Kader Attia and Alvin Curran reactivate Bergamo's Ex Albergo Diurno

The Ex Albergo Diurno in Piazza Dante, Bergamo, originally built as an air-raid shelter and converted in 1949 into a public bathhouse with commercial and recreational spaces, reopened after nearly forty years through the efforts of the association Contemporary Locus, led by Paola Tognon, which since 2012 has been temporarily reopening inaccessible sites with art projects. For the opening, artists Kader Attia (born Dugny, 1970; lives in Paris, Berlin, and Algiers) and Alvin Curran (born Providence, 1938; lives in Rome) activated the underground spaces in the city center. Curran placed a billiard table and a boy bouncing a basketball in the large circular hall, historically used for leisure, while Attia's slide show "The Repair" evoked memory as a social and political force. Curran's "Concerto per vasca da bagno e orchestra" featured orchestra members distributed in the bath rooms playing a multi-voice score, creating a "sound architecture that gives voice and imagination to the place." The opening night on May 19 drew a large crowd despite heavy hail, signaling public desire to reclaim these spaces. The article questions whether a long-term operational plan should be found.