Z.A.B.R. / L’Intemperie

Z.A.B.R. is an acronym that stands for “Zona Autonoma delle Bestie Randagie”, which can be translated as the “Autonomous Zone of the Stray Beasts”.

It’s a parcel of land a few kilometres from the coast of the Sinis peninsula, Western Sardinia, where Ericailcane first moved a few years ago with the idea of creating an autonomous and safe space where anyone who consider themselves a “stray beast” can spend some time feeling comfortable sharing experiences, ideas, and artistic projects with others who have the same need to express freely without concerns or fear of being judged.

Thanks to the precious support of many friends that over time arrived to this little corner of Sardinia, the idea of building a printing house in this remote place eventually took shape. The founding moment was when an old letter press machine found in an abandoned print shop in the nearby town of Oristano was brought here.

Later it was found out that, for unknown reasons, this machine had been baptised “Intemperie” by its old owner. In Italian, “intemperie” is a broad term that can loosely stand for a storm, or inclement weather in general when one’s exposed to the elements such as rain, wind, cold, snow, etc. This name was considered extremely appropriate and not only is it still the name of that machine, but it eventually ended up being the official name of the printing studio that was later built at the Z.A.B.R.

Actually, the name was not kept exactly the same. It became “L’intemperie” with the addition of the definite article “the”. At first it may seem as an irrelevant difference but it’s actually a substantial one for us. However, our explanation can only go this far… we hope that the projects emerging from “L’Intemperie” will be significant enough to explain it themselves; because if they will, it will mean that our goal has been achieved and that we can consider our work meaningful enough, with the awareness that our efforts have been worthwhile.