The dam of the damned

Arboleda, P. and Jankiewicz, P. (2022) The dam of the damned. GeoHumanities, 8(1), pp. 301-316. (doi: 10.1080/2373566X.2021.1942130)

Abstract

Over the last five decades, Italy has invested in the construction of public works as the core strategy to dynamize its less favoured regions; however, due to multiple and inherent dysfunctionalities, many of these remain half-built and abandoned today. The group of artists Alterazioni Video refer to this phenomenon as “Incompiuto” (“Incompletion” in English), coining a name for a new architectural style where the characteristic unfinished materiality speaks back to Italian idiosyncrasy. In the pursuit of existential dignity, Alterazioni Video suggest that these sites muster and reassemble metaphysical places of contemplation, thought and the imaginary. Drifting at one of its most spectacular samples (The Dam of Blufi, Sicily), the present collaboration between an architect and a writer testifies to said assertion, and celebrates the phenomenological qualities of modern ruination argued in emerging geographical literatures.

• Item Type: Articles
• Additional Information: The fieldwork conducted for this research took place while Pablo Arboleda was a doctoral candidate funded by the scholarship “Thüringer Graduiertenförderung,” granted by BauhausUniversity Weimar (Germany). The materialization of the present contribution has unfolded while Pablo Arboleda was a post-doc at the University of Glasgow, funded by the Urban Studies Foundation.
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Arboleda, Dr Pablo
• Authors: Arboleda, P., and Jankiewicz, P.
• College/School: College of Science and Engineering > School of Geographical and Earth Sciences
• Journal Name: GeoHumanities
• Publisher: Taylor and Francis
• ISSN: 2373-566X
• ISSN (Online): 2373-5678
• Published Online: 07 September 2021
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2021 The Authors
• First Published: First published in GeoHumanities 8(1): 301-316
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced under a Creative Commons License