“Incompiuto” explores what its authors call Italy’s most significant architectural phenomenon since the Second World War
Nearly ten years after it was first published, “INCOMPIUTO: The Birth of a Style” (Humboldt Books), edited by Alterazioni Video and Fosbury Architecture, returns in an expanded and updated edition. The book reinforces its role as a critical reference for understanding one of the most persistent and revealing features of Italy’s contemporary landscape: the vast number of buildings and infrastructure projects that were never completed. Described by the authors as the most important Italian architectural style to have emerged since the Second World War, Incompiuto is presented not simply as an aesthetic label, but as an interpretative framework connecting recent history, public policy, economics and the collective imagination. The book is the result of more than fifteen years of field research and remains the first and only systematic study of a phenomenon that is highly visible yet rarely recognised as such. In doing so, it gives cultural significance to structures left unfinished and never brought into use, yet deeply embedded in the places where they stand. The new edition expands the story through a richer visual presentation, an essay examining the current state of Incompiuto, and an updated survey of unfinished works. Together, these elements offer an even sharper portrait of a country caught between promise and ruin.
Alterazioni Video and Fosbury Architecture are collectives that have long worked at the intersection of art, architecture and critical research. Founded in 2004 and active between Milan, Berlin and New York, Alterazioni Video consists of Paololuca Barbieri Marchi, Alberto Caffarelli, Matteo Erenbourg, Andrea Masu and Giacomo Porfiri. The collective is internationally known for the Incompiuto Siciliano project, which has been presented at the Venice Architecture Biennale and MAXXI in Rome. Its work also includes the films produced under the name Turbo Films and a collaboration with Virgil Abloh as artistic directors of an Off-White Autumn/Winter show inspired by Incompiuto. Fosbury Architecture was founded in 2013 by Giacomo Ardesio, Alessandro Bonizzoni, Nicola Campri, Veronica Caprino and Claudia Mainardi. The collective curated the Italian Pavilion at the 18th International Architecture Exhibition in Venice and has participated in numerous international biennials and triennials. Its work develops a radical reflection on the reuse and transformation of existing buildings, including through European initiatives dedicated to the regeneration of the built environment. Together, the two collectives have created a book that does more than document failure. It invites readers to see incompleteness as a grammar of the present: a structural condition capable of revealing, with clarity, the tensions, contradictions and still-open possibilities of contemporary Italy.
HU-INCOMPIUTO - Alterazioni Video - Fosbury Architecture - ph © Alterazioni Video
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