Action nr. 10 – EVACUAZIONE

26.12.2015 Pietralata District, Rome – On the occasion of of the exhibition Bring Back Those Colours by Jacopo Brogioni, curated by CultRise at Atelier Montez, artist Gio Montez carried out Action No. 10 – EVACUATION, an intervention of strong civic and symbolic impact that transformed an urban waste emergency into a collective artistic gesture.

Over recent months, an uncontrolled accumulation of waste had progressively spread along Via di Pietralata, from Collina Lanciani to the shantytown of Ponte Mammolo, creating a situation of evident and embarrassing distress for the entire neighborhood. After the forced eviction of the shantytown—demolished by bulldozers and subsequently fenced off—the area was turned into a vast open-air landfill. Rubbish lay everywhere, reaching such proportions that the urban landscape became unrecognizable, a mass in which, as residents remarked, “one could almost swim.”

Within this context, Gio Montez chose to intervene not through abstract denunciation, but through a concrete act of recycling, collecting waste directly from the streets and transforming it into works of art. The Evacuation cycle thus emerged from discarded materials—residues of consumption and neglect—reconfigured into symbolic objects capable of restoring attention and responsibility to public space.

Montez’s works were presented and auctioned at Atelier Montez alongside Jacopo Brogioni’s photographs of the Nepalese shacks, establishing a direct dialogue between visual documentation and material transformation. All works from the Evacuation cycle were offered with a starting bid of zero, a radical and coherent choice aligned with the spirit of the action. “Perhaps these works will not have great value in themselves” Montez stated, “but your gesture will” pointing to active participation and care for the urban environment as the true value of the project.

The auction’s aim was not profit, but the symbolic and effective “evacuation” of the territory, emphasising the primacy of regenerative action over the artistic object itself. The project highlighted how even small, shared gestures can concretely transform the urban environment and reaffirm the res publica as a common space to be protected.

All works created from the collected waste were sold and have since entered various private collections, completing the Evacuation action and leaving behind not only an exhibition, but a practical example of environmental responsibility articulated through artistic language.