591 Reportage - Paolo Saccheri

"When I discovered the Kids City project by Galleria Studio 44, my childhood was awakened. I was a kid in the 70's and I used my imagination to fill my afternoons with plays without restrictions in a lack of financial resources. I used raw materials to make toys with friends sharing the same creativity.

Today where children spend their time in front of nonsense TV, buying prefab toys or using the same globalized videogames, Michele Fiore - one of the founders of Galleria Studio 44 - opened a breach in the empty time of our children days.

In the courtyard of the art gallery 44, located in the historical center of Genoa, children of elementary and secondary school may use tools, wood, concrete, plasticine, paint, color, water, polystyrene and more to imagine, project and construct their own city. Time looses boundaries and for the afternoon kids may create, starting from scratch.

Michele is very good in letting them think and freely decide how the City should look like and conveying their energy in producing good results as well as enjoying their own time playing and joking together.

With different activities, sculpting, cutting, painting, joining, boys and girls built private houses, two museums, a cinema, a church, a bank, a hospital with helicopter park, the graveyard, two galleries, hills, a river with a small lake, streets (via) with street names (theirs): via Lollo, via Tomy, via Ama, via Ceci, via Calza, via Giovi, then made the bus station, the police station, a bakery, a barber shop and are going to make a railway and a small industrial area on a close step.

From a very liveable place at the beginning, the City is going to become very full, a real Metropolis like many cities we live in today, as the children like to express their will to make.

This project is now going to be presented to various schools with the aid of a funny video clip made by the children themselves. I hope many teachers and parents won't lose the opportunity of this great experience for their children. In Genoa." Text and photos © Paolo Saccheri

Paolo has made a great reportage about an important subject - kids. I like his point of view, having some experience of four children and recently from discussing volcanoes, space travel, anatomy etc with my grandson almost every day.

There is no doubt that the Internet or television, films and even video games are great sources of knowledge - I mean you can check out the volcanoes erupting on YouTube or watch series about the space projects on TV. But it is nothing compared to construct a rocket or a space station with toy building bricks or to bake a home made volcano in the kitchen! Thank you Paolo for sharing this.

See the Reportage Kids City Project

Paolo Saccheri
Born:1964
Lives in: Genova, Italy
Latest exhibition: Cuba, Año 35 de la Revolución
Coming, planned exhibition: about distorted perceptions (with parabrezza photos)
Inspiration (photographers): Henri Cartier Bresson, Richard Kalvar, Robert Frank, Eugene Richards, Ed Van der Elsken, Joel Meyerowitz, Magnum photographers
Homepage/contact: www.saccheri.it