Transversal Territory is a laboratory of urban environmental and artistic experimentation at
the renowned Academy of Architecture in Mendrisio Switzerland. It undertakes transdisciplinary
and participatory research on the relationship between us our bodies and our built and
natural environments. Its unique approach is to explore experiences of-and reflections on-urban
space through performative bodywork and on-site artistic installations. This process aims at
transcending the conventional paradigms of perception and the understanding of urban space and
at creating a new imagination of it-an augmented reality. Transversal Territory's innovative
research is conducted in annual workshops in which students and local residents collaborate
and subsequent public presentations of the results. This volume features 20 performances and
installations realized in 2022 in Mendrisio's Rime-Brech neighborhood a typical suburban area
with its mix of industrial structures social housing shopping malls fast food outlets
parking lots wastelands and highways. It is conceived as a map of Mendrisio that spreads
across the pages to recontextualize the genius loci in book format.
