How a city's library system changes: Enrico Amici's exhibition in La Spezia

La Spezia is hosting, from October 5 to 31, 2019, at the Spazio Ex Fitram (a large new exhibition space recently opened thanks to the renovation of a former bus depot in an area of the city that is undergoing a major cultural redevelopment), the exhibition Transformation of the Urban Library System. La Spezia, 2013-2019, a solo exhibition by photographer Enrico Amici (La Spezia, 1963), whose work over six years documented the transformation of the city’s three main libraries: the Biblioteca Civica “Ubaldo Mazzini,” the Biblioteca Civica “Pietro Mario Beghi” and the Mediateca Regionale Ligure “Sergio Fregoso.”

The photographs document the renovations of Palazzo Crozza, home of the “Mazzini” Library located in the center of the Ligurian city, the relocation of the “Beghi” Library from its former location in Via del Popolo to the new hub in Via del Canaletto (adjacent to the former Fitram space), and the renovation of the old Odeon Cinema in the Umberto I district, now home to the “Fregoso” Mediatheque. Enrico Amici’s investigation, which also becomes site-specific as the photographs offer a vivid testimony to the transformation that the neighborhood (and the space itself) hosting the exhibition has undergone, analyzes not only the changes to three important library locations, but also the way in which, through the years and through major urban planning projects, a city changes its face by becoming increasingly modern and dynamic.

Amici’s work (there are 106 of his photographs in the exhibition) in fact examined the areas, buildings, and contents of the libraries before work began, during the construction sites that transformed the spaces, and once the work was completed. His campaign and works, halfway between art and research, offer a particular declination of the most modern and current languages of urban photography (especially that which examines changes in the suburbs), attentive to the relationship with places and the landscape.

The exhibition, set up by Roberto Pertile, can be visited daily, except Sundays, from 5 to 7 p.m. Outside these hours it can be visited by appointment for guided tours for groups or school groups. For more information you can call 0187 727885 or consult the Libriamoci La Spezia project website.

How a city's library system changes: Enrico Amici's exhibition in La Spezia

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