The Hidden City
The Hidden City _ x Manifesta 12 _ Palermo
The Hidden City _ Workshop, Public Program and Book.
Focusing on Palazzo Abatellis, ‘The Hidden City’ project seeks to uncover significant stories of this former aristocratic palace, which was first turned into a convent, and later in the Galleria Regionale della Sicilia.
The Hidden City is a project drawing from the narrative tradition of Palermo and focusing on one of the singular aspects of Manifesta 12, the contamination of cultures and languages. The Hidden City assimilates Manifesta’s main theme from this particular point of view. It investigates Palazzo Abatellis with Cloe Piccoli and Stefano Graziani, to unveil, to narrate and to delve into the cultural stratification of an historic and important place of the city of Palermo.
The Hidden City is a laboratory of hidden stories, which spans through this ancient aristocratic palace, turned into convent, and later into the Regional Gallery of Sicily, with the 1953 museographic intervention of Carlo Scarpa, remaining one of the most fascinating works by the Venetian architect. Here, in the same spirit as Manifesta 12, a new narration will be constructed, through historical and contemporary suggestions, art and architecture, photography and archives.