Carlo Vannini's photographic catalog of Reggiane street art

Carlo Vannini (Reggio Emilia, 1956) has documented the street art and graffiti that appeared on the walls of the abandoned Officine Meccaniche Reggiane industrial complex in Reggio Emilia. The factory, which produced trains and later fighter planes for the Regia Aeronautica, closed in 2011. Since then, artists including Gas, Rhiot, Collettivo FX, PsikoPatik, and Caker have transformed its twenty hangars into a laboratory of experimentation, using techniques like the 'asta e rullo' (pole and roller). Vannini's photographs, published by Corsiero editore, serve as a catalog of these ephemeral works, many of which will disappear as the buildings are demolished in an ongoing redevelopment project. The exhibition is currently on view in Reggio Emilia. A text by Agnese Spinelli reconstructs the history of the site, noting how conflicts between writers and street artists dissolved into collaboration. The project attracted international artists, and in 2014, Ligabue filmed the video 'Il muro del suono' there. Vannini's documentation, using a long pole for high-angle shots, is described by Pietro Rivasi as the only form in which the works will survive once the walls are gone.