Friday, April 27, 2012

IN SU I PRÀA - Press Release.



IN SU I PRÀA  is an event that brings works made by the young artists of the collective Room 47 in the public space of the city, the neighbourhood Isola in Milan. These works will be set up and exhibited only for one day, Sunday 6 May 2012, running along with the annual neighbourhood festival organised by the association Isola Pepe Verde.


IN SU I PRÀA is an invite to the inhabitants of Isola and to everyone who wishes to participate, to reclaim the public space from its current state of uselessness and anonymity.

Room 47 is a group of  participants in the world of arts that shares the experience of the masters in Visual Arts and Curatorial studies at N A B A  -  Nuova Accademia di Belle Arti Milano.

IN SU I PRÀA /R47  with the contribution of Bert Theis
Event coordinators and press office:  Claudia Caldara, Martina Valla
Text  :  Curatorial Team
Graphics :  Federica Clerici

To view more information go to Room 47 or like our Facebook page. Click here to view the location on google maps.

A picnic: Progress and Development (2012)

(image from the 2009 BBC TV-mini series Emma)
The picnic- this romantic idea of eating together, a social gathering in nature -  was used in 19th century English novels as a literary space for  romantic gestures, revealing social inadequacies and personal revelations (Emma by Jane Austen comes to mind). The picnic then could also serve for the perfect space to reveal our own desires and inadequacies.   In the absence of nature the action of a picnic remains the same, everyone can bring something, to sit down outside, with the the basket, the blanket and the food, yet it might almost seem sad. Though at the same time plotting down a space in the city, sitting down on the sidewalk on the cement becomes a defiant action against the movement, the progress that the capitalistic city promotes. 

I would like to invite all to join my picnic on 6 May from 11:00 am onwards in Isola, Milan at the parking lot in Via Pepe. It forms part of the intervention IN SU I PRÀA(which means on the grass in Milanese dialect) which is a project of our class collective Room 47. It will be intertwined with the activities of the festival  of Isola Pepe Verde. Find my three picnic spots around the space and you are welcome to take seat and eat the contents of the baskets.
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Il picnic – questa idea romantica di mangiare insieme, incontrarsi in natura -  nella narrativa inglese del 19° secolo era utilizzata come spazio letterario per gesti romantici, analisi delle carenze sociali e rivelazioni personali (come Emma di Jane Austen). Il picnic, anche oggi, può essere  lo spazio ideale per mettere in mostra i nostri desideri, le nostre carenze. In assenza della natura l’azione di fare un picnic, con i suoi riti e gesti stereotipati, potrebbe quasi sembrare triste. Tuttavia l’azione di prendere possesso di un spazio nella città, sedersi sul marciapiedi, stazionare ai bordi della strada, può diventare un azione provocatoria contro la frenesia , lo sviluppo che la città capitalista promuove.

Vorrei invitarvi a un picnic 6 maggio da 11:00 la mattina nel parcheggio di Via Pepe, Isola, Milano. L’intervento fa parte del progetto IN SU I PRÀA(dialetto milanese per in sui prato) di nostro colletivo Room 47. Sara parte della festa di Isola Pepe Verde. Il mio intervento consiste di 3 picnic che si svolgeranno durante la festa. Le Coperte indicheranno gli spazi dove le persone sono invitate ad interagire.


Monday, April 23, 2012

Curators in South Africa

Even though the making of exhibitions has been taking place in South Africa and the world since way back curatorship as we know it today and as a field of study  has only  been making its way in South Africa in the recent years. However the challenges there seems to be curators on the rise who do amazing work. Found this article in the Mail&Guardian on 6 curators working in South Africa.  Here is a few quotes that struck me as interesting reflections on images, curatorship also reflecting specifically in a Southern African context.


Perhaps because of the digital age in which we live, people have become desensitised to an image unless it is “hypersensational”.  Thato Mogotsi
The curator's role, she says, "should be more about mediation, which some artists are resistant to, but also about facilitating access to work and getting a deep understanding of the works and artists who make them — and also trying to ­create an environment where other people can access that too". Anthea Buys
 "The curated thing is an utterance and there needs to be a response to that, which is what I have found is quite frustrating about curating here -- that there is very seldom a serious critical response in a public forum." Anthea Buys
"Dutch artists are struggling to articulate a space where art can be political, because the artist is free to have it not mean anything, whereas here I find the opposite," she said. She then positioned the question closer to home: "Can [Southern African] art be useless? Does it have the freedom to be that way?"  Clare Butcher

Sunday, April 15, 2012

W.J.T Mitchell on Ranciere

I've been watching  a few of these School of Visual Arts lectures, they have a whole variety of them covering wide topics and artists. They are also downloadable on iTunesU. Mitchell has become quite a favourite theorist of mine this year.