ReverseLab

A space for contemporary art between the prison and the city

A close-up shows a detail of the installation inside the vaulted corridor, where the checkerboard panels are enriched with colorful sticky notes and freehand drawings. Words like "Spensieratezza" (Lightheartedness) can be read on the notes, and stylized sketches of faces and human figures are visible, suggesting a participatory design process or a collective work. In the blurred background, several people walk through the corridor, indicating a public opening or a presentation of the research project.

The ReverseLab space was inaugurated in Milan's San Vittore 'Francesco Di Cataldo' prison, born from the synergy between the prison, Politecnico di Milano and PAC Padiglione d'Arte Contemporanea, made possible by the contribution of Fondazione di Comunità Milano and realised in collaboration with Forme Tentative and Philo - Pratiche filosofiche.

The project is part of the Off Campus San Vittore activities and is carried out by the multidisciplinary and interdepartmental research group 'Laboratorio Carcere' of Politecnico di Milano, which includes the Department of Architecture and Urban Studies and the Department of Design with the figures of Francesca Piredda, Mariana Ciancia, Chiara Ligi, and Maria Maramotti, and which has been working in a network with other realities on the theme of prison for over a decade.

An information poster for the "REVERSELAB" project is posted on a peeling wall with an ancient and industrial feel. The text describes the initiative as a permanent laboratory aimed at redeveloping abandoned spaces through art and culture, promoting dialogue between the prison and the city. The flyer mentions workshops held in 2024 in collaboration with artists and the Politecnico di Milano. The shot, captured through what appears to be a gap or blurred bars in the foreground, emphasizes the theme of overcoming physical and social boundaries through creativity.

ReverseLab redevelops and reactivates a now uninhabitable space — a gallery in the basement of the first ray of San Vittore prison, closed since the second half of the 1980s — transforming it into a place dedicated to artistic and cultural production. Thanks to the project, this disused space will become a permanent workshop for the training of inmates, but also an exhibition space open to the public, with the aim of creating forms of dialogue and integration between the prison and the city.

«The presence of a permanent design workshop such as Off Campus San Vittore, now active in the ReverseLab project, creates the conditions to think about spaces, but also about people, to tell about another possible prison.»

Giacinto Siciliano, Director of the Milan San Vittore ‘Francesco Di Cataldo’ Prison

The transformed space is returned to the prison for treatment activities, hosting site-specific artworks resulting from the work of inmates participating in workshops held by different artists. The curatorship of the realisation of the works is entrusted to PAC in Milan, which identifies and invites artists capable of dialoguing with the space destined for the project and of collaborating in the creation of a work with the prisoners themselves.

two young men are kneeling on the floor, intent on drawing or writing on a large grid of square panels that covers almost the entire floor surface. The young man in the foreground, with dark curly hair, is wearing a short-sleeved gray shirt, black shorts, and disposable blue shoe covers. He holds a red pen in his right hand, focused on the task. The other young man in the background is wearing a white t-shirt and jeans, also engaged in the same creative or mapping activity. The surrounding environment is raw, with irregular white walls and an old radiator, evoking an atmosphere of work and ongoing transformation.

The first workshop

The workshop, aimed at inmates from different departments, took place from March to mid-June 2024. During the meetings between the artist Maurice Pefura, the partners Philo - Pratiche filosofiche, the 'Laboratorio Carcere' team of Politecnico di Milano, Forme Tentative and the participants, multi-material fragments were created by exploring different interpretative and expressive techniques, such as writing, painting, drawing and performance practices, with the aim of intercepting expressive modes in accordance with the personal abilities and will of each person and creating a collective work of art.

On the one hand, the art workshop represents a multidisciplinary learning path, where the open and inclusive approach promotes personal growth and the acquisition of skills useful for reintegration into society; on the other hand, it has an experimental value as a pilot experience for the subsequent six-monthly editions. Each edition will be temporary, lasting about six months, and will involve a different artist and the gradual transformation of a part of the basement. The space will gradually be taken over by art and quality of life.

An artistic and conceptual collage depicts a stylized human silhouette set within a symbolic urban landscape. The figure, with white outlines highlighted by a pink line, is superimposed on a grid of blue rectangles resembling building windows. Yellow and pink sticky notes are integrated into the collage with handwritten phrases like "Rintanarsi" (To hole up), "Dentro troppo rumore fuori" (Too much noise outside inside), and "Sembra una bolla" (It feels like a bubble), evoking themes of isolation, introspection, and environmental perception. The work uses a textured and fragmented painterly style, typical of a co-design process or a creative workshop.

Artists are the ones who make a noise

The site-specific work of the first edition ReverseLab works on the relationship between inside and outside and between body and space, through the construction of an unprecedented landscape within the main exhibition gallery. The countless fragments that make up the work are created by prisoners under the guidance of artist Maurice Pefura, with the artistic curatorship of Diego Sileo (PAC Padiglione di Arte Contemporanea Milano).

The result is the exhibition entitled ‘ARTISTS ARE THE ONES WHO MAKE NOISE. Fragments from San Vittore Prison’, which consists of the assembly of thousands of expressive fragments on paper tesserae and other materials: phrases, thoughts, images, drawings, figures which occupy all the walls of the long gallery and, in this way, convert the closed space into a new urban landscape.

A smiling man wearing a black bucket hat and a dark green jacket poses inside a long vaulted corridor. The walls of the corridor are completely covered with colorful panels consisting of collages and mosaics made of small squares, similar to those seen in previous working stages. The central perspective of the structure highlights the vastness of the installation, creating a rhythmic and vibrant visual path within a historical or industrial architectural space.

Sound installations and the Memory Room

The exhibition is enriched by sound installations with the voices of prisoners echoing in the space of some disused cells. In the cramped cell ‘Sole, dove sei?’ the anguish of the first day in prison is captured, while in ‘Désolé maman’ the voices convey a strong sense of nostalgia and love for the family. In ‘Ho perso la luna’, the relationship with others is told, the daily difficulties and the reversal of the relationship with space, which is very limited, and time, which never seems to flow; ‘Non spegnere la luce’ opens up a glimpse into the future.

On the other hand, a ‘Memory Room’ gives an account of the transformation of the space up to its current form, by means of a video made using the photogrammetry technique and an audio recording of the prison police's testimonies on the history of the prison.

In a close-up shot, a sign with the words "Non spegnere la luce" is seen attached to a crumbling stucco wall, suggesting a setting of a time past or abandoned. In the blurred background, there are hints of wooden frames, a radiator, and a window letting in daylight, adding atmosphere. The focus is on the wall's texture and the words' meaning.
In a wider shot that frames the environment hinted at in the close-up, a room with an industrial and unkempt atmosphere is revealed, with peeling walls and a raw ceiling showing the signs of time. A projector is ceiling-mounted and projects an image onto the wall, adding a touch of technology to the rustic environment. Raw wooden structures are placed in a corner, while a radiator can be glimpsed in the opposite corner, adding realism and depth. The window in the background, though blurred, lets in hints of daylight, completing the scene's atmosphere.
«The Off Campuses, spaces directly managed by the University in four marginal contexts of the city, are proximity devices through which Politecnico di Milano becomes an actor in the most fragile contexts, creating a mechanism that brings innovation to the contexts in which we operate. In the case of San Vittore, the inmates, agents and operators are not users of the project, but active participants who contribute to changing narratives and promoting traces of change.»

Francesca Cognetti, Rector's Delegate to the Off Campus Programme of Politecnico di Milano

OFF CAMPUS | Il Cantiere per le Periferie is an initiative promoted by Polisocial, Politecnico di Milano's social commitment and responsibility programme, which aims to strengthen the Politecnico's presence in the city of Milan through the idea of a more responsible university, attentive to social challenges, open and close to territories and communities.

The exhibition will be open to the public two days a week (Saturdays and Mondays in two shifts from 2pm to 3pm and 3pm to 4pm) from 28 September to 28 October 2024.

To visit the exhibition you must register using this link.
Free guided tours with registration, subject to availability.

You must register at least 10 days before the date of the visit in order to receive a pass for San Vittore.

For group visits or special requirements, please write to: offcampus-sanvittore@polimi.it

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