RADAR is a Culture 2000 European project involving six cities: Venice, Athens, Krakow, Lewisham (London), Plovdiv and Weimar. It is a human lab which involves 30 artists who work on the concept of the European City and social relationships within it. While physically living in the six different locations during the last two years, the artists have created works of art which where exhibited, and they participated in local social integration initiatives.
The Radar project aims to connect cities, countries and people in search of a European identity that respects cultural differences while highlighting common aspects.
The project participated in the 50th Venice Biennale Art Exhibition, and during the Venetian phase, many artists worked together with local organizations, cultural associations, the city prison and local schools.
After their stay in Venice, the artists spent a month, in groups, in one of the other partner cities, working with local organizations to produce their works of art. After two years working and traveling in Europe, a final event was held in the
beautiful cloister of the Telecom Future Centre.
RADAR Infopoint, whose name refers ironically to corporate information services, is the final event of the project where the artists return to Venice to present their projects, which are a hybrid of art and documentation, that narrate what the project was and what it was meant to be.
The Radar billboards are currently on show, 12 giant photographs showing the artists in the places where they lived during the Radar journey through the European cities.
The photographs are mounted on the external hoarding of Insula building sites on the Grand Canal and in some other squares of Venice, and shed an ironic look on what it means to live in Europe: in Athens, the artists crowd a street at night, or are shown inside their temporary apartments, in Krakow they take part in the wedding of Polish friends, organize an unlikely fashion photo session or organize picnics, whereas in Plovdiv, a splendid and luscious Bulgarian city, they are all connected by phone to the rest of the world. In Lewisham, a London suburb, they have breakfast on the grass or watch the sun go down, and in Weimar they are shown inside the Nietzsche archive, which exceptionally had become their dwelling during the German phase.
The 12 RADAR BILLBOARDS are in
Grand Canal (Campo San Samuele, Campo della Salute, Campo San Vio)
Campo Santa Marina
Campo S.Gregorio (Zattere)
Rio de San Trovaso
Entrance to ex-area Italgas (at the end of Rio terà dei Pensieri)
