Archive and the City explores unexpected parallels between archival practices and urban planning, offering a thought-provoking examination of how documents, buildings, and ideas can be organised. The installation highlights how arranging books on a shelf or filing documents in a folder mirrors the complexity of a city, with its neighbourhoods, utilities, and interconnected functions. Furthermore, it underscores how serendipity can evolve into structured methodology within both archival and urban systems. A dedicated room features rare artifacts, illustrating “documentary residues” that narrate creative processes. Archive and the City invites visitors to see archives as dynamic narratives that mirror urban life’s structure and essence.
Participants
STUDIO FM MILANO MILAN, ITALY Cristiano Bottino, Milan, Italy, 1970. Lives and works in Milan, Italy.
DENSITYDESIGN LAB MILAN, ITALY Michele Mauri, Cantù, Italy, 1984. Lives and works in Milan, Italy.
LUIGI FARRAUTO, Milan, Italy, 1981. Lives and works in Milan, Italy.
JON KLEINBERG, Boston, USA, 1971. Lives and works in Ithaca, USA.
ACHILLE VARZI, Galliate, Italy, 1958. Lives and works in Trento, Italy, and New York, USA.
MARCO SANTAMBROGIO, Milan, Italy, 1946. Lives and works in Milan, Italy.
WITH HISTORICAL ARCHIVE OF CONTEMPORARY ARTS (ASAC).
Authorial Collaborators
Dirk Helbing (ETH Zurich)
Team
Studio FM Milano: Cristiano Bottino, Francesco Scagliarini; DensityDesign Lab: Michele Mauri, Maria De Los Ángeles Briones Rojas; Leonardo Puca (Filmmaker)
