Zattere
Allegorie di progetto
Author: Francesco Faccin
Curator: Sistemamanifesto
Publisher: Corraini Edizioni
Zattere. Allegorie di Progetto is a book published by Corraini Edizioni and curated by Sistemamanifesto with a foreword by Michele de Lucchi.
This book and project are a tribute to the raft, understood here as an abstract category and not just in the literal sense.
Now more than ever, there is an urgent need to explore the world and be amazed once again, remembering that the project is a primordial human need and an act that must be cultivated as an antidote to alienation.
“Rafts remind us that we live on a wild planet and that the unknown, the unexpected, in our case the shipwreck, the emergency, the sudden and radical changes, are the very essence of our being human and reconcile us with the rest of nature which follows this pattern with ease, unaware of alternative models. […]
[…] The greatest danger we face is losing sight of risk and uncertainty, for it is through nurturing these aspects that we maintain an awareness of the necessity and pleasure of frugality.”
F.F.
The raft is an imaginative, indispensable object that in human history has represented in various forms the ability to adapt, the attachment to life or the desire to go elsewhere.
Making the raft an allegory of the ability to design, Francesco Faccin collects in this book ten emblematic and inspirational stories that remind us of the importance of intuition and the ability to break the rules when necessary.
Thor Heyerdahl’s journey across the Pacific Ocean in 1947, the balsas built by Cubans to escape Fidel Castro’s regime, the boats of fishermen in Cameroon composed entirely of plastic bottles, the hot air balloon with which a bricklayer and a mechanic in 1979 crossed the East German border. Ten different stories to remind us that designing is a primal human need and therefore an act that must be cultivated as an antidote to alienation: “Designing not to be projected” as Enzo Mari teaches.
The desire for change inspires projects that make us look beyond, always imagining a better life. Freedom is an arduous daily project that requires constant renewal.
It is not a condition that occurs by magic, but the result of a continuous, clear design that takes different variables into account. Freedom and design are thus inseparable because the latter, in all its forms, is the only tool for change and participation available to us from birth. After all, if we stop designing what else are we left with?
