From Wound to Enclave: The Visual-Material Performance of Urban Renewal in Bologna's Manifattura Delle Arti

Abstract

In this article I examine the visual-material performance of urban renewal in Bologna’s cultural district Manifattura delle Arti. Through an evaluation of its physical characteristics and with the aid of personal narrative, I elucidate that the district performs meaning potentials of exclusion and distinction. Not unlike when it was a run-down former industrial area, the district visibly interrupts the cityscape. In doing so, it is now constituted as an enclave for the global(ist) communication of Bologna. Rather than being an organically integrated or politically disruptive presence, this urban enclave ultimately contributes to the deepening of inequalities that are typical of advanced capitalism.

Keywords: Bologna, global communication, Manifattura delle Arti, mediatization, urban built environment, visual-material performance