Fare il Pane a Bologna

Date e programma
venerdì 8 e sabato 9.05, Slow Food on Film Festival
h 10 – 12: preparazione pane / h 12 – 14: lievitazione, passeggiata con trasporto dei pani e accensione inaugurale del forno presso il Centro Sociale Giorgio Costa / h 14 – 15: cottura e assaggio

all’interno del Festival Iceberg:
giovedì 21.05, mercatino biologico c/o Xm24, via Fioravanti 24 (in attesa di conferma)
h 17,30 - 19: preparazione pane / h 19 – 21: passeggiata con trasporto dei pani / h 21 – 22: cottura e assaggio

venerdì 22.05, mercato della Piazzola c/o Piazza Otto Agosto (in attesa di conferma)
h 10 – 12: preparazione pane / h 12 – 14: lievitazione e passeggiata con trasporto dei pani / h 14 – 15: cottura e assaggio

sabato 23.05, Mercato della Terra c/o cortile della Cineteca via Azzo Gardino
h 10 – 12: preparazione pane / h 12 – 14: lievitazione e passeggiata con i pani / h 14 – 15: cottura e assaggio

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

We have been researching (visiting) the various markets of Bologna to locate the places where we will set up our bread making stalls. There are a few pre-determining criteria that we are working with, some potentially pliable, some not. The area map of the Iceberg festival does not encompass the entire city of Bologna, but rather concentrates on the central area that will attract the greatest visibility (though perhaps not participation) for an art event. This unfortunately eliminates some of the outlying markets that include immigrant communities and maybe many different bread making techniques. Another limitation is that the old traditional markets in the center (the ones that have been around for hundreds of years) have since become permanent, meaning the stalls are now fixed stalls, and there isn’t really room for temporary fixtures. However… we are working on this, and the possibility of somehow setting up in those markets.

Markets that do fit the locational and temporal criteria include the wonderful Mercatino Biologico XM24. This market happens once a week, on Thursday evenings from 6-9 at the XM24 space. XM24 is an occupied building near train station occupying a host of activist initiatives. The market vendors represent what might be called the new homesteaders, young folk that have made intentional decisions to live closer to the land and come in conversation with traditional farming methods. Here you will find a young, healthy mix of alternative and yuppy consumers choosing to shop locally and organically. The vibe at the market is warm and welcoming and information about ingredients and production is often shared during transactions. It’s a wonderful place, but also in some ways an exclusive place. This is not the market that any person would shop at for their general groceries, as it is a once a week occurance with a specialized selection of vendors. It is not so much a practical market as it is an “experience” market. A market one goes to in order to experience the experience of market, both consumers and vendors. It conjures an idea of what a market could have been back in the day when the food you consumed was local and you knew all the vendors because they were your neighbors.

Another market that attemps to create the feeling of “market” is the Mercato della Terra, a venture of the international Slow Food movement. Their stated goal is “to counteract fast food and fast life, the disappearance of local food traditions and people’s dwindling interest in the food they eat, where it comes from, how it tastes and how our food choices affect the rest of the world.” One of the ways they go about this is through local markets that take place every few weeks around the world. The vendors at the market all must pass slow food criteria of local, organic and seasonal. In Bologna the market takes place in the courtyard of the Cineteca, a postmodern de Chirico plain. The select location and gourmet choice of vendors give this market a bit of an uppity feel. During our visit it was also quite empty of shoppers. There were always people passing in and out, but never enough of a crowd to give it the hustle and bustle one associates with market. Granted, one factor could have been the unseasonably cold weather. This is a market with great purpose and intentions but perhaps too distant or detached of an approach from the reality of the consumers that would enliven it.

Finally, we visited the principal, historic, sprawling market of La Piazzola. From
Thursday to Saturday each week this market occupies a large chunk of central Bologna with vendors selling colthing, shoes, jewellery, kitchen ware, and other non-alimentary products. On a fair weathered Saturday it often appears that the entire city is out in the market buying something. The market is ideal for encountered a wide range of people and experiences. We still need to work through the no food stipulation at the market, but we are hoping that promoting our stall as an art project will override the fact that dough is being made.

Francesco Zanardi (January 6, 1873–October 18, 1954) a member of the Italian Socialist Party, was elected mayor of Bologna in 1914. His campaign slogan was “Bread and Alphabet,” promising food and literacy to all residents of Bologna. During his tenure he became known as the “mayor of bread” for his efforts during World War I to provide bread for all.

In many ways, our project Fare Il Pane a Bologna begins with Zanardi. It was his belief that bread is not commodifiable, rather that it is the natural right of all people to have access to this staple of life. Under his initiative the “Il Forno” bread factory was established in Bologna. This large scale industrial project employed thousands, centralized bakeries and baking methods and made bread available to the hungry masses during the war.

Zanardi was elected to the Italian parliament in 1921 and became the target of violent attacks by fascists, killing his son. In 1938 he was forced into confinment and did not re-emerge until 1946 when he returned to Bologna and was elected to the constitutional assembly.

The massive industrial building that was “Il Forno” remained abandoned for many years, a decaying monument to the promise of bread, until it was renovated and opened in 2007 as the Bologna Museum of Modern Art.

Archival images of yeast bicycels. These bicycles were used to transport the rising yeast to the bakeries in Bologna. We were looking at this as a model for transporting our rising bread from the workshop sites in the market to the MAMbo for baking, or possible as a model for a mobile oven. Yesterday, while we were visiting the market at XM24 we learned that the folks at the Ciclofficina Popolare Ampio Raggio (a free bike repair and maintenance spot) are devising a similar plan for a mobile oven. Sunday we’ll meet some folks from the shop and talk about joining forces.