In his work, Luca Vitone investigates the large city as a location of contemporary existence. In the process, his ethnographic interest is not directed towards the social, ethnic and economic changes that a city goes through as much as the creation of new centres, the shifts of meaning of periphery and centre in an era of apparently unlimited mobility. The project Wide City was originally developed for four cities (Milan, Berlin, London, New York) and indicates relationships between population groups with differing cultural origins. For Milan, the worldly symbol of the Torre Velasca was chosen, a building constructed in the middle of the 50’s from plans drawn up by the Atelier BBPR. A total of four models of the architectural monument – placed at different locations in the city – served as distribution points for city maps that were, at first glance, indistinguishable from normal tourist maps. In fact the map offered over 500 pieces of information and tips about the activities of Milan’s immigrant population. From the urban point of view, it shows (vide Marc Augé) the meaning of the periphery for cultural currents. Non-places become places for real encounters and thus become true centres.

Hans Ulrich Obrist, 2005 (translation: Tim Sharp)