DAS PHÄNOMEN Maifinito. DEN PATIENTEN WIEDERBELEBEN:REANIMATION UND AGENCYGaetano Licata im Gesprächmit Arno Brandlhuber

The architect Gaetano Licata, who once taught architecture at the University of Kassel, is now a professor in the Faculty of Architec- ture at the University of Palermo, where Isabella Fera is also on the academic staff. In 2014, Licata published the collection Maifinito, with editorial assistance by Fera. The book featured essays, projects, and a selection of “international artistic, social and architectural experiences,” all of which centered around the “fenomeno del maifinito,”1 the maifinito phenomenon—in other words, the enormous number of unfinished buildings in southern Italy, and especially on the island of Sicily. Many of these buildings, so-called maifiniti, have been constructed entirely outside the legislative framework—a phenomenon that perfectly encapsulates the relationship in Italy between construction, the public vs. private realm, the state, and legislation.In December 2015, Arno Brandlhuber met Isabella Fera in Palermo for a wide-ranging discussion. Afterward, he traveled to the south of Sicily to converse with Gaetano Licatain a building he rebuilt, the Santa Barbara Hospital in Gela.2