Performing Architecture festival transforms Milan's southern suburbs

The first edition of Performing Architecture, a new festival curated by Linda Di Pietro (BASE Milano) and Salvatore Peluso (DOPO?), will take place in Milan from April 3 to 13, 2025. The event reimagines five neighborhoods in the city's southern periphery—Barona, Chiaravalle, Corvetto, Stadera, and Tortona—through collaborations between architects and performers. Each neighborhood hosts a project designed by an architect-performer duo in partnership with a local organization. Highlights include Matilde Cassani's "Another Week" with performer Martina Rota at BASE's Grand Hall in Tortona; Studiolatte and Babau's sound installation "VANDALI" at Barrio's in Barona; "Fuga dalla città?" by DOPO? with collective Sbagliato and performer Caterina Gobbi in Corvetto; Sara Ricciardi Studio's relational device "Arena Stadera" activated by dancer Annamaria Ajmone; and a closing party with baking and fermentation by Lemonot and Luca Boffi at Padiglione di Terzo Paesaggio in Chiaravalle. The festival also features collateral initiatives: the mobile "Little Fun Palace" pavilion and "Luci su Milano Sud," a bicycle tour guided by photographers. Performing Architecture is a winner of the Festival Architettura program promoted by Italy's Ministry of Culture to promote contemporary Italian architecture. The festival positions itself as a laboratory where architecture, performance, and public participation converge to rethink urban spaces.