WELFARE Space Emilia
Federico Covre, Cesare Fabbri, Allegra Martin, Francesco Neri, Sabrina Ragucci
 
from 1 May 2010 to 31 July 2012
Survey

The welfare dimension emerged in the second half of the 20thcentury in Europe, bringing about that ensemble of spaces for socialisation and collective living, of services and structures which, despite numerous limits, managed to guarantee a degree of comfort, health and safety to cities, thus constituting a concrete manifestation of welfare state policies. While in the ‘60s and ‘70s, reportage created a representation of welfare dealing with social and cultural emergencies around the theme of marginalisation and reclusion, throughout the ‘80s and most of the ‘90s, there was a complete lack of representation of the welfare dimension as a space of sociality and identity.  

With this photographic investigation project, shared with the Councils of Correggio, Carpi, Scandiano, Rubiera and the Auserof Rubiera, which jointly commissioned the study, Linea di Confine set out to reflect on the possibility that in the work of some of the most interesting photographers of recent generations, (such as that of Federico Covre, Allegra Martin, Francesco Neri, Cesare Fabbri and Sabrina Ragucci), photography might offer an authorial representation of the social and identitary nature of the welfare dimension. The study project, curated by William Guerrieri and Stefano Munarin, examined various different kinds of welfare: a socialisation activity aimed at a group of pensioners, a youth centre, a public reading service in a hospital ward, a nursery school and a social centre located in a multi-functional centre. 

 
The study was carried out with support from the Emilia-Romagna Regional Council.

 
from 4 May to 19 June 2013
Exhibition

Saturday 4 May 2013, in the rooms of the ‘Corte Ospitale’ in Rubiera, Reggio Emilia, alongside the presentation of the MEDEBACH exhibition, Photographs 1979-1983, by Petra Wittmar. The exhibition WELFARE Space Emilia opened featuring the photographs of Federico Covre, Cesare Fabbri, Allegra Martin, Francesco Neri and Sabrina Ragucci. The exhibition opening was preceded by a round table featuring the participation of the commissioning bodies, of the photographers and Giorgio Falco (writer), Antonello Frongia (historian of photography), William Guerrieri (coordinator of LdC and photographer), Stefano Munarin (town-planner) and the other photographers. The meeting was chaired by Silvana Turzio.  

The research carried out by Francesco Neri, a series of large-format portraits entitled Oneglia, concerned the socialisation of elderly women living alone, and was produced in Rubiera as part of an Audserinitiative. A hem, a stitch and a seam (Un orlo un punto un bordo) make up the intimate quest pursued by Sabrina Ragucci in 2011 with regard to the public reading service ‘Letto a letto’ in the Ospedale Civile of Correggio, a service first offered in 2009 in the rehabilitation department of the hospital with the aim of improving patients’ psycho-motorial recovery. Libero Pensiero by Allegra Martin is a research project implemented once again in 2011 on the structures hosting various services (social recreation spaces, bars, a space for disabled children, health clinics, the headquarters of voluntary organisations) and the social centre ‘Il Parco’ in Rubiera. The research project, entitled Un circo fantastico, was carried out by Cesare Fabbri in 2011 on the educational services for infancy, at the state and council nurseries of Scandiano. Lastly, Federico Covre presented a research project entitled Seconda Generazione, i.e. the gift and the menace, a study into the Mac’e’! youth space of Carpi Town Council, located in the ex-abattoir building, a public structure given over to the young people of the town. 
 

 
The catalogue, published by Linea di Confine with texts by William Guerrieri, Antonello Frongia and Stefano Munarin, accompanying the exhibition, is currently available.

1 / 5
Sabrina Ragucci, Un orlo un punto un bordo, 2011
 

WELFARE Space Emilia  

 
Photographs by  
Federico Covre, Cesare Fabbri, Allegra Martin, Francesco Neri and Sabrina Ragucci  
 

 
With this photographic investigation project shared with the Town Councils of Correggio, Carpi, Scandiano and Rubiera (which commissioned the study), Linea di Confine set out to reflect on the possibility that photography, in the work of a number of young authors from recent generations, may provide an artistic representation of the social and identitary nature of the welfare dimension.  

The investigation project examined various typologies of welfare: a socialisation activity organised for a group of pensioners; a youth centre, a service of public reading in a hospital ward, a nursery school and a social centre located within a multi-functional structure.

 
 
 

Rubiera, Linea di Confine Editions, 2013  

 
Edited by William Guerrieri & Stefano Munarin.  

 
Format: 23 x 17 cm. 140 pp., texts in Italian and English by William Guerrieri, Stefano Munarin and Antonello Frongia.  
28.00 Euros 

 
Request
Publication