A familiar space is well-known and recognizable. It can be traced by heart on a map, whose contours delineate not only geography but the frontiers of personal experience. However, as we move away from the center of the map, early memories become vague; differences and gaps emerge. Ghost connections, between separated regions of the map, appear while roads and details disappear. For someone born in an urban area, the neighborhood is the definitive reference space which helps form subsequent experiences; the first adventures “far from home”; the encounters between groups of friends; the playful violation of private property and the neighbor’s gardens…

Military Area — risograph book spreads with orange covers and interior photograph

An unknown space is an empty place: most often unexplored because of distance, but occasionally hidden by impassable frontiers. It is a strange place, beyond personal experience. The De Dominicis Military Barrack stands in front of my home in Treviso (Italy). As a child I would walk its perimeter every day, twice a day, back and forth from school. This space measures approximately 60,000 square meters. A yellow sign warns, in clear black letters: “Military Zone. Access Prohibited. Armed Surveillance”. So, as much as I know its silhouette by heart, the guts of the place remain a complete mystery.

This project is a tribute to this space, special to me because it is anchored in my childhood’s definition of neighborhood, yet it was then and remains now completely impenetrable expect by my imagination.