Andrea Paoletti's project 'Wonder Grottole' launches today with a crowdfunding campaign aimed at regenerating the historic centre of Grottole, in Basilicata, and bringing together diverse communities, local craftspeople and creatives from around the world. We find out how to get involved.
In Matera and the surrounding area, Andrea Paoletti, an architect, has long been working on a series of initiatives that revolve around design as a central theme of cultural and economic renewal. His most recent project, launched today in the highly original form of crowdfunding, is Wonder Grottole.
Through crowdfunding, participants take part in purchasing some houses in this remarkable place (Grottole, nomen omen) and set in motion a wide-ranging project that includes the creation of a community, the restoration of buildings according to sustainability criteria, workshops and clubs, with people coming from all over the world. Matera, just a few minutes from Grottole, will be the 2019 European Capital of Culture.
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Andrea Paoletti: your project has a fairy-tale name that puts me in mind of Alice in Wonderland. Is Wonder Grottole a dream, a utopia, or a real and achievable project?
Wonder Grottole is a concrete project that envisages the regeneration of the historic centre of Grottole, a small village in Basilicata that sits between two rivers, the Basento and the Bradano, half an hour from Matera. Nearby, along the slope overlooking the Bradano valley, lies the beautiful woodland area known as 'Le Coste'. The name Grottole derives from the Latin word 'criptula' and reveals the ancient origins of the settlement, which began to take shape, in prehistoric times, inside small caves. These caves are still present in the area beneath the village today and have been adapted to create workshops for the production of clay pots, which are characteristic of local craft production.
Wonder Grottole is the evolution of another project I conceived, Matera design, now in its third edition this year, in which, together with artistic director Stefano Mirti, I have sought to create new imaginaries by joining the word Matera with the word design.
It was born as a response to the question we asked ourselves: "What does it mean to regenerate a historic centre?"
Matera and design seem like two distant worlds with nothing in common. How did you bring them together?
From the second year of 'Matera design' we began working on the concept of immaterial design. Normally, when design is discussed in Italy, people think of Milan, of product design and the concept of industrial design.
Matera is made of relationships, of closeness, of something far more immaterial, even though the sassi and the architecture are there. Building on this distinctive quality of the city, we developed the idea that design in Matera is made of relationships — it is the entire process that leads you to develop a more complete project. Much earlier, from 2013, we began a project of walks to go and discover unknown villages, the 'unspoiled villages'. I believe that people arriving from all over the world can offer a fresh perspective, telling those who live in a territory about it through a different gaze. In these places many people can't wait to leave, and seeing that someone looks at the same territory with a different eye helps to give it value. We all need to create new imaginaries. It was in 2013 that we organised a walk that passed through Grottole, and we fell in love.
So at the heart of the Wonder Grottole project there is love at first sight and passion?
Yes! There is a geographical factor — the short distance from Matera makes this village easy to reach, and capable of benefiting from the city's new trend, from what is happening in Matera, capital of culture in 2019, which by future projections will increasingly need to connect with its surrounding territory in order to have a different kind of impact, give people room to breathe and tell new stories. Grottole is a sustainable place because until now there has been zero interest in the village, so it has enormous potential for invention — everything is there to be invented.
What strategy did you adopt to get the idea off the ground?
We began mapping the derelict buildings in the historic centre — the abandoned ones, the ones with no owner, the ones that had collapsed — and we counted 629 dwellings. The municipality was in favour of a project for the historic centre but owns no property there, so it was not feasible to imagine building a new scene together. They are all privately owned buildings. For local people these houses are a burden they want to be rid of; we, on the other hand, see this situation as an extraordinary development opportunity.
Since last year we have involved the British designer John Thackara, who for 30 years has travelled the world in search of communities that have launched projects for a sustainable future. We called him the group's 'social designer' because he is the one who looks after the social dimension of the community.
After immaterial design, we decided to understand how 'Matera design' could transform itself into a concrete prototype for a new project, and this became Wonder Grottole.
The first public outing, bringing together people from across Italy and from abroad through John, took place in Grottole, as we tried to imagine what could be done with these buildings.
On one hand, the objective is to acquire some buildings by purchasing them, and this through a subscription — a crowdfunding campaign that will be launched during the 999 exhibition at the Triennale di Milano on 2 March for the purchase of two buildings. It will be a property shared by many: the vision is to have a multi-voiced project that no longer represents the identity of a single person, but of a community of people connected to our reality.
Grottole becomes Wonder Grottole — it is no longer what you see now, because you switch on a new light!
Leggi anche John Tackara ecco il futuro del design
How will the project develop after the purchase and restoration of the buildings in the historic centre?
In previous editions of 'Matera design' we understood that we are good at bringing communities together, so Wonder Grottole becomes a new framework for creating new activities and aggregating people — primarily those connected to the world of design, which is, in our view, the tool for creating new worlds and development opportunities. It is possible to work in analogue form locally and in digital form to bring content to the project from all over the world. At the same time, Wonder Grottole becomes the experimental workshop for making things happen. There is a physical building site, that of the buildings; then we will create a community that invests money to buy the buildings; on the other side, sponsor companies and people who want to work on the project using the 'time bank' formula. If you have a day, a week, some time to give, I provide you with a place to sleep, and you bring me your know-how or your manual skill. I make local craftspeople available to you, and the mix between local craftspeople and people who come from outside is very important for creating new imaginaries together.
This is the short circuit we want to trigger with what already exists locally — something that doesn't need to be changed, but activated, so that it acquires a new value that it currently lacks.
So the main objective is to generate a sustainable economy for the local community through the contribution of a broader national and international community?
Grottole is currently unable to generate an economy of its own, but if we can make a leap in the opposite direction — that is, turn Wonder Grottole into a new attractor — this becomes possible. A centre of attraction not from the tourist standpoint of gentrification, with visitors transforming it into a holiday destination for the summer, but by creating a permanent residence within which to host, through a co-living model, people who interact temporarily with the inhabitants and form part of a permanent community. The crowdfunding mechanism — involving people in the community project through the purchase of buildings — is very important and very different from having investors who, even if you could find them, would buy the buildings for a specific intended use, without this social component of the project.
The concept of community you are experimenting with in this project is complex and involving, and implies a shared vision, guidelines, objectives and pathways to achieve them, as well as clear-headed leadership. What development potential do you see for the project in the short and medium term?
The community will be made up of people who contribute ideas to the project, but also financial resources. The community is the protagonist, yet it is no longer solely a community centred on the territory and the village — which will certainly be highlighted — but a global community where anyone, from anywhere, whether from the physical territory or the digital world, can participate.
Wonder Grottole has the ambition to become a link connecting the two worlds. You can take part in the project with money, with ideas, with your time.
What will be generated could be infinite. Everyone must make a contribution to the community.
At Wonder Grottole you must be absolutely active. It becomes a platform for learning, discovering and connecting with other people.
Today, 2 March, we are launching the crowdfunding, the database of people interested in the project and a calendar to begin creating a series of actions on the ground. On the website there is the 'Join us' form to build a database of those interested in the project, what they might propose, and to understand who and how many people are willing to support the project financially.
In 2019 Matera will be the capital of culture and it will certainly be a decisive year for visibility and attraction for the city, for the entire Basilicata region and for Italy as a whole.