Foto da Galera
A couple of temporary pavillions harbours inside the photographs of the director Davide Ferrario, taken inside San Vittore prison in Milan, during a refurbishment program that began in 2002.
The project is inspired by his reflections on the prison environment, particularly isolation, control and surveillance. The task was to take these features of prison life and recreate them for the audience.
The space hosts two elongated volumes (16x2m, 11x2m). Moving inside them, they reveal their severe and primitive nature, determined by their surfaces, which are concrete coated, cool to the touch, rough and dull. The exposed concrete creates a sense of deprivation. The properties of the material are shown in relief by the use of fluorescent lighting.
If the interior is austere and unadorned, the outer surface, of untreated wood, reflects the materials of the area in which it resides. The wall surface is modulated by small slits at different heights that reveal the content of the interiors. The presence of the openings puts the visitor into the ambiguous state of being both observer and observed. Small staircases placed against the walls allow the slits to be reached. The only light comes from the new pavillions, leaving the surrounding environment in the gloom.
