New figures and tradition

摘要

In February of this year, an article published by La Repubblica pondered over the faded murals in Taranto, an expression of the community's desperation through the only means available to the defeated; art. However, this cry of desperation had gone unheard because the suspended mineral matter in the air and the rhythms of the global machine had rendered it weak. This was Taranto, unable to free itself from its destiny as a symbol of 20th-century industrial - and above all political - oppression. A city that remained excluded from the new sustainable, digital, ecological, incusive direction that the West was taking. All because of those terrible particulates, which faded the souls of the citizens long before they drained the colour from the murals and which, until a few months ago, seemed capable of overturning even the principles of high energy physics. However, the greatness of the world goes far beyond anyone's philosophy. A new breed of men chosen by the people has decided to substitute the faded murals with bright renderings as sources of creativity and pragmatism. Perhaps in honour of the distant Spartan origins of the city and the modern times depicted by unforgettable Alessandro Leogrande, but first and foremost of the need to bring an end to positivist rhetoric, in which progress always moves in a single direction. An infinite value that, particularly in Southern Italy, remains the only possibility for regeneration. It is a process that sees Taranto with a future characterised by nature, culture and Mediterranean fraternity. It is at the heart of this metamorphosis that architecture comes into play as an open and flexible matrix, capable of serving as a logical and emotive, as well as spatial and constructive, infrastructure, and of generating absolute value. Domus is delighted to play its part in presenting the process chosen by the administration of Taranto. We are honoured to participate with our traditional critique and strict analysis, which remain the only means for us to examine community life from the viewpoint of architecture, design and art. It is a situation that we construct every single day, choosing how to work, heal, study and move, and - in the case of Taranto - also continuing to enjoy the endless Mediterranean sun.