A New Sensibility towards Unfinished Ruins: Affective Knowledge Translation through Experimental Video

Pablo Arboleda

doi:10.1177/1206331221989962

Abstract

In the last 50 years, and due to a dilapidation of funds, hundreds of public works have remained unfinished in Italy, most especially in Sicily. In 2007, the group of artists Alterazioni Video declared these modern ruins a formal architectural style—so-called Incompiuto Siciliano— through which they aim to change the buildings’ negative perception, turning it into something positive. In September 2015, I carried out an urban exploration journey during which I visited a dozen Incompiuto Siciliano works all across Sicily in one week. Based on that journey, this paper argues that a renewed sensibility towards incompletion necessarily requires original and creative methods to translate the affective knowledge gained in these sites. Therefore, through the use of personal narratives and the creation of three different experimental videos, the aim is to advance the way we translate embodied encounters with these spaces. This is relevant not only in the context of modern ruins but in further unruly spaces where aesthetic experiences emerge.

Highlights

In the last 50 years, and due to a dilapidation of funds, hundreds of public works have remained unfinished in Italy, most especially in Sicily
In the summer of 2012, I read an article in a newspaper talking about a group of Italian artists called Alterazioni Video, who had declared a new architectural style: Incompiuto Siciliano
This style makes reference to the vast quantity of unfinished public works in Italy—around 750 erected in the past 50 years—with a third of them located in Sicily alone (Alterazioni Video and Fosbury Architecture, 2018)

Summary

Introduction

In the last 50 years, and due to a dilapidation of funds, hundreds of public works have remained unfinished in Italy, most especially in Sicily. Keywords sensibility, unfinished ruins, urban exploration, affective knowledge translation, embodied aesthetics, experimental video

Objectives

Results

Conclusion