Milan, Italy

Is this a real cultural neighborhood or a developer’s post-industrial fantasy?

Once the factories failed, the workers moved on, the old industrial districts (usually on the edge of the city) largely started to stagnate. When all the institutional actors finally became convinced that the industrial era really had moved on, individuals started making motions on how to rethink these neighborhoods. Economics, as always, is at the center. With theold factories being open and cheap, they ushered in a new era of postindustrial chic, both from the bottom up and the top down. The Bicocca quarter has been synonymous with industry ever since Pirelli pumping out tires there there at the beginning of the twentieth century. Pirelli itself has been the promoter of the area's redevelopment project, assigned to the Gregotti Associati International studio and including many culture-related architectural interventions. A huge university, a theater and an important art venue have been built there in the last two decades.

Developers have been attempting to convert postindustrial areas into fruitful social nodes all over the world. The cheap real estate and governmental support making it easy to try and make a few bucks.

Although the environment of the Bicocca might resemble a night-time De Chirico painting in the late hours and sometimes the distance from the center is a bit discouraging, they’re still scrapping together serious cultural projects. Hangar Bicocca is hosting seven huge permanent Anselm Kiefer installations, and Teatro degli Arcimboldi, held the La Scala shows when the world famous theater was being renewed. But traffic and inconvenient travel can discourage even the heartiest cultural tourist. And developers don’t always have quality of life factored into their bottom line.

Mission Report

Our mission took place on the 22nd, May, 2008. We went around the district recording the architecture, the streets, the people in the bars, the few walking in the streets, the Hangar Bicocca. The general atmosphere of desolation and anonymity impressed us very much, we went to the Hangar Bicocca and tried to interview the girls working there but none of them wanted to be asked anything. Hard beginning! We had the chance to speak with Francesca Bertolozzi, a vice director of the Hangar, she came on purpose from Piazza Affari (city center) to the Hangar (it took half an hour) to answer our questions. She explained the story of the Hangar that first was an industrial site and now is a platform for art and events that was created independently from the district but that now belongs to it. We visited the actual exhibition and Kiefer’s towers which are close to the public. A big project of renovation is up for the next years, we’ll see what happens.
After the visit to the Hangar, we went around the city trying to ask some students: not many were around and even less wanted to answer, “BUT please, don’t film me!”. Generally it was noted how this district has no green areas, how anonymous it is. Most of people come from outside so they don’t know how it goes in the evening and at weekends they just said that transports are well organised. We talked to some students at a bar that said that the district is dead and expensive. They were sitting around a table, drinking beer and celebrating a mate’s graduation. Fun.
Our mission ended at the Theatre Arcimboldi where we took some comments about the affluence to the events: good programs, nice theatre, a bit too expensive and far from the city, generally we got positive answers, at least.
Desolation and cement at a station stop called Bicocca, this was the end of our Mission at the Bicocca district.
Carola Annoni, Ines Coelho