This past week we experienced our first setback in the project. The Museum of Modern Art (MAMbo) cannot deal with our request to host the oven in the garden outside of the museum. It was an individual refusing and it has to do with a host of institutional structures that are involved in facilitating a project that is under institutional sponsorship. I’ll try to explain… the Iceberg festival is a project of the office of culture of the city of Bologna. The Museum is also a public institution, though with some autonomy from the city. The garden outside of the museum is the property of the city and is currently closed, pending some future development project, and although technically under the jurisdiction of the city’s office of parks, because of its proximity to the museum, decisions are defered to the museum director. The office of culture contacted the museum director with the request, unfortunately we were not permitted in this first stage to meet him personally and explain our project, we had to allow the procedure to move in their institutional ways. This one contact (by e-mail) was rejected by stating that the garden is closed to the public and that it is not in institutional or representative power to permit for its opening. It seemed to us that perhaps we can ask the office of parks for permission to use it. Not so simple… the office of culture saw this as a no, and does not want to go on provoking the museum by going around to gain permission from another office. So, a big conceptual element of our project was rejected by e-mail.
We tried to come up with solutions, and the folks at the office of culture reminded us of the enthusiasm that folks from Cineteca (the film archives, and art cinema, and host to the Mercato della Terra) had for our project. Now, while the Cineteca isn’t exactly a former bakery, it is in the same area, what the city development calls the Manifattura delle Arti, a formerly industrial part of the city now turned to cultural development. The museum was formerly a bakery, the cineteca was formerly a slaughterhouse… However, it is in the shadow of the museum with good views of the old bakery chimneys. Also, though the Cineteca is a public institution, it is a public/private, and the open courtyard where the market is hosted only requires the approval of the director, not the city. So we got in touch with Cineteca, and met the director’s assistant the next day. Also at our meeting was the organizer of the Slow Food market, who also expressed enthusiasm for the project. The original excitement of Cineteca for building the oven in the courtyard, faced the reality of building it in a courtyard that already hosts a market and soon a temporary bar. But the assistant to the director was determined to make this happen for us and took us on a walk to the neighborhood association next door. This complex of houses and community center was formerly a convent and now houses a vibrant group of senior citizens struggling to maintain their space against encroaching gentrification. As it happens the ladies at the center would love to have a traditional bread oven in their yard and they plan to continue baking bread after the completion of the project. And so, a setback turned into an opportunity to connect, a building of relationships and a shifting of meaning from a symbolic act outside of the museum to an act with real meaning in the shadow of the museum
