| |
Welcome to the setting of ITS#FOUR
|
June 21, 2005
|
I must be mentally sick. At least a little bit. Or, and I would like this second option a lot more, I must be an incurable dreamer, an endless seeker of emotions, one who loves to feel his heart beat faster and faster while tears are ready to burst from his eyes. Otherwise, I don't know why on earth I felt like that when I entered the "Magazzino 5" in the Old Docks of Trieste, which will be again, as last year, the location for ITS#.It all started when, in a sunny day of May, I got in the car to go there for an inspection. Just like when you prepare to meet someone you love but haven't seen for a long long time, I felt a giant wave of emotion coming from the depths of me that just scared me, but in a positive way, if you understand what I mean. You just feel it coming and you know you won't be able to handle it, probably because you don't even want to. You're afraid because something is touching your most intimate self, yet it's exactly where you want that emotion to go.
|
 |
 |
It's been almost a year since I last entered the location, and the energy is still there. I remember last year when I went back to the hotel room on Sunday July 16, 7am, after a breathtaking ITS#THREE Saturday culminated with an amazing after show party...I just sat down on the bed, careless that in three hours time I had to be ready for the goodbye lunch, and surrendered to the emotions piercing my heart. When I entered in the same place few days ago, a space of 7000 square meters I had never seen completely empty, it was like entering a house I used to live in: you dive in the past, and realize how strong the emotions you had felt there still are.
For those of you who were not there last year, but also for those who were, let me tell you: the place is huge. It is an old warehouse that occupies an entire pier of the Old Docks of the City, with the sea on three of its sides. So it's like a peninsula facing the gulf of Trieste, with a wonderful view on the whole city. The area of the Old Docks is a free customs zone subject to its own rules and regulations, and the entrance is restricted, so anything going in or going out has to have a permit and has to be documented. Just try and imagine what this means for we EVErs in terms of organization...
|
|
 |
|
Once you have all of your permits ready and you go in, the first impression you have when entering the area is that of being in a place nobody in Trieste knows about, full of disused buildings and warehouses, the location being one of these. It gives you the sensation of a parallel world located in the center of the city, where things that you can't do outside are possible there. Stopping in front of the location, what you see is this enormous white warehouse with several gigantic red doors on all of its sides. It resembles an airport hangar, so you would more easily expect a small plane in it, rather than creativity coming from all over the planet.
When I went in, my heart was beating fast. Flashes in my mind, images, faces, slow-motion movies in my head all at the same time. A distant voice coming from inside saying "remember?" and the eyes adapting to the light contrast between outside and inside. Completely empty, the warehouse is like an old giant at sleep. Apparently empty and without life, yet filled with memories and waiting to be wakened. A huge space for you creatives to use as a megaphone to yell at the world who you are and what you do. A surprise box for the guests that will arrive. An amazing and completely new view of the city even for a citizen of Trieste as I am.
|
|
 |
If you stand on the point of the pier, right in front of the warehouse facing the sea, with a light breeze caressing your skin, and the tow-boats docked on the right, it's like being on a ship getting ready to slip moorings and sail across the sea. Just try and picture yourself on this ship, close your eyes and embark. There's all of the finalists of past and present editions of ITS, all of the members of the Jury and all of the friends that helped ITS to develop. There's all the space you need to express yourself, a group of people doing their best to show the world what you're capable of...there will be parties to dance and stay together, there will be moments to share, to discuss, and to open your mind. A big big family that will sail for 4 days and then come back. It's just a month ahead, so get ready to enter the ITS#FOUR location: a beating heart ready to welcome you and protect you for 3 days. It's not that much. But it's better than nothing!
|
|
 |
|
 |
|
|
|
|
