Fabrizio Bellomo's public art project in Lumezzane revives factory mottos

Artist Fabrizio Bellomo (born 1982 in Bari) has created a public art intervention titled "Espansa" in Lumezzane, a town in the province of Brescia known as the "città officina" (workshop city) for its post-war industrial development. The project involves plaques inscribed with historical mottos that were once displayed in factories, such as "L'esempio è la più bella forma di autorità" (Example is the best form of authority) and "Lavoro e onestà formano la dignità dell'uomo" (Work and honesty form human dignity). These sayings were sourced from a 1912 advertisement for "Tabelle Educative" (Educational Charts), recently republished by La Lettura, the weekly supplement of Corriere della Sera. Bellomo decontextualizes these plaques and disseminates them throughout Lumezzane, blending the town's industrial and civil architecture. The project draws on the local aesthetic of construction, merging factory and civic building styles. The plaques are placed in various locations around the town for the public to discover.