“Not Forgotten”: unveiled the mural by Lucy McLauchlan for Forgotten Project
24/05/2018
A new artwork for Campo Testaccio
“Not Forgotten”: unveiled the mural by Lucy McLauchlan for Forgotten Project
The second piece curated by the urban project born to claim the value of Rome’s contemporary architectural heritage highlights forgotten sport facilities.
An anonimous surrounding wall turns into an artwork that questions: “what is beyond?”. The artist is Lucy McLauchlan, a well known British street artist for the first time painting in Rome. The wall is Campo Testaccio, the legendary football stadium of AS Roma football team, today a no-place that symbolizes all the forgotten sport facilities.
Invited by Forgotten Project, Lucy McLauchlan’s elegant art mixed the colors of a football ball – black and white, the same colors that typify her art – with yellows and reds from the wall and from the football team that played here from 1929 to 1940.
Titled “Not Forgotten”, the artwork was unveiled on May 23rd during a kick-ups competition, which brought back to that location the sport that had made it legendary.
Lucy McLauchlan’s art is now also on paper, with a limited series of silk prints signed and numbered by the artist. These prints, which are available here.
Forgotten Project, which was born in 2015 and it is now at its second edition, chose to put the spotlights on a building that is the symbol of a category, in order to deepen the architectural, anthropological and social aspects of the category, in this case “interrupted sport facilities”.
There are many forgotten sport facilities in Rome: from Santiago Calatrava’s “Pinna di Squalo”, the never-completed olympic complex in Tor Vergata area, to the Flaminio Stadium and the ex-velodrome, but these three are just the most famous examples. Although smaller and lesser known, there are many neighborhood sport facilities in Rome that risk to be forgotten.
To get ready for Lucy McLauchlan’s intervention, on May 12th Forgotten organized a street art bike tour through some of the murals previously curated by Forgotten Project. This event was part of the program of Open House Roma 2018.
This wall was promoted by Absolut Vodka, that supports Forgotten Project. The Swedish vodka brand has always been close to the art world as a creative tool for a better tomorrow.
Short Biography Lucy McLauchlan
Working mainly in duotone, Lucy McLauchlan creates a world full of stories, governed by a passionate instinct that translates into an almost gestural painting and performative act. Lucy’s art combines ancient, almost prehistoric influences with a modern graphic sensibility. The creative impulse that binds these two different influences together constitutes its clear stylistic code, which gives its work an immediately recognisable style. A diaspora of other influences including art deco, psychedelia, naturalism and contemporary figurativism consolidate the elegant charm of her artworks distributed between Lisbon, Marrakech, Stavanger and of course her hometown Birmingham. Four of her art works are part of the permanent collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.
About Forgotten
Forgotten Project was created in 2015 and after the first edition which focused on Portugal, this year’s artists have been chosen from the United Kingdom. From the role of London as the European birthplace of street art, to the Banksy phenomenon and the many festivals in different areas of the country, there are many different aspects of British street art to be explored.
The walls of the second edition will be signed by English artists who will make their first street artwork in Rome.
Forgotten Project was created to enhance Rome’s contemporary architecture through urban art.
The first edition focused on old factories, closed down cinemas, small stations and abandoned local markets. The ex fabbrica Mira-Lanza, Sala Troisi, San Pietro Station and ex-SIAR area were the exceptional locations for the artworks of the 5 portuguese artists Add Fuel, Frederico Draw, Miguel Januário (±MaisMenos±), Bordalo II and Daniel Eime.
The creations of the first edition where shown in the exhibition “Forgotten … (THE EXHIBITION)” at the MACRO Testaccio and in the Forgotten Catalogue 2015/16.
Forgotten Project is part of the Technical Table on Urban Creativity promoted by Inward.
The project has participated in several conferences including Urban Talks and the 2017 Public Space Biennal.
Recently received a special mention during the Institutional Art Awards 2017 and Art Doc Fest 2017.
Special thanks to:
Municipio I
Biblioteca di Roma Enzo Tortora
Istituto Comprensivo Elsa Morante
Cultural Partner Event
Mercato Testaccio
In collaboration with
Absolut
Institutional Partners of the Project
Regione Lazio, Roma Capitale, Casa dell’Architettura di Roma
With the support of
British Embassy Rome, British Council
Technical Sponsors
Loop Colors, Boero-Il Colore italiano dal 1831
Media Partners
I Support Street Art, SteetArt360, Wanted in Rome, BLocal Travel Blog, Il Romanista