Once dismissed as a failed postmodern utopia, the Sicilian town of Gibellina is preparing for a year-long programme of exhibitions, performances and artist residencies. But can art finally bring life back to a place conceived as an art utopia?
The theatre straddles the road, a hump-backed concrete leviathan dominating the skyline. Designed by Italian sculptor Pietro Consagra, Teatro is one of the most iconic buildings in Gibellina – but it looks more like an abandoned multistorey car park than a theatre. Built in the first half of the 1980s, it remains unfinished some 40 years later. I've never seen any building like it.
