biancoshock brings 'real-life' internet to ancient italian village

biancoshock brings ‘real-life’ internet to the elderly residents of an italian village
all images courtesy of biancoshock

civitacampomarano is a tiny village in the province of central italy’s campobasso region with a population of about 400 inhabitants — most of which are elderly. in this town of rich tradition and history, the internet remains a partially unknown world: cell phones hardy function and data connections are essentially nonexistent.

for the first edition of the cvta’ street art festival staged throughout the village, italian artist biancoshock has brought a ‘real-life’ internet to the residents of civitacampomarano. for the project ‘web 0.0’, 12 urban interventions give ‘virtual’ functions to commonplace analog technologies.

a facebook wall has been made into a bulletin board, where updates about the town are displayed

a ‘twitter bench’ provides a place for locals to casually chat with each other; a ‘facebook wall’ has been made into a bulletin board, displaying town updates and news; a ‘whatsapp booth’ provides a place for residents to make phone calls; and a ‘wetransfer-mobile’ delivers packages and goods around town.

while many of these virtual technologies are considered to be necessary parts of everyday modern life, biancoshock demonstrates that these instruments — in other forms — have always existed. while many aspects of communication take place through a screen, these methods of conversation were once places and spaces, where communities would come together for cultural exchange by simply meeting at a bar, or gathering in the town’s streets.