Florence, October – November 2026

ART, PARTICIPATION AND COMMUNITY IN A CHANGING CITY

Florence has always been traversed by people, cultures, languages and knowledges.
OLTRE LE MURA | Beyond the Walls looks at the contemporary city as a space in constant transformation, where new forms of belonging, memories and imaginaries contribute every day to reshaping its identity.
The project unfolds across different neighbourhoods, placing young people, newcomers and second-generation communities at its heart and inviting them not simply to attend, but to take an active part in artistic processes.

Dance, music, contemporary circus, visual arts and participatory practices become tools for encounter and connection. The artists involved create pathways through which different experiences and cultural heritages can come into contact and transform one another, generating new narratives.
Performances, installations and public presentations thus become visible traces of processes developed over time together with people, communities and territories.

With WAX, Chinese choreographer and visual artist Er Gao draws on the history of the fabric of the same name, shaped by connections between Indonesia, Europe, Africa and China, to explore the circulation of cultures, migrations and the transformations of identities.
In Florence, his research takes shape through encounters and shared practices, weaving together body, movement and visual arts, leading to a performance and installation to be presented at Manifattura Tabacchi.

Senegalese singer and performer Badara Seck, from a historic family of griots, custodians of the oral memory of West Africa, together with Moroccan musician Amine Ezzalzouli and dancer and performer Susannah Iheme, propose a journey through music, singing, words and movement, which become practices of transmission through which memory and experience are shared, creating a common space for listening and participation.

With PANIPURI, Quattrox4, which uses circus as a tool for inclusion and community building, engages younger generations, taking their relationship with the neighbourhood as a starting point. Desires, stories, drawings and visions become the materials of a collective process that gathers the imaginaries of those who live in the city today.

From PARC Performing Arts Research Centre to Manifattura Tabacchi, from Gasometro del Pignone to Circolo Il Progresso and Il Lavoratorio, OLTRE LE MURA | Beyond the Walls unfolds across the neighbourhoods of Florence, building connections between different places and communities. It is not simply about bringing art to the outskirts, but about creating opportunities to involve those who live in these areas in shaping a new narrative: that of a city that continues to transform through the people who inhabit it.

HOW TO TAKE PART IN THE PROJECT

From October to November 2026, workshops, laboratories and creative processes with Er Gao, Badara Seck, Amine Ezzalzouli, Susannah Iheme and Quattrox4 / Clara Storti will take place.
The detailed programme and information on how to take part will be available soon.

OLTRE LE MURA | Beyond the Walls is a project by Fondazione Fabbrica Europa as part of Autunno Fiorentino 2026.

photo (detail) © Winnie Yeung, courtesy of Tai Kwun Hong Kong