Paese, Carmen Colombo and Anna Carniel

From maps alone, Paese already appears as a contradiction: with over 20,000 residents, it is technically a city, yet it exists in the ambiguous condition of a “town.” Precisely because of this, it becomes an ideal lens through which to observe the Italian province: embedded in the sprawl of the eastern Pianura Padana, stretched along ancient Roman roads, and scattered with industrial zones and maize fields. Rather than evoking the intensity of the city or the charm of the countryside, Paese feels undefined: an in-between place, still waiting to take shape. It is only by moving through it that fragments of identity begin to emerge: its localities, its rhythms, and the lives of a younger generation growing up within it, suspended between staying and leaving. Paese is a project by Carmen Colombo and Anna Carniel, and was presented at Mina as both an exhibition and a publication.