Located in vico Giuseppe Maffei 4, behind San Gregorio Armeno, the building of l’Asilo should have been the location of the 2013 Forum of Cultures, a patronage machine supported by the UNESCO, born in Barcelona, which in Naples created a circus of announcements and economic waste. After having being restored with the funds dedicated to the event, the l’Asilo remained in a state of partial abandonment. Therefore, the 2nd of March 2012, a multitude of artists, researchers, students, cultural workers, political militants and free citizens, coordinated within the collective La Balena, decided to occupy and revive it.
The institutional immobility was opposed by a constituent process of self-determination, which generated a new possible form of institutionalization of art based on cooperation, autonomy and independent cultural production.
The idea that animated the experimentation of l’Asilo and contaminated other experiences of political occupation was to build a different use of a public good. A fruition no longer based on the assignment to a specific private subject, but open to all the workers and operators of the field of art, culture and entertainment which started to share their projects and spaces, coexisting and organizing themselves in a participatory and transparent way, through a public assembly.
What are the activities of l’Asilo?
From the beginning the multitude of artists, researchers, students, workers of the cultural sector and free citizens which occupied the building decided to revive what was previously an enormous empty and void of identity space with shows, concerts, book presentations, assemblies and seminars.
Among the most important activities of l’Asilo there are: the Elementary School of the Theater, created with the participation of the internal working table on performing arts; the concerts and meetings of Geografie del Suono,(“Geographies of sound”), coordinated by the working table Infrasuoni; the festival of folk music and dances of the Southern Mediterranean communities, the Festibál. There are, moreover, shared spaces and means of production like the internal Garden, the Library and the Armory, a creative workshop in which artisans and activists share their knowledge while creating installations, scenographies and various tools.
Finally, we suggest you to admire and participate to the collective artistic experience of the Tela, born during the pandemic, and not to miss Il Grande Vento, a three days event dedicated to culture, art and performance, collectively and horizontally organized every year, usually in the end of December
The “inhabitants”, this is the definition chosen for themselves by the group of people which participates to the experience of l’Asilo. The main reference for their activities and internal organization is the website www.exasilofilangieri.it.
L’Asilo is also present on the following social medias: Facebook, Twitter e Instagram and YouTube.