LongLake Urban Art Festival
How did the Urban Art Lugano project come about?
The project was born in 2009 following the presentation of Igor Ponti's photographic and editorial project entitled "Skate Generation": a series of shots that immortalized Lugano's generation of skaters, printed in the form of posters and exhibited in Piazza Manzoni - a project that is also a book.
The experience of art installation in an urban space turned out to be very interesting, so much so that it became an ongoing, independent project: working in and on urban space with interventions of various kinds to connect the citizen with the space, but also citizens and different communities with each other.
The objective of Arte Urbana Lugano is to support emerging artistic creation by placing it in interaction with the territory and the community. What is the relationship that is established between artist, space and citizens?
There are many relationships, and they begin to build even before the actual realization of a work, during its preparation. Once the work is made in the space, the space changes, the city changes: the citizens may discover a wall, a place that perhaps before they had never really seen, or that had always been the same and never paid attention to. The intention is to create a different point of view, to make those who are passing by think and surprise. Sometimes this can also generate discontent, but that is part of working in public space. At the moment of creating the work between artist and citizens another kind of relationship is established, a very immediate one: a moment of community, of gathering around the work is created; sometimes citizens stop to observe the artist at work, offer him a coffee, give some advice.
Citizens who wish to do so can make private spaces visible to the public available for artistic interventions. How is this invitation received by citizens?
Initially there was some reticence on the part of the public and owners in offering spaces. After more than a decade this has changed: today there is more curiosity about urban art. When we identify a space for an intervention, we ask the owners for advance notice and hold cognitive meetings between owners and artists, drafts are made. As we get into the details and start to imagine the place differently, there is a gradual openness to the project on the part of private individuals.
Since 2011, Urban Art has been part of the LongLake Festival. What are the points of contact between the proposals of one and the other?
Over the years, we have concentrated the interventions in the summertime, framing them in the context of LongLake, a festival where so many forms of art are concentrated outdoors and by the lake. In such a lively context, including the work of visual artists is enriching for the audience and for the artists themselves, who can connect with other artists. The choice of summer also has a technical motivation: most of the works are murals, so the ideal conditions for their creation are summertime, when it is possible to work comfortably outside. Urban Art integrates perfectly with LongLake's programming, in a common effort to make everyone experience the city in a pleasant way during the summer.
Who will be this year's guests?
There will be three interventions this year. The first work will be by a pair of illustrators and artists who have lived in Ticino for many years, Antoine DĂ©prez and Ursula Bucher, whose particular works find much strength in drawing. For the occasion, the two artists will address the theme of man's relationship with nature and will be at work during the first week of the festival in the Foce area, more precisely on a wall that stands at the back of Studio Foce, on the river side. The second intervention will be by Regina Kioko Ferretti: of Japanese descent, born and raised in SĂŁo Paulo, Brazil, she has been living and working in Ticino for years and likes to describe herself as an art craftswoman. For the first time, the artist will work on a mural in public space, creating an ephemeral work dedicated to surprising all those who live and inhabit the Lambertenghi neighborhood, not far from the Foce Studio and Ciani Park. Regina will interpret the facade by further exploring the theme of the female universe, returning it to the public in all its complexity. The third intervention, an ephemeral one, will be by Sir Taki, an artist from Ticino who will present a work in the Foce area, on a wall of the Swiss Rescue Society. The intervention consists of the posting on a wall of a large collage, the result of a collaboration between the artist and several unaccompanied minor boys seeking asylum at the Pasture Federal Center in Balerna. Since November 2021, the artist has in fact been meeting with boys of different nationalities and aged between 13 and 17 as part of creative workshops in collaboration with educator Margherita Rocchi. To date, 35 people have participated in these meetings and 110 collages have been made. The selected collage, will be posted in the urban space directly by the artist and the children and will be visible for three months.
Arte Urbana is part of LongLake Festival, from 13 to 31.07.
More information: arteurbana.ch
Citizens who wish to make a private space (part, storefront, garage or other) available for the development of art projects can contact Urban Art by email at aul@lugano.ch
