Napoli Super Modern

Everyone seems ‘to know’ Naples, even those who have never been there: its setting, its sounds, its people, its tastes, its informality and, not least, its stories, shaped by the fervour with which the inhabitants live this city. As numerous as these narratives are reproduced in literature, music, or film, countless stories about eras, styles, and uses also overlap in the city's architecture. To avoid being drawn in by stereotypes, guides are needed to decipher this delightful cacophony.

In the exhibition ‘Napoli Super Modern’ ,this task is taken on by the Parisian practice LAN (Benoit Jallon and Umberto Napolitano). In their eponymous research project, the architects, together with photographer Cyrille Weiner, draw attention to a series of buildings from the period 1930–1960. A timespan in which Italy’s architecture was marked by Fascism and post-war reconstruction, but in Naples also brought forward a highly contextualized form of Modernism.

In addition, the city, its inhabitants, and their coexistence are portrayed in the exhibition through the media of documentary and film. Bêka & Lemoine record an urban journey through Naples, from the Lungomare through steep alleys up to Mount Vesuvius. The film program accompanying the exhibition at the Stadtkino Basel (May 1 to June 20, 2022), curated by Salvatore Aprea (École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne) and Barbara Tirone (Maison de l‘Architecture de Genève), focuses on the perception of Naples from the inside, conveying the city through the eyes and feelings of its protagonists.