Description

THE ASSOCIATION

Interzona is an independent cultural association stemming from the idea of creating a place for comparison between various art disciplines.
It was established in Verona in December 1992.
Among Its aims is the improvement of run-down buildings with urban, architectural features, and emblematic areas from Verona’s recent past, earmarked to be restored to a cultural, associative use for the town’s inhabitants as a whole.
This is how the choice fell on working in the Specialised Refrigeration Unit N° 10 (the largest refrigeration chamber in Europe before the war), a building given in concession in 1993 by the local authorities lying inside the area of the former General Warehouses of Verona, later to become the headquarters for the association’s activities in January 1994.
The size of this area was suitable for the aims of our association. Once concession had been granted, through self-financing and the efforts of our members, voluntary work from many people and the collaboration of experts (restorers and architects) as well as the availability of university lecturers from various architecture faculties, essential work was started on immediately to provide safe access and use the rooms inside the Specialised Refrigeration Unit, which had deliberately been left in a state of abandon for years, at all times respecting the architecture and the production work carried out there (the building is subject to the Architectural Heritage Office as per Law 1089/39).
By constructing events and creating a new area for socialising, Interzona has always shown a desire to convey a meaning to the urge to communicate. It has also explored new forms of expression, thus creating its own design image.
Host groups are often invited to relate to a very suggestive location, and organising methods are always there to go hand in hand with the development of their work, as well as encouraging direct and not occasional contact between artists and the public.
In the first seven years the association was able to count on more than 36,000 card-holding members, with more than 5,500 associate members by September 2001.

The continuous presence of appropriate numbers on this scale helps to build spheres of reference, and increase and transform cultural environments.
Overcoming predefined models, defining an area for continued dialogue between artists and the public, have made Interzona an ideal "location" for experimenting and putting forward new ideas.

THE PROJECT

Interzona has always chosen to work in areas stripped of their original vocation, under-exploited and in a state of abandon, in an attempt to interact with the potential and the infinite problems which living in a "forgotten" area involves.
Since 1993 the association has used a concession to work inside the former Verona General Warehouses, a publicly-owned, run-down production area.
The excellent example of industrial archaeology, represented by the Refrigeration Unit, has always encouraged the association to work on a project which on the one hand safeguards the heritage of the site itself, and on the other seeks to reclaim it in terms of an "artistic" role.
The intention is to give birth to a well-organised site uniting culture and production, competence and expertise, using actions involving artistic ability, business activity and distribution organisations, a pole for research, experimentation and cultural production, capable of combining these conditions with new production modules, both fixed and tangible.
The work of the Interzona association to date has concentrated on defining project lines, aims, activity, management models and the objectives for operational work on the Specialised Refrigeration Unit N° 10.

AIMS

 cultural production centre: to promote artistic, historical and social research
 laboratory for ideas and activities aimed at experimentation, research, development and exploration in languages, knowledge and contemporary technology
 a place to be decision makers in cultural production and "beneficiaries" according to the "new public" concept
 an area open to suggestions from the national and international scene in various fields
 an active centre accessible all year round
 to set up an incubator for new talents
 to bring the public closer to non-institutional art productions
 to revitalise the urban concept and strengthen social relations

Former use : former Verona General Warehouses
Total surface of the site : The building, extending over a total area of 10,000 m², is designed as a circle with a radius of 107 m.
Location : The former General Warehouses cover a core area of the ZAI (Handicraft & Industry Zone), a part of the town which has been deeply effected by the changes which have occurred during the past decades in manufacturing and are reflected in the considerable changes witnessed on the ground.
Foundation year of the centre : 1992

Infrastructures / Facilities

 bar
 cinema
 Librairie
 multipurpose hall (concert, theatre, ...)

Social and artistic disciplines

cultural production area

 MUSIC: musical production- organising concerts, reviews and festivals- test rooms-recording studios

 THEATRE/CINEMA: organising reviews and festivals- test rooms- production and post-production laboratories

 BOOK AREAS

 NEW MEDIA: meetings- workshops- experiment and production laboratories- reviews

 VISUAL ARTS: meetings- workshops- experiment and production laboratories- exhibition activities

general support services area

 INFORMATION POINTS: books- video- cassettes- disks- materials- products- etc.

 SERVICES: secretarial office- ticket office- deposit- guest rooms- technicians and logistics (fittings, installation, etc.)- cleaning

Networks

Interzona collaborates with national and international cultural associations and is a member of Circ.a (Independent Circuit for Promoting Avant-garde Music)