the public space, the democratic place par excellence. The aim is to subvert the traditional ways of inhabiting museum spaces, which presuppose a limited range of postural, psychological, cognitive, and motor conditions... The aim is to open up new ways of experiencing the art space and to create new forms of coexistence between those who inhabit it. This operation is also suggested by the decomposed nature of the painting, made up of 15 canvases placed side by side and painted at different times by the author, an expression of the constituent movement of the landscape represented in the temporal succession of the seasons. The result is a landscape approach to the project that accommodates the movements of bodies that inhabit, explore and, why not, modify space. Scamp! triggers a landscape that combines both the material world of objects, bodies, and works and an immaterial world defined by sounds, emotions and relationships.
 
What?
 
Scamp! is an experiment that occupied the gallery space for one day, presenting 15 soft carpets woven with elastic bands and colored cushions. The soft green carpet is an invitation to linger, to find one's own posture, as if on a lawn. The colored cushions of different sizes encourage multiple forms of appropriation. The colors establish a direct relationship with Giacomo Balla's painting, creating a visual continuity. The 15 carpets, like the 15 pieces in the painting, provoke a game imaginary whose rules are unknown, but which must be constantly reinvented. Scamp! is also a sound installation with specially made environmental recordings played through stereo speakers in the gallery. Scamp! is an invitation to take time to choose not only what to observe, but also how to observe it, an invitation to personal and collective research into the relationship of the body to the work of art, and of the body to the body, and of the body to the body.
 
How?
 
The project was activated with a performance that focused on listening and concentrating on the work and its tactile and chromatic references, as well as on the sounds of Villa Borghese Park: a new mental space emerged, free and deeply connected to the artistic experience. With a group of people from different cognitive backgrounds, Scamp! facilitated an experience of interaction both between the work and the space in which it was located, and between the participants, who were invited to choose how to position themselves. Scamp! configured and reconfigured itself according to the predispositions of those who experienced it, welcoming practices of observing, listening, dialogue, resting, approaching and distancing. The performance was guided by the telling of stories that intertwined the events of the painting's making, its artistic characteristics, with stories about Villa Borghese, its lawns and the creatures that inhabit and pass through it. 
 
The Scamp! project is part of the action research "AlliS Design for All. Design Strategies for Social Inclusion and the Redevelopment of Public Spaces of Cultural Interest" of the University Mercatorum, scientific director Roberto Bianchi, which has promoted a multidisciplinary project path involving 3 collectives, Forme Tentative, OriGami, Zapoi, Imood, in dialogue with psychologists, designers,  architects, with the involvement of the young people from the “Centro Medico Riabilitativo Pompei”.

Rome, Italy

Since January 2024, I have been conducting a sound mapping experiment, starting from three cities I know: Milan, Rome and Athens. This was the simple methodology: 
1- Select a significant location for a city, a place of collision between different interests and groups. 
2- Explore the area through sound, moving with headphones and directional/environmental microphones. (i.e. a Zoom H4 and Sennheiser MKE 600 )
3- Find a spot and record for 30 minutes. Stay still and silent near the microphone. Take notes on sound sources you can identify on-site.
4- Re-listened in studio, eliminate errors or corrupted sounds,  complete information about the sound sources detected.
This practice led to the development of a site specific installation at the Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Moderna e Contemporanea in Rome, that you can listen here: a recording of the sounds in the park surrounding of the museum (villa Borghese), edited and made more realistic for the human ear.

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