It was 1924 when sir Gilbert Scott designed the first English famous red phone booth: originally placed in the capital city, the booths rapidly spread around the country becoming one of the most popular emblems of London.

The good news is that, in order to avoid the their dismantling, BT, a provider that manages public telephones, in accordance with the Community Heartbeat Trust, has just tried to launch a new project: turn phone booths in public defribillators.

If the first five have been financed directly by BT itself, the others will be made using local funds, and thanks to sponsors and charities. 24 hours available, the defibrillator in the booth will be enclosed in a vandals-resistant yellow custody that could be opened only typing a code provided by 999 emergency number. Once unlocked, the defibrillator explains to the user how it works.

Then, after the machine evaluates if it’s about an heart attack, it releases the necessary electric current to let the heart start beating again.
According to statistics, in the United Kingdom about 200 thousand people per year are victim of heart attack, to the point that it is one of the main causes of death. Anyway, as known, the sooner you assist the patient, the better, and the availability of a defibrillator can play a fundamental role in this story.

That’s why Martin Fagan, Community Heartbeat Trust national secretary, enthusiastically welcomed the proposal of BT. In order to obtain one defi-booth, it’s sufficient that local community put forward a request to adopt a booth paying just one pound before finding sponsors to finance the purchase of the defibrillator.
According to the figures of our survey, most part of English people agree this proposal; they who don’t – twenty per cent –, have just expressed their reservations about the way to use them: “We just should be sure that they can be easily used by everyone!”

In 2002 there were about 92 thousand booths all over the country, today they are only 11 thousand, but they are increasingly less used. Turning phones in emergency facilities could be a healthy way not to lose them. By the way, in other countries they have become bookcrossing spaces, small art galleries, infopoints for tourists and so on.

Lorenzo Chinnici and David Kent: two artists, two nations, two parallel worlds, meet again after forty years in Milan and London and create the project “The Synergy of Sons.”
“The Synergy of Sons” is the title of the project born from the passion of two sons of art that, after a random meeting that occurred in June of this year in Brick Lane, the heart of London art, have collaborated their effort into creating an art project that starts from the experience and the chance meeting of their parents: two artists, two parallel worlds, two nations Italy and England, Lorenzo Chinnici and David Kent.
The project aims at the construction of two cultural events in Milan (Six Inch, September 29 to October 5) and London (Menier Gallery, November 2 to 7) in which will exhibit the works of the Italian master Lorenzo Chinnici with the English surrealist/pop artist David Kent.
It was a usual wet afternoon in London, in June of this year, when the son of Lorenzo Chinnici across the many picturesque streets of the British capital, was on vacation for a few days in London.

It was during his stay in something seemingly extraordinary happened:
He decided to stop off at one of the many inviting local galleries in Brick Lane, driven by the desire to show his friends a painting, exhibited on the walls of a room, that he was particularly impressed by.

Suddenly, just as the son of Italian artist insisted on deep cobalt blue and the elegance of the lines intersected, a man in his forties, suddenly interjected into the conversation, trying to interpret in turn the beauty of the painting.
The man was not slow to come forward with his views, his name was William, and was the son of the renowned English artist David Kent.
After a few moments the ice broke between the two men, and the son of Chinnici, in particular, felt an intense empathy and decided to reveal to William that his father, Lorenzo Chinnici, was a famous artist.

What happened at this point was a once in life time feeling for William, who froze and stared in disbelief at Chinnici’s son, as his father talked all the time of a master artist he met 40 years ago in London and also at the same venue, surely this was too much of a coincidence it could not be the same artist? The chances of meeting was a million to one shot, was this fate?
Lorenzo Chinnici that night phoned his friend of 40 years, David Kent who was stammered in astonishment and emotional amazement. Forty year ago, since they last spoke.

A young Lorenzo Chinnici exposed one of his first works in a group exhibition alongside those produced by David Kent. On that occasion, the two did not lack appreciation and courtesies that, quite naturally, that culminated in friendship, in spite of themselves, they had no chance to grow.
The son of the two artists, united by the emotion of their meeting, decided to give a deeper meaning to that point and thought of developing a project with the objective to meet again after forty years the two fathers, along with their art, and a symbol of their friendship and the union of two great nations, Italy and England.

The project consists of the playing of famous sax player Florencio Cruz, An Argentinian musician who fell in love with this story and the artistic style of the two Masters, and will accompany them as a testimonial.
Lorenzo Chinnici is now a painter visually impaired: hit by maculopathy, he lost his sight in one eye while the other had visibility reduced by 40%, vice destined to degenerate from year to year. Nonetheless, his energy and his strength still allow him to achieve great masterpieces. Similarly, albeit mild, David Kent, has glaucoma, he continues to create great masterpieces. The artists have chosen by agreement, to donate to the RNIB The Royal National Institute of the Blind and in addition, the Menier Gallery, London the gallery that will host the artistic event, and will also donate the proceeds of the cost of the premises to the charity “Paintings in the Hospital”.