Head down! Down the Duomo?

This research endeavor is part of the Creative Campus project, which aims to bring together study abroad students and Italian artists in a process of creation centered on the theme Future Florence. The theme has been interpreted by several groups using a variety of artistic expression including painting, theatre, music and architecture.

Future Florence is an exciting theme for a city like Florence, famous throughout the world for being the home of the Renaissance architectural landmark, the dome of the Santa Maria del Fiore Cathedral. Brunelleschi’s masterpiece made the city of Florence a center for innovation in the mid-1400s, with its power and majesty symbolizing one of the last Italian artistic movements: the Renaissance.

But what happened next? What Florence do we live in today? Where is the wealth and prosperity that has characterized the city for so many centuries? Has the cultural heritage that once inspired creative innovation become a burden that crushes the spirit of creativity? Has the architectural symbol for this brilliant and emblematic city become its expressive prison?

What if the Dome for some strange reason had never been built? What if you woke up one morning, looked out the window and could no longer see the Duomo?

What would Florence be like today?

Certainly it would not be called the Cradle of the Renaissance! What fear makes this title so reassuring? Fear of the new?

During two brainstorming sessions, the artists expanded this initial provocation through conversations on example of contemporary architecture in Europe and around the world and through visiting examples of contemporary architecture in Florence, noting its location (mainly in the outskirts of the city). The artists explored the theme in several ways:

• A photographic safari of the buildings, atmosphere, people and situations of contemporary Florence.
• Interviews with audio and video around the city, asking individuals how they would recognize the Florence without the Duomo and what they would like/dislike about Florence without the Duomo.

Results of the Investigation

Play Your City is a model of the city that is constantly changing. We, like Gulliver, approach this micro-world and can change whatever we desire. This interactive piece is meant to invoke the sense of the city as a living organism, constantly changing.

Postcards for the Future is another interactive piece, inviting participants to imagine what could inhabit the space left by the Duomo, had it never been built and write their thoughts for the future of Florence.

The Interviews allow the viewer to see and listen to interviews conducted by the artists around the city. At the end of the interviews, the viewer is invited to share their thoughts on the questionnaire found on the table.