Milan, finished Rosk's mural reflecting on the need to eliminate distance

Close the Gap, Open your Future is the name of the mural that Giulio Gebbia, aka Rosk, one of the most prolific street-artists of his generation, created in Milan with the support of Fastweb to send a message about the urgency of eliminating all the gaps that create inequalities in order to build an increasingly inclusive and more equal society for all. A goal that requires constant commitment because bridging the “gaps” means living in a society where everyone, no one excluded, can access the same opportunities and build their future with confidence.

The mural, which redevelops the west facade of the building at Via De Castillia 20, aims to translate the vision proposed by Fastweb on the need to build a better future for all: the protagonist of the work are a boy and a girl pushing walls, only apparently immovable, to reduce the distance that divides them. The mural plays with the physical space of the building’s facade and the context in which it was created, namely the Library of Trees, a place animated every day precisely by the voices and games of children, a symbol of the future.

The work was also made with environmentally conscious materials: in fact, about 200 square meters of Airlite was used, a technology that is applied like a paint that allows air purification designed with the aim of taking care of people, inside and outside their homes, being 100% mineral and VOC (volatile organic compounds) free. Airlite is covered by 5 international patents and has received over 25 international awards and certifications. According to an Airlite evaluation, using 100 m2 of Airlite is equivalent, in terms of reducing pollutants (NOx - nitrogen oxides and their mixtures), to planting 100 m2 of forest area. The 200sqm Close the Gap, Open your Future mural will thus remove, by transforming them into inert salts, about 30.80 g of NOx per day and absorb, in the first month of its life, about 9,512 g of CO2. This is equivalent to saying that 200 m2 of mural painted with Airlite purifies as 200 m2 of forest, or that 200m2 painted with Airlite eliminates the smog of about 42.8 Euro 6 gasoline cars per day.

The building at 20 Via De Castillia was chosen because it is located in a connecting place between the Isola neighborhood and the new modern and sustainable heart of Milan Porta Nuova. An area symbolic of change, affected by the most important urban metamorphosis of the Lombard capital in the last two decades, thanks to the rise of new architectural icons such as Piazza Gae Aulenti and the Bosco Verticale. Via De Castilla, part of this evolution, and today a hinge between the two neighborhoods overlooking the Library of Trees, itself a symbol of an inclusive and sustainable future with its 95,000 square meters laced with more than 500 trees, thousands of plants of more than 100 species, and areas dedicated to sports enthusiasts and children’s games that make it the third largest park in Milan.

“Milan,” says Pierfrancesco Maran, councilor for Housing and Neighborhood Plan of the City of Milan, “has been undergoing a profound transformation for some time. A transformation that combines structural changes and cultural changes. This is one of the areas that has been most radically transformed, and yet the force of such a powerful artistic message knows how to surprise us again by drawing attention to what is the real challenge of today’s city: bringing different worlds together, reducing inequalities while continuing to create opportunities.”

“We are particularly proud to be able to give the city and all the people of Milan the idea of a different society through this work that has the language we love, the one that reaches and is understood by everyone, and that has well interpreted Fastweb’s vision of the future,” says Alberto Calcagno, CEO of Fastweb. “A future that every day we strive to build by advancing a digital transformation that goes beyond technology to close gaps in opportunities, professional skills and gender, for a more inclusive and socially and environmentally sustainable world.”

Giulio Gebbia, aka Rosk, born in 1988, is one of the most prolific street-artists of his generation, and his style, a mix of the hyper-realistic and the dreamlike, has made his works unmistakable, scattered in the walls of cities around the world, such as Mexico City, Rio de Janeiro, Paris, New York, Bristol, and others. He worked for several years in the duo “Roskeloste,” with which he landed in the world of Graffiti Advertising, signing works for well-known international brands such as Gucci, Ceres, Axa assicurazioni, Averna, SEAT X Vanity Fair at the Salone del Mobile and creating works of artistic importance that have already become iconic such as Falcone and Borsellino at the Palermo cove. He realized with the Iconico agency, of which he is CEO and Art director, artistic projects for the “Semedorato” Brewery, “La vite” Winery and Salov spa. For them, he decorated the tanks intended for use in the beer, wine and oil processes, respectively, with the aim of transforming their production site into true “open-air canvases” capable of integrating in perfect harmony with the surrounding landscape, thus helping to bring beauty both inside and outside the production site. It has also signed works celebrating sporting endeavors, such as those of the Atalanta and Spal teams, as well as the recent work featuring former Fiorentina captain Davide Astori, works created in suburban areas of the cities of Bergamo, Ferrara and Florence, with a view to upgrading urban areas through the union of art and soccer.

Milan, finished Rosk's mural reflecting on the need to eliminate distance

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