Cities by Night
Valentina Medda (Italy)Cities by Night is a site-specific participatory project on women’s* perception of danger in urban space.
In April, women of different backgrounds, origins, gender and ages were invited to explore the streets of Riga, wandering alone at dusk, avoiding the areas where they felt uncomfortable. The result of their walks are several “Riga by Night” maps of the city whose boundaries have been redrawn based on their experiences, with areas perceived as unsafe obscured by the artist, as if non-existing.
Ostensibly refiguring a merely personal experience, the new borders – geographical, physical, emotional and political – show how not only gender but also shared beliefs, prejudices and cultural background shape, redefine and contract urban space and someone’s access to it.
The project has so far been realized in Paris (FR), Amsterdam (NL), Bologna and Bergamo (IT), Trondheim (NO), Pristina (XZ), and Milan (IT).
About artist
Valentina Medda is a Sardinian interdisciplinary artist based in Bologna. Her artistic practice unfolds between image, performance and site-specific interventions, investigating the relationship between public and private, body and architecture, city and social belonging. Her work has been presented in international contexts including Santarcangelo Festival, AUAWIRLEBEN in Hamburg, Little Bastard in Norway, Mladi Levi in Ljubljana. She has been artist-in-residence at BAR in Beirut, Cité des Arts, Paris, Flux Factory, NY, Les bains connective, Brussels, MaisonVentidue, Bologna. She has received the Cimetta Fund, Movin up Regione Emilia Romagna, NYFA’s IAP Mentorship and Tina Art PRIZE. She was a winner of the distribution grant PERFORM EUROPE 2021, Stronger Peripheries-Southern Coalition and the 11th Italian Council. With her last project The Last Lamentation she won again the 2024/2025 edition of PERFORM EUROPE.
Credits
Artist: Valentina Medda and 10 local participants
Distribution: Aurelie Martin, Giulia Manili
Supported by: Embassy of Italy in Riga
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