Dan Dubowitz

The Children's Colonie of Mussolini's Italy

Fascismo Abbandonato

Penny Lewis

An exploration of the extraordinary modernist architecture of the 'colonia' built by Mussolini's Fascist regime in northern Italy.

Alan Ward

In 2008, Manchester decided to embark on a counter-cyclical project, much as the city fathers had done in the last great recession, and invest significantly in two civic buildings, two buildings that were cornerstones of the making of the first modern industrialised city; Manchester Town Hall Extension and Manchester Central Library. Early on in this major redevelopment project artists Dan Dubowitz and Alan Ward were given privileged and open access to witness this transformational period in the life of these two iconic buildings. Through large-format photographs and interviews taken and conducted over a period of eighteen months, they captured the moment when the city's citizens and workers had been locked out and the spaces were being stripped bare; revealing both a glimpse of what they had been and what they might become. The artwork provides insights on the reciprocal relationship between people and place, and reveals how the refurbishment of a building can go far beyond physical refurbishment, questioning the relationships between a city, its citizens and place.

Dan Dubowitz

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