June 11 2009- until the end of March 2010

Guest Contribution by Udit Lorraine Belkine

Two months ago, in company with my sister Elinor, we enjoyed four days of the design-in-the-city festival that took place in Milan, Italy. I guess I will save for another time the story of how we got there because of a post that was published on Yatzer and how I became a post writer on my preferable design website. This time I would like to share with you the wonderfull expirience of staying at the interesting location in the evolving Tortona district in Milan and the very cool Sopra il Sotto open air exhibition.

Design hotel Nhow with it’s changing exhibition and it’s interesting location at the Tortona district is a story unto itself. But we could not have seen the wonderful open air exhibition if we did not choose to stay there. Each day, on our way to the Metro, we discovered more and more art pieces just under our feet. All we needed to do is to look down and enjoy those hip creations.

The Sopra il Sotto exhibition is sponsored by the Comune di Milano, Department of Culture. In honour of its tenth anniversary in business, Metroweb, owner of the largest fibre optic network in Europe, that covers the metropolitan area of Milan, has planned an event that will beautify the city, supporting young contemporary artists. Sopra il Sotto – Manhole Art tells the story of the Cabled City proposes art in the street and of the street, interpreted by affirmed street artists – those who already present in international galleries and museums – who have freely interpreted the theme “The Net”.

16 street artists were selected by curator Davide Giannella, under the artistic direction of Gisella Borioli, in order to deal with the manhole covers as if they were blank canvases: 108, 2501, Abbominevole, Bo130, Dem, El Gato Chimney, Faust, Luze, Maba, Microbo, Ozmo, Pho, Santy, Sten&Lex, Ufo5.

An almost invisible object of common use, the manhole cover, an integral part of the urban landscape, becomes visible, engraved, coloured, intriguing, figurative or abstract and symbolic. An immediate language spreads art with spontaneity into the heart of the city by using the visible and invisible parts of it.

With the help of Attilio Tono and Veronique Pozzi, the artists designed and created a total of 30 manhole covers of different dimensions that tell the story of the underground world of fibre optics, using creativity and surprise to take over the streets: Tortona, Savona, Montevideo, Bergognone, Voghera, Stendhal, Bugatti, Forcella, Novi, and Cerano.