Consorzio Wunderkammer

Wunderkammer is the consortium that runs the vibrant community hub of the Wunderkammer pier: a center for research, innovation, education and cultural, social and environmental production at the Ferrara river docks.

Wunderkammer was founded in 2011 as a project that focused on bringing back to life the former river warehouses of Ferrara and has since received awards and both national and international recognition for the successfull revitalization of these public urban spaces through innovative cultural practices.

Since 2021 the Wunderkammer Consortium is also a member of Lo Stato dei Luoghi, the first Italian national network of activators of culturally regenerated places.

Together with the eight organisations that make it up (Associazione Musicisti di Ferrara, Associazione Ferrara Sotto le Stelle, Basso Profilo, Canoa Club Ferrara, Fiumana, Jazz Club Ferrara, HPO, Phorma Mentis), we create, host and promote initiatives, projects, courses, workshops and events in the design, architecture and environment sectors; performing arts; music; visual arts and cinema; sport, play and wellness; innovation and entrepreneurship.

This is why Wunderkammer hosts different practices and transforms even several times a day, but always remaining in line with its mission to involve and support the community through inclusive and participatory activities:

it’s a place for work, meetings, collaboration and production for the associations that make up the Wunderkammer Consortium
it’s a co-working space (banCO) suitable for craftsmen, artists, freelancers and young creatives
it’s a music and dance school
it’s the heart of all initiatives relevant to the urban regeneration of the dock area in Ferrara (e.g. Smart Dock project)
it’s a venue used for exhibitions, concerts and performances
it’s a socially inclusive education centre that nurtures new talents
it’s a base for rediscovering river life
it’s a river sports centre where world champions started their career
it’s a welfare point for career and business set-up orientation and support

Wunderkammer also goes beyond its own borders, embarking on projects, events, collaborations and co-productions at local, national and international level.

What makes the organisation unique ?

Wunderkammer is a consortium dedicated to the expansion of environmental culture and active citizenship practices, urban regeneration and the enhancement of local heritage, through urban social design projects, education, meetings, exhibitions, performances and residences, aimed in particular at young practitioners.

The refurbished spaces make up a sort of “cabinet of curiosities” for the community hub of the Wunderkammer pier: an innovation port, a point of reference for the regeneration of the entire area of the Ferrara docks and a catalyst for its fruition, both active and participatory.

The Wunderkammer Consortium is located at the west end of the Ferrara river dock, by the Molo Wunderkammer (Wunderkammer pier), which acts as a central square around which there are situated, respectively:

the former wharf (also known as Palazzo Savonuzzi, taking after the engineer Carlo Savonuzzi, who redesigned – the building in the Rationalist style in 1940) that house:
the headquarters of the Wunderkammer Consortium
the headquarters of the consorted organisations Basso Profilo, AMF, Phorma Mentis, Fiumana
the co-working space banCO
a large hall on ground level used for all kinds of initiatives, exhibitions and events
the Modern Music School with 12 classrooms, a recording studio and a concert hall
the facilities of the Canoa Club Ferrara near the “Ponte della Pace” bridge, with boat shelters, warehouses and a gym for club members
the front of the Volano Po, docking for the boats of the Fiumana Association (the “Commodoro” bike hotel, the “Lupo” boat and the “Zarina” house boat) which contribute to Wunderkammer’s function in the enhancement process of the river as a way of communication and exchange, an environmental and cultural resource
the orchard and the other open spaces of the Savonuzzi pier which represent a green oasis in the city and host a number of outdoor initiatives.

One of the member of the Consortium, Canoa Club, also manages the Oasis on the Vigarano Pieve lake (Oasi sul lago di Vigarano Pieve, FE), which houses the summer activities of the club, such as summer school for school children and sports practices for the disabled, as part of CASP, for the initiation of paralympic sports.

Another member of the Consortium, Jazz Club Ferrara, manages and animates the homonym Jazz Club which was awarded several times as “Best jazz club in Italy” at the Jazzit Awards. Since the 1970s, the Jazz Club has brought to Ferrara artists such as Miles Davis, Ornette Coleman, Michel Petrucciani, McCoy Tyner and many others. Since 1999 it has been operating in the prestigious Torrione San Giovanni venue, a jewel of the ancient Este city walls, where the “Ferrara in Jazz” concert season takes place, with over eighty dates every year.