ABOUT

chi·rà·le \kiˈrale\ agg.

[1894, termine ibrido coniato da Lord Kelvin dalla forma latinizzata del gr. cheír "mano" + -ale.]

1. 1. Natural sciences — said of a geometric figure, or of a set of points, whose image in a flat mirror, ideally realized, cannot be brought to coincide with itself. ‹human hands are c—›
2. 2. Chemistry — (of a molecule) — the two spatial arrangements of the atoms, each a mirror image of the other, which give each molecule different uses and reactions. ‹R-glucose is found naturally in living organisms; its c— L-glucose can only be synthesized in the laboratory›
3. 3. Art and design — any process that generates a series of objects, understood as a system, which we recognize as the same object even though none of them can be brought to coincide perfectly with another. ‹digital fabrication and artisanal production generate c— objects›

gal·le·rì·a di pro·cès·so \galleˈria di proˈtʃɛsso\ loc. s.f.

[comp. di galleria, dal fr. galerie, e processo, dal lat. processūs "procedere, avanzamento".]

1. 1. Contemporary art — exhibition space that does not limit itself to presenting the finished work but makes visible the phases of its production: sketches, prototypes, scrap materials, mistakes, working tools. The exhibition coincides with the workshop. ‹the g— stages the making before the made›
2. 2. Design and fabrication — curatorial and productive device in which the sequence project-prototype-object is displayed as a unit of meaning, removing the final object from its isolation and restoring it to the chain of choices, tests and technologies that generated it. ‹a g— hosts side by side 3D printing, the CNC mill, and the pieces that come from them›
3. 3. Training and research — environment in which learning and inquiry take place publicly: those who watch witness the process, those who work teach by showing. The g— refuses the separation between the space of production and the space of presentation. ‹in a g— the visitor enters while the work is in progress›

Spà·zio Chi·rà·le \ˈspattsjo kiˈrale\ loc. s.m.

[2015–2016, Garbatella, Roma; via Ignazio Persico 32-34. Comp. di spazio, dal lat. spatium "estensione, distanza, luogo", e chirale, v.]

1. 1. Chirale topography — historic and principal site of the Chirale labs, on two levels facing the street through two large shop windows. The upper floor works as a process gallery and study centre; the basement houses the analogue darkroom, the e-textiles lab, the digital fine-art lab, the chemistry lab for bioplastics and photographic emulsions, the vintage-electronics lab, and the library. ‹from the S— have come works now in the collections of the Farnesina, GNAM and MAXXI›
2. 2. Exposed form — a place where research, training and production are visible from the street: passers-by can see what is being done, those who enter can take part. The shop windows constitute a permanent exhibition of the work in progress. ‹the S— does not separate the workshop from the gallery›
3. 3. Neighbourhood and memory — set in the old social-housing buildings of the Garbatella district, the S— dialogues with the artisan and residential fabric of the rione, designed to be part of the neighbourhood before being a destination. ‹the S— is in front of the market, among the kiosks, between the windows of the houses›

Pùn·to Chi·rà·le \ˈpunto kiˈrale\ loc. s.m.

[febbraio 2023, Garbatella, Roma; via Ignazio Persico 46. Comp. di punto, dal lat. punctum "segno minimo, foro", e chirale, v.]

1. 1. Chirale topography — the second lab of the Chirale system, opened on the same street as Spazio Chirale to host industrial-class fabrication technologies. ‹the P— was born to host what the S— could no longer contain›
2. 2. Productive threshold — with the opening of the P—, the Chirale system articulates its structure into distinct but communicating places, separating the exhibition and training plane of the Spazio from the plane of professional production and commissioned work. ‹from the P— come the pieces of industrial commissions and full-scale prototypes›
3. 3. Geometry of the name — the name takes up the most elementary of geometric entities — the point, dimension zero, the minimum mark from which every trace begins — and symbolically fixes the origin of the productive process. In the triad of Chirale places, the P— is the point where the project meets the machine. ‹from the P— one starts to build›

Tràt·to Chi·rà·le \ˈtratto kiˈrale\ loc. s.m.

[2024, Garbatella, Roma; via Ignazio Persico 42. Comp. di tratto, dal lat. tractus "segno tirato, linea, percorso", e chirale, v.]

1. 1. Chirale topography — the third lab of the Chirale system, opened in the historic premises that for more than fifty years housed Il Bazar, a toy and household-goods shop belonging to the memory of the Garbatella district. It hosts the digital fabrication machines. ‹in the T— are the machines with which projects take shape›
2. 2. Continuity of making — a place dedicated to the execution of projects, where digital fabrication meets the hands of those who use it: artisans, designers, creatives, researchers, students. The continuity with the commercial history of the premises is not accidental: the T— gathers the legacy of a neighbourhood shop and transforms it into a contemporary workshop. ‹the T— is the lab of making›
3. 3. Geometry of the name — in the system of Chirale places, the T— is the line that connects the point to the space: continuation of the mark traced by the Punto, threshold of access to the Spazio. Tratto as gesture, as the minimum unit of drawing, as the link between the three sites arranged along the same street of the neighbourhood. ‹the three labs are three consecutive tratti of via Ignazio Persico›