Da quassù è tutta un’altra cosa / From up here, it’s a whole other story @ Manifesta 12

Forty years ago, a housing development project colonised Pizzo Sella, the central hill of Monte Gallo, north of Palermo. After hastily facilitated approvals of building permits, concrete pours, sales, aborted construction and endless lawsuits, the colonised hill of Pizzo Sella has become a poster child of real estate corruption, and a haunting blind spot in the Palermitan landscape.

As part of Manifesta’s 12 City on Stage section, we have been invited to reflect on this controversial area and to explore scenarios of interventions and resignification.

Starting with traces left by hikers, herders, pilgrims, goats and boars, our intervention explores the possibility to stitch back the hill of Pizzo Sella through the reconnection of hidden paths running along the cliff of Monte Gallo, above and behind the housing complex. Nearby the cliff, a belvedere is turned into an observatory for some of the breathtaking panoramas, doubling as a place to meet, rest and find cover.

This permanent intervention aims to deliver a mountain-sized exercise of perspective reversal. From above, the hill of Pizzo Sella offers emancipating vantage points on the mountain, the city, the country and the sea surrounding it, overlooking a century of dialogue between man and landscape. From above, the scarred hill turns into a healing device, offering relief from its prolonged gridlock.

Details

A project by Rotor

Tristan Boniver and Renaud Haerlingen,
with support from Elena Dell’Oro, Cédric Gautier, Alison Creba, Benjamin Lasserre, Amélie Tripoz, Giulia Caterina Verga

In collaboration with

Sergio Sanna, Sandro Scalia

Joined by the volunteer effort of

George Allen, Astrid V. Anselmi, Valentina Brunetti, Gloria Calderone, Emanuela Camarata, Federica Cascino, Federica Delsanto, Flavio Falcone, Camille Florent, Gaetano Giordano, Selene Graziano, Juliette Laurence, Louis Leroy, Victor Meesters, Sophie Michel, Benoit Molherat, Caterina Spadoni, Amélie Tripoz, Sofie Weytjens, Anna Zacharaki

Alessia Tutone, Giulio Renda, Ruggero Veneziano, Cecilia Pinelli and Ruggero Cipolla from UniPa

With the input of the expertise, conversations and walks with

Cristina Alga, Giacomo Anselmo, Luca Basilone, Alessandro Bazan, Marco Bonamini and Fortunata Prinzivalli, Giulia Cantaluppi, Ruggero Cipolla, Roberto Collovà, Isabella Fera, Vito Priolo, Francesco Cucchiara, Gabriella D’Agostino, Vincenzo Di Dio, Francesco Galioto, Giuseppe Marsalla, Marco Mondino, Ippolito Pestellini and his students, Pietro Umiltà and his son, Luisa Tuttolomondo, Giorgio Vasta, Giuseppe Venturella and his students, Pippo Lo Cascio and Francesca Mercandante

Thanks to

The inhabitants and gatekeepers of the housing development on Pizzo Sella, The Guardia Costiera Auxiliere in Mondello, Guido Sanna, Elena Violante, Luisa Sarandrea, Giuseppe Violante

Very special thanks to Pietro Airoldi, Ippolito Pestellini and the entire team of Manifesta12 for their continuous trust and enthusiasm for this project.