Issue #15 - SPRING/2013

We chose neither to indulge nor to refrain from radical choices in this issue of Milano Città Aperta. We deal with bodies, people, flesh, we deal with borderline stories – this fine border is the leading thread of the three columns and the six photo shoots of Free bodies. 
 

A young tribe of homeless people, destroyed by drugs, by life on the streets, by night battles with drug dealers and with the police. Suzette sells her body under the glow of the streetlights. The bodies of the newcomers at the drag queen school, and finally the bodies of dolls, falling apart, twisted bodies, resting bodies, bodies that blend with inorganic matter. 

When we deal with bodies, the issue is one of life or death – our body keeps us alive and determines our existence. Most importantly, there is nothing as mysterious as the body, with its seductive and decomposing flesh – within our body lies happiness and pain, astonishing beauty and the horror of death. 

We would like to introduce this issue’s photo shoots on Free Bodies with a quote by Gilles Deleuze whose vibrant words echo in each picture of this Miciap issue. Deleuze refers to “bodies without organs”, we call them Free Bodies, the remains of an experiment. 

These bodies are daring, extreme, in search of freedom, seeking to become what they wish to be, facing their limits, experimenting without a safety net, with the danger of failing, of perishing on the battlefield. 

What do we mean by free bodies? Can we be free bodies, “bodies without organs”? Can we be reborn, give a new beginning to our world? 

"What are bodies without organs, many ask? We are already one – stumbling like a blind man, running like a madman, a traveler in the desert, a nomad in the wild. On it we sleep, we fight, we win and we lose, we search for our place, we find incredible happiness and pain, we love. Find your body without organs, it is a question of life and death, of youth and old age, of joy and sadness. This is where everything is at stake." (Gilles Deleuze)
Enjoy.

INDEX

• Nowhere Tribe
by Filippo Romano
The life on the streets of a young group of homeless people..
• Drug Squad
by Massimo di Nonno
Milan, the capital of cocaine. An endless battle takes its course in the streets at night between small drug dealers and the police.
• Nina's Drug Queen School
by Valentina Bianchi
A journey through the first Drag Queen school in Milan. Here they teach how to become much-more-than-just-a-woman.
• Suzette
by Simone Lombardo
Suzette is from Brazil, she is a transsexual. In Milan she makes ends meet by selling her body to other bodies. In Milan Suzette tries to be.
• The Unveiling
by Francesco Merlini
Flesh is matter. Man is matter. Matter is a mystery, a mystery that lies between the organic and inorganic.
• Doll Flesh
by Edoardo Pasero
At the age of twenty Vittoria decides to change her body. Then begins a painful journey through silicone, hormones and operations. Today, she is still a prostitute, but she never shows her body to clients.