Conceived as a narrative architecture, the installation creates a dynamic environment where colors, volumes, and viewpoints open and intersect, echoing the layered, polyphonic nature of urban experience. Four macro-sections, articulated into ten thematic areas, structure the journey and interweave works by artists from different eras and languages.

The exhibition opens with Città italiana (1988) by Emilio Tadini, paired with the site-specific print Metropolis, New York (2006) by Renato D’Agostin — a dual incipit that positions the city both as a cultural stage and as a mental, perceptive space. A display of artists’ books extends this introduction, before leading visitors to the lower level where the core installation unfolds.

Inside a white cube, colorful independent structures form an autonomous “stage machine.”

Inspired by Lia Drei’s Iperipotenusa (1969), the spatial design interprets the city as a stratification of shapes, geometries, and lights. Openings and cut-outs reveal views across distant areas, suggesting the multiplicity of perspectives inherent in urban life. Each of the four macro-sections is distinguished by a color drawn from the palette of Città italiana, guiding the visitor throughout the route.

The exhibition also includes an analog participatory device that transforms visitors’ reflections into a collective sculpture: at each section, a question prompts personal memories of the city. At the end, these memories - written on building-shaped cards - are placed on a dedicated shelf, gradually forming a skyline that becomes part of the exhibition itself.