Unidee Projects
To Live by Air is a project Alejandro began working on a couple of years ago. When you don't have a job or enough money, they say in Colombia that you must eat air. His project in Colombia involved street vendors, whereas in Biella Alejandro has asked workers, both those under contract and those who work illegally, to answer questions related to work and their experiences of "living on air".
Alejandro is also involved in a collaborative project at the train station in Biella, where he and Isabel want to transform the waiting room into a sitting-room. A station is a place for waiting, and Alejandro and Isabel asked people what they think of while they wait. Their stories will be hung together with their portrait inside the station.
A third project is connected to El Puente and Alejandro calls it the Travelling Backpack Show. The idea is to collect the work from the other residents at Unidee, preferably easily transportable material like computer files, CDs and so on, and give a set of this to each and every one, so that the pieces can be shown all over the world.

Why?
Having just graduated from university, "to live on air" is something Alejandro has had to experience himself. However, the unemployment situation in Biella is very different from that in Medellin where there is practically no middle class, but a huge gap between the rich and the poor. Street vendors exist in both Colombia and Italy, but whereas in Colombia selling goods in the street is a common way to earn one's living, it is mainly a phenomenon among immigrants in Italy. As many immigrants don't fulfil the requisite criteria to obtain a residence permit according to Italian law, they are often left, not only living on air, but suspended in the air.

Cittadellarte
Alejandro says that during the stay here he has got insight into the more practical aspects of working with art and design, how to look for sponsors, deal with logistics and general organisational issues. Working with people from across the world has shown him different ways to perceive form and how background and culture influence on how we think.

You can find out more about Alejandro's recent projects and future plans on manydee