On the f(air)
The city changes. Deep inside its heart. Within the Citylife project, almost one million cube meters of houses and offices are going to be built in the abandoned area of the old Fair of Milan. Here the new skyscrapers of Libeskind, Isozaki and Hadid will rise. This place was the heart of the industrial, commercial and innovative vocation of the city.
The first structures date back to the twenties and here most of the important fair exhibitions of the city took place. In the old Fair, now demolished, a very important part of the city life took place and there is no Milanese who does not have memories connected to its existence.
In Summer 2005 I had the opportunity to realize a photo essay inside the structure before its closing and dismantling. It was summertime, there were no exhibitions, and the big stands, meeting rooms and halls were deserted. Sometimes I met some watchmen, the only human presences. Early in the morning I used to go in, as inside an enormous whale belly, and there grew, together with my need to tell, through images, a sense of disorientation that enfolded me and that I had to document. Walking inside these enormous empty structures, I travelled not only inside the ruins of an industrial civilization and of a dying lifestyle, but also inside myself, in a sort of private Conradian “heart of darkness”.
I was inside the dark heart of this city that, despite its appearance, is always in motion, even though it often seems not to have a clear direction that it must take.
