Going Public ‘08 - Port City Safari: The Sound of the City by Zafos Xagoraris, Piazza Garibaldi, Sassuolo :: until December 21, 2008 :: aMAZElab Via Cola Montano 8, 20159 Milano, Italy.

Starting from the text by the famous writer Italo Calvino ‘Le città invisibili/The invisibile cities’, The Sound of the City intends to map the city through a collection of sounds / silence / noises which are typical of specific areas: the suburbs, schools, markets, squares. The project intends to create spatial and functional surveys for the definition of an idea of architecture and space referring to today’s acoustic ecology and sociology. Zafos Xagoraris’ work can be seen both as an architecture and a sculpture in the public space. His sound installation will be presented in the main square of the city Piazza Garibaldi with a transmission of sounds from different port cities.

The cultural agency aMAZElab in Milan presents PORT CITY SAFARI, a journey touching some of the main port cities in Europe and in the Mediterranean area, participating in the project with researches, exhibitions and seminars, organised by local museums, universities and cultural institutions. The project started in Bristol (UK) with the first stopover of the exhibition Port City. On mobility and exchange, including art works by Meschac Gaba, Maria Magdalena Campons Pons, Zineb Sedira, Yto Barrada,Ursula Biemann…

After the site-specific projects, during the Istanbul and Athens Biennials, PORT CITY SAFARI has explored the cities of Rotterdam, Tangier, Marseilles and Palermo. The project was presented in its entirety during the ‘Liverpool Biennial’ 2008 and and will close in Sassuolo (Italy) in Novembre/December 2008 with a series of workshops and exhibitions.

For Sassuolo is organised the first Italian exhibition dedicated to Zafos Xagoraris, artists and curator at the next Biennial of Visual Arts in Athens. The event represents a relevant contribution to the knowledge and promotion of an important protagonist of the international art scene.The city of Sassuolo, the last stopover of the journey, represents a very interesting case for its multifaceted urban and social layering.

An international workshop will fostering cultural exchanges between young students coming from Europe and the Mediterranean area. Video and images collected from different ares of the city of Sassuolo (industrial areas, street markets, schools, periferies, ect…) will be presented at the Cultural Center ‘La Casa nel Parco’.

PORT CITY SAFARI represents an international network of cultural exchanges, exhibitions, a series of publications and art platforms. The project highlights diverse research projects and trajectories dedicated to trade, mobility and productivity in participating port cities.

For Spring 2009, at the end of the entire project, a publication documenting the artists’ works, theoretical essays, images and maps will conclude the long and articulated journey of ‘GOING PUBLIC ‘08. PortCitySafari’.

The project is awarded by the EU Culture 2007 Grant.

Project by: aMAZElab, Milano
Concept and Director: Claudia Zanfi
In collaboration with: Arnolfini, Bristol
With the support of: Foundation Cassa Risparmio di Modena; Cultural Department Province of Modena; The J.F. Costopoulos Foundation, Athens; Culture Commission European Community
Patronage: MiBAC Ministry of Culture, Rome