Me in the winter

This was a little sketch I made to illustrate how cold I felt in Berlin in the beginning of the year. Winter is here again...Background and frontal figure doesn't really blend, probably I need to find a better solution.

I Cani Abbaiano - journal

 Our class created a journal for our one class called Economy of arts under the guidance of journalist Manuela Gandini who regularly contributes to Alfabeta 2 a critical Italian journal focussed on arts,culture and society.The title of the journal translates as The dogs are barking. You can get the actual journal here in pdf but it is in Italian. 

Open publication - Free publishing

 Here is the editorial that I wrote. 

“An old west African proverb compares the artist to a dog. Positioned at the interface of the

human and the natural worlds, the dog in most ancient African societies enjoyed slippery and

highly ambiguous cultural status.

Neither a human being, nor a wild animal, it was nevertheless admitted in the domestic

sphere where it was recognised as man's best friend.

Loyal to a fault, it was committed to its master to the point of helping him hunt wild animals.

This is why it enjoyed special rights.

Because a dog was never happier than when its nose was up another's rear end- the anus,

that sensory button of the world - it also symbolised debasement and degradation.

Just like the dog, the artist also enjoyed special rights, including the right to conduct

forbidden experiments. His task was to translate society to itself”. – Achille Mbembe, Cape

Times, June 5 2012

The economic crisis has stimulated a range of conversations against the capital and consumer driven

system that the Western world have been comfortably nesting in for years. It has illuminated the

flaws of a system that has dominated and affected the core values of Western society the 21 st

century. It has in fact illuminated us to see that change is necessary, that is also a change in the

values that informs our decisions.

It is from here that we can see why it is necessary to create an enquiry also from the perspective of

the arts. The most obvious reason is that economic crisis’s or government financial policies affect

also the cultural sector. Producers of culture needs financial support and space in order to live, and

produce work.

When analysing the current situation crashing financial markets, greed driven corporations and

speculation are terms that superficially touch on the causes of this crisis. It easy to lay out the

blame on investment bankers, CEO’s and governments, but it did not come over night with a few

evil personas. It is a system of values - a culture - that has been the basis of the production and

consumption that we live in. We are not innocent bystanders or just simply victims of this system;

we were also participants in it. This includes the cultural sector; us as artists, curators and writers.

Thus as cultural workers we need to understand how we fit in to this economy, what systems of

production we use and what we do to change or uphold it.

Starting with a historical analysis allows us to see how we got here. Understanding how the arts

came to reflect the financial system of speculation, understanding the invention of the art market.

This also reflects on systems of power and how it came to be in the hands of a select few. We

look to the economic crisis of the past, the great depression, reflecting how it was dealt with even

sometimes in bazaar ways.

If one can understand the past we can reflect on the current situation. How is art valued today, what

is its role in society and how does political policies and the financing of it affect it. In the globalised

world we can learn from each other and trace similarities. An analysis of different concepts of

financing and public perception in different geographical areas starting from the sophisticated

funding system of Northern Europe to the complications of funding in a developing country; South

Africa. Another analysis shows the political complications affect art in Columbia and the review of

public art policies in Taiwan. We understand that we are not isolated.

A final part looks at how it has come to this, how the world has been perceived theoretically and

philosophically and how artist imagine and approach the situations. One might argue against or an

autonomous group of artists occupying and appropriating corporate buildings and urban spaces, or

Utopic imagined spaces as unrealistic, but it serves as mirrors held up to imagine what can be, or

what should not be.

One might ask why it is important that we as cultural workers publish a volume of articles on art

and the economy. The answer is this, we are the dogs, we need to dig up the old bones, we need to

start barking at the gates to warn of the thieves that enter to prevent them from stealing the good

ideals of society. We are not wild animals outside of the house; we are part of it and will contribute

to improving it.

I Cani Abbaiano.pdf

Books

Friends: Edith Poirier

I can't believe I haven't done a post on Edith sooner. Edith Poirier is one of my best friends here, I met her at my first day at NABA, and we have been friends ever since. Edith is a painter in heart and soul and the amount of hours that she spends painting in her studio  is unbelievable. Borrowing from the cities she travels to (she always carries a sketch book with her), street art ,publicity images, the burlesque and the circus, she creates painted collages of the city as spectacle. 

Some works also plays around with the concepts of the art history, the way we view art within the art system.

The above mural was painted in the neigbhourhood Isola outside the Garibaldi station  in Milan for the event "In su i Praa" with Isola art centre in May 2012. Her works really works well within urban spaces, and I hope that she can do more street art soon. 

Edith will be participating in the Isola art centre show "Fight-specific Isola" which will be happening all over Milan. Some of Edith's work will be on view at the Isola Libri bookshop, via Pollaiuolo 5, Milan. Read more about Edith on her website or she also has a group on Facebook.

History in the making - Something I forgot to post months ago

History in the making was a workshop we did with the Austrian artist Peter Friedl. Not aimed at being an exhibition but more a play with images and the histories we invent or associate with them. You can read an article he wrote on the topic of history with the same title on E-flux.

My poster for History in the making. I wanted to make something that draws on my personal history but then also within a European context is something exotic, so I created a poster that is a little bit like decorative  tourist postcard or print with a recipe on it.

  Edith Porier

 Wei-Ning Yang

Leah Messersmith

Jess Rucinque

One final video from Caro Giacomo 2012

Caro Giacomo 2012

The week in Perdaxius flew by so quickly. It turned out to be a wonderful experience for me, getting to know artists, making friends and eating well in the country side. I also had a chance to experience the creativity and enthusiasm of children, hear a launeddas and paint for the sheer joy of it. It turned out to be an improvisational woodwork workshop. Thanks to Cherimus and the artists Yassine Balbzioui, Derek Maria Francesco Di Fabio, Michele Gabriele, Andrea Rossi  and Matteo Rubbi.Also Carlo Spiga and  Beatrice Bailet who joined us later in the week. See some videos here. Read more on Cherimus site. Here are a few photos and below a video I made for the party we made the last Sunday.

Caro Giacomo 2012

Caro Giacomo 2012

Caro Giacomo celebrates its fifth anniversary.

A strange lab in the south west of Sardinia, where no one quite knows what to expect.

From 22 to 26 July Perdaxius explodes: to destroy and then to rebuild. One never creates anything, but it expands like gas-filled balloons.

One should try to be atomic and leap out from all protective membranes: I would like to make it new enable to think of it differently; starting from its archaeology ~ I want to do it again!

Dear Dear Caro, if I think of it by myself this is a flipper rumbling with thoughts. To share experiences sounds much better. DMFDF

****

Caro Giacomo compie cinque anni.

Uno strano laboratorio nel sud ovest sardo, dove chi arriva non sa mai bene che gli capita.

Dal 22 al 26 luglio Perdaxius esplode, rimontare dopo aver demolito, non si costruisce mai niente, ci s’espande come palloni che si riempiono di gas.

Pretendere d’essere atomici e schizzare via da ogni membrana protettiva: vorrei farlo nuovo per poterlo pensare diversamente, dalla sua archeologia ~ voglio farlo di nuovo!

Caro Caro Caro, a pensarci da solo è un flipper di rimbombi di pensieri, condividere esperienze suona meglio. DMFDF

****

Festa di San Giacomo e Sant’Anna in via Nazionale, Perdaxius (CI)

Con Yassine Balbzioui, Derek Maria Francesco Di Fabio, Michele Gabriele, Edna Gee, Andrea Rossi e Matteo Rubbi

See Cherimus.net

Hipster Chickens

Internet tools and Arte Povera

Things such as Pinterest has a way of completely absorbing your time. One can spent hours getting lost in this form of visual consumption (something one must at least be critical of). Nevertheless it can be an incredibly helpful tool for students and artists to organise visual research. I prepared this Arte Povera  board while studying for an exam about it, which in the end helped me so much in being able to summarise some important works by some of the most important artists of the movement. Having images in my head as reference helped a lot  to recall the information. And the best thing was that I could just peek at this before I went to do the exam which was a quick and efficient way to refresh my memory.

By the way how wonderful is Arte Povera? Af first I was annoyed by the fact that we had an entire module just based on Arte Povera, but after this exam, I am so blown away by it. There is something timeless in these works. I especially love the work of Giovanni Anselmo. Such poetry in the way he used opposite materials together, played with gravity and tension, always keeping one in suspense of something that is about to happen. He is going on to my favourite artist list. 

The art buying game.

A new project of mine. It is game based on a Monopoly game but placed within the art market.The objective is to buy all the artist work and thus gain monopoly over the art world.  

The artist is like a dog

“An old west African proverb compares the artist to a dog. Positioned at the interface of the
human and the natural worlds, the dog in most ancient African societies enjoyed slippery and
highly ambiguous cultural status. 

Neither a human being, nor a wild animal, it was nevertheless admitted in the domestic
sphere where it was recognised as man's best friend.

Loyal to a fault, it was committed to its master to the point of helping him hunt wild animals.
This is why it enjoyed special rights.

Because a dog was never happier than when its nose was up another's rear end- the anus,
that sensory button of the world - it also symbolised debasement and degradation.

Just like the dog, the artist also enjoyed special rights, including the right to conduct
forbidden experiments. His task was to translate society to itself”. – Achille Mbembe, Cape
Times, June 5 2012

Progress and development 2012)

 

The picnic- this romantic idea of eating together, a social gathering in nature -  was used in 19^th 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.  More pictures of the picnic here. And of the event  In Su I Praa here.

All the buzz: M^C^O

Image above from MACAO page on Facebook

I paid a visit to the new space M.A.C.A.O this week to see what all the hype is about. M.A.C.A.O is an abandoned building in Milan originally called Torre Galfa owned by some corporate (don't remember who) and it was "taken over" or occupied as they say (I hate that word - it is like the new key phrase used by all trendy liberal associations) by cultural workers and young artists to convert into a experimental cultural centre. It  follows in the current trend of movements (Occupy Wall street etc) taking over capitalistic spaces for a more social use.

Radical chic is all the rage these days so it is not surprising that people want to be apart of this movement, but what is nice to observe is the enthusiasm and hope that such a take over represent for people. There are tons of people working in the space renovating it, fixing the floors, making a garden and bringing furniture and things that can be used in the space, all doing it without receiving any money for it. Something new like this attracts a lot of different people and creates a space for experimentation and exchange. It provides what is needed perhaps as a catalyst for other actions. Another thing to observe how they used social media from the start of this project to interact with public and create hype and audience. 

The space itself is amazing and gives a lot to the imagination, I am sure many artists (me included)  and curators would love to utilise the space itself for installation. As a new experiments go, it is of course chaotic and probably doesn't yet offer the possibility to do something with more body. However already between the chaos a lot is going on, there were spontaneous talks by Nobel prize laureate Mario Fo, concerts by musicians, and also open lessons by universities taking place in there. 

It will be interesting to see what happens there. Hopefully the company owning the building will not try to take it back and hopefully M.A.C.A.O can retain its independence. They (or us) will also have to at some point forget the hype and make projects with more body that can add a little bit more to just being a cool Facebook topic. And we must not forget that it can become absorbed by the systems it tries to defy or it itself can become an institution. Nevertheless, at the moment it is a blank slate with possibility and that is a beautiful thing.

To see  more about M.A.C.A.O visit the Facebook page or webpage.

I also attended a talk held on the 10th floor, led by Bert Theis and presentation by Isola Art Centre on their projects and how cultural spaces such as M.A.C.A.O can  affect or improve a neighbourhood.

IN SU I PRÀA at Isola Pepe Verde Festival.

On Sunday 6 May, finally arrived the day where we had the event that we have been preparing for. Our group Room 47’s artistic interventions ran parallel with the festival of Isola Pepe Verde. And while a week of rain before threatened to destroy the day, came Sunday it was for the most part sunny and remained basically rain free until five o’clock the afternoon, when the rain finally arrived it was time move inside for the video projections anyway.

I really enjoyed the whole project and also the event. The event was well attended by the community, and I really felt such warmth from the inhabitants of this neighbourhood. It reminded me a bit of church bazaars from my childhood where everyone from the community chipped in to make something happen. It is something one can easily lose living so anonymously in a big city.

The project itself was a good exercise of making an exhibition in an open public space, proved once again to challenging in terms of working with many others and also gave a chance for each one of us to pursue something personal, using our own strengths and mediums.  It proved also how art if kept in relationship with where it is can be of more value than just a commodity object. So far it is my favourite project we have done.

So the the interventions was divided in 4 categories. Suolo (Floor), Muro (Walls), Ignoto (Random) and AUDIO VIDEO.  The first three caterogies took place during the day outside while the Audio Videos  were projected inside after the rain came. Here are a few pictures from the project.

Nicoletta Dalfino - "Enciclopedia Vegetale"

One of my picnic spots

Jessica Rucinque - "Guaca"

Michella Grillo, Luigi Mazzioti,Diletta Pellegrini - Eden Box

Leah Corra Messersmith- 'Totem'

Danielle Marzorati

 Laura Paveglio

Chiara Paleari - Tute Blu

Green per capita = Workshop for children

The murales by David M Fayek left and Edith Porier on the right.

Video Still from the video by  Wei-Ning Yang.