Dismantle: broken windows

Created in September 2020 as part of an artistic residency at the former A. Ancione industrial plant in Ragusa, Dismantle: Broken Windows is a series of six works on paper. The series emerged from a close engagement with abandoned industrial architecture, where the interplay of emptiness and remaining structures revealed subtle patterns of erosion and decay. A particularly striking feature of the site was a structure of broken windows. The alternation between intact panes and voids suggested a visual rhythm, forming what could be described as a “cartography of decay.”

The counter-shape of these broken windows was recorded through stencils, created by placing the paper support directly on the glass. This process generated a physical imprint of absence, highlighting the tension between material presence and void. Spray application on the paper, reminiscent of industrial textures and white noise, produced a rough, tactile grain that echoes both the architectural ruin and the imperfection inherent in the recording process. The combination of stencil and spray translates the fragility of the industrial environment into a visual language that emphasizes entropy, error, and residual human activity.

The series deliberately engages with the “broken windows theory” a criminological concept introduced in 1982 by James Q. Wilson and George L. Kelling. This theory posits that visible urban disorder and minor vandalism can contribute to further crime and antisocial behavior.