The city moves, where does it go? Maybe it leads to the sea.
The city speaks, what does it tell? Let us come closer to listen.
Can the city be taken apart, recombined, transformed, a bit like playing with Lego? Let’s ask a child.
The flags that run along the side of BASE Milano – Tornatinta – and the luminous inscription that looks out of the windows in via Tortona – Sometimes there is the sun, sometimes there is the moon – arise from Isabella Martin’s residency at BASE Milano and the collaboration last spring with the children of the Istituto Comprensivo Moisé Loria in Milano, who together explored their favourite parks, took photographs and observed clouds. Words, drawings, photos and imagery became real works of art expressing ideas, hopes and fears about the future of the city.
Starting from their perspective, Isabella Martin’s work proposes a new look at the city that becomes a playground, a place that talks and moves, full of flowers and clocks, lions and scents. Gathering their visions, Isabella Martin gives children a voice in the public debate around the theme, exploring, breaking down and imagining new creative forms of the city.
The two works are the result of the residency and a cycle of workshops “Playing Ground” will compose the site-specific work of public art at the entrance of BASE and were inaugurated on 15 June 2023 together with Isabella Martin and the children involved in the process.
Isabella Martin (UK) is a visual artist who works with people and places, exploring how we adapt to the world and relate to our surroundings. Her work moves between different mediums and is context specific; and is driven by interdisciplinary collaboration, in-depth research and experimental play. Bachelor in Sculpture – Fine Arts at Brighton University and MFA at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts.
Playing Ground is funded by the Maurizio Fragiacomo Foundation with the support of the Danish Arts Foundation and the technical parter Milano Signs.
→ https://isabellarosemartin.com/