New muralism: urban futures through the arts in Italy
Lead by Prof Francesca Billiani and developed in collaboration with Dr Luca Ciancabilla (Bologna University) and Drs Lidia Manzo & Dr Sara Sullam (Milano Statale University), this project will investigate how commissioned, site-specific public artwork – new muralism – is reshaping urban public spaces in Italy by generating novel aesthetic trends, challenging political discourses and interrogating social formations. Our interdisciplinary research will map new muralism urban projects from the 1990s to the present. In our case studies spanning nine Italian cities (Ancona, Bari, Campobasso, Catania, Milan, Naples, Palermo, Taranto and Turin), site-specific new muralism projects were planned as a means of adaptive reuse and renovation of abandoned spaces and of revitalising neighbourhoods with substantial pockets of deteriorating housing stock.
To achieve such aims, we will pioneer a new method of enquiry: the ecoaetics method will construct an ‘ecosystem of the artwork’ for each case study to explore the entanglements between aesthetic choices, artistic practices, modes of production, urban planning politics, sociological responses and institutional settings synergically.
The British School at Rome is thrilled to share that Professor Francesca Billiani has been awarded a prestigious research grant from the Leverhulme Foundation to expand her groundbreaking work on this project.
As our Balsdon Fellow (April–June 2025), Professor Billiani will build upon this work, further investigating how public art redefines aesthetic trends, challenges political discourses, and revitalizes communities.
