Ivano Adversi: The places of industry

"I luoghi dell'industria, fra trasformazione urbana e abbandono" (The places of industry, amidst urban transformation and neglect) is a photography project by Ivano Adversi, a photojournalist who tracks down factories in Bologna to draw attention to the city's industrial past.  

The project by Ivano Adversi, photojournalist and member of the TerzoTropico association, focuses on portraying industrial Bologna in the '60s and '70s. At the time, these factories were testimony first to the struggles of the working class and second to uncontrolled property development, falling victim to the drive for decentralisation during the economic boom.
The surviving remnants of this unstoppable process is captured in Adversi's photography project. Indeed, with the active participation of citizens and through studies and research, the photojournalist traces the history of the places of industry in Bologna, walking through those same industrial systems that ended up "stuck" in suburban Bologna, many of which are now in a state of ruin. 
But that's not all, Adversi also visits old factory sites that are now home to other buildings, shopping malls and residential complexes. We might say it is a trip along memory lane, travelled through the eyes but also the mind and soul. 
One of the key goals of this photography project is without question to not lose sight of what the city used to be, both from the urban viewpoint, and also to remember the constant upheaval of society in those years, with student movements and labour uprisings. 
In 2013, the photography project was exhibited in Bologna at Palazzo Pepoli Vecchio, the museum of history, and promoted in collaboration with the Paolo Pedrelli historical archive of the Bologna Camera del Lavoro or Trades Hall. With his project and images, photojournalist Ivano Adversi has chronicled the city's industrial past, but more importantly he has showcased the men and women who populated those factories, who with those factories wrote the history of Italian industry. Men and women who must never be forgotten.

Barbara Esposito