projects_gaia zuccaro

nonmelodjmentico

> exhibit design
> interactive installation
> prototyping
> exhibit design

"Ruins, like art, are an invitation to feel the passage of time"
— Marc Augé, Le temps en ruines

This exhibit design project for the former Melody Mecca disco seeks to preserve the iconic memory of the venue through an intervention that respects the existing architecture while fostering engagement and interaction. At its core is sound — a key to reviving the vibrant energy of the club — reconstructed through archival research that reveals the emotional immortality of the place.

The project explores the idea of the former clubgoer's return as a kind of pilgrimage — a journey back to a once-vibrant space, now abandoned yet still resonant with memory. It embraces the notion that the building itself holds traces of the past, as if its walls had absorbed years of vibration, music, and presence. These memories often resurface through graffiti and inscriptions that narrate and crystallize the history of the place. The space is reimagined as a chronovisor — a device for seeing through time — offering visitors an immersive glimpse into its former life. Ultimately, the project reflects on a lost soundscape and the challenge of preserving such ephemeral traces for future generations, reaffirming Melody Mecca's cultural and social significance.

Nonmelodjmentico welcomes visitors with the “sound of silence” — ambient sounds recorded on site — emitted from speakers positioned near translucent tulle sheets bearing images of former patrons. As visitors approach, this silence is disrupted: iconic fragments of tracks once played at Melody Mecca begin to emerge. The speakers are arranged so that a full melody takes shape at the center of the space, modulated by the visitors' movements. This creates a dynamic soundscape that bridges past and present. Much like the original club experience — at once deeply personal and profoundly collective — the installation invites both solitary reflection and shared presence, transforming into a communal sonic “chorus.” The interplay of movement and sound evokes a layered emotional response, offering a reflection on how memory reverberates through space and time.

tracklist:
- Badia_Weather Report
- Ever So Lonely_Monsoon
- League of Nations_Simple Minds
- Horizons_Eloy
- Caravan II Bagdad_Hamid Baroudi

designed in 2024
a project by Alessia Lo Preiato, Gaia Zuccaro and Silvia Bonfini
supervision by Roberto Paci Dalò and Giorgio Dall'Osso
in collaborations with Spazi Indecisi and IN LOCO

prototype: tulle printed with a former Melody Mecca patron's image, hung on a tree.

prototype: two tulle sheets printed with images of former Melody Mecca patrons, suspended outdoors.

editorial closed, conceived as an archival object of the project.

editorial open to the table of contents..

editorial open to the beginning of the design chapter, next to a collector page featuring inserts such as stickers and tickets from Melody Mecca nights.

editorial open to a section with a semi-transparent page overlaying graffiti found in the former club and its once-iconic, now-destroyed canopies.

editorial open with design sketches, placed within the book's internal ring-binder folders.

view of the exhibition Geografie rizomatiche e liminali, held at EXATR in Forlì. The result of the Exhibit Design Lab in collaboration with Spazi Indecisi and the IN LOCO project. A passerby stops to observe the project nonmelodjmentico.