Here’s the second installment of TeenPress’ series “Giovani Creativi”, dedicated to the emerging talents of the Roman arts and culture scene. This time we are a bit outside my comfort zone, as we are exploring theater. Actress Giorgia Ferrara is born-and-bred Sicilian who moved to Rome in order to pursue her acting career. In this interview where we talk about her beginnings in the theater scene and the role art plays in her life.
February, 2016 Monthly archive
My piece “New documentary puts Palestinian hip-hop in the spotlight” has just been published on the webmagazine Middle East Monitor. In this article I interview Giulia Giorgi, director of the documentary “Break the Siege” (Baburka Productions).
This uplifting 20-minute film gives an insight into the Palestinian hip-hop scene. The storyline follows preparations for the “Hip-Hop Smash the Wall” event which took place over the course of one week in Ramallah and Jerusalem in 2014 and brought together hip-hop artists from Palestine and Italy. In the piece I also spoke with Roman graffiti artist Gojo, who tells about his impressions of the hip-hop scene in Ramallah.
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Carving out time to work on creative projects doesn’t require an artist’s residency. A staycation is cheaper, simpler and focuses attention where you need it. My new piece “Take a creative staycation” looks at this fascinating trend and has just been published Australian/Uk webmagazine ArtsHub.
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Lovers, friends and family have always been the favourite source of inspiration for artists since the beginning of times. Of course, these involuntary muses are not always happy of being turned into characters of a story, or having their portrait on a gallery wall. This especially if the art deals with intimate, personal and potentially embarrassing themes.
Back in the day the artist could hope the subject matter was unaware of being included in the work. Today though it’s virtually impossible. An image or a review can be infinitely shared on social media. At the same time gallery access is not just for the elites anymore.
I this piece, which has just been published on ArtsHub, I discuss the ethics of including other people’s life in art with artist Geraldine Kang and writer Michele Lee.
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My second piece for the Hong Kong based webmagazine CoBo is an interview with Indonesian artist Aditya Novali, one of the most curious and intelligent people I had the pleasure to talk with. Aditya is the paradigm of the versatile artist and has explored many ways of making work. He was also recently nominated for Best Emerging Artist Using Installation at the Prudential Eye Awards in Singapore.
Here’s the link to the interview
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Yesterday was the opening night of the show “Attualità Indonesiane” at Il Ramo D’Oro in Naples, Italy, featuring artists Balinese artists Made Bayak, Gede Suanda and Naples-based Setyo Mardiyantoro. It was a successful and interesting night where people from many different background come together to learn about art making in Indonesia and the value of art in helping to grow awareness. The interesting thing about il Ramo D’Oro is its non-elitist approach. Gallerist Vincenzo Montella doesn’t want his space to be accessible only by vernissage hoppers, but rather to people from every walk of life.
On the 6th of January the art centre Il Ramo D’Oro in Naples will host the exhibition of Indonesian artists Made Bayak, Gede Suanda and Setyo Mardiyantoro. I was invited by gallerist Vincenzo Montella to write the curatorial text. The show – with a patronage by the General Consulate of the Republic of Indonesia in Naples – will be open to the public from the 6th to the 14th of February. During the vernissage Prof. Antonia Soriente will present the book “The dance of the earth” by Indonesian writer Oka Rusmini.
Below my curatorial text for “Attualità Indonesiane” in English and Italian:
“If art had a message, I’d be a postman,” said Nabokov. If we talk about contemporary art at the time of the open work, the idea of the message belongs more to the white walls of Sunday school, rather than to the immaculate walls of the contemporary art’s “white cubes”.
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I’m happy to announce my new collaboration with CoBo as a writer on Indonesian contemporary art. Cobo is an Hong Kong-based webmagazine and dynamic community platform – bilingual English and Chinese – with the image of the collector at its core and a focus on contemporary art, especially from Asia-Pacific area.
My first piece for CoBo is an interview with the Basel-based Indonesian artist Eddie Hara, a great friend and a badass artist, who was represented by two galleries at Art Stage Singapore. Eddie Hara is known in the art world for his irreverence and playfulness and his painting style is extremely popular among the younger generation of Indonesian artists. Thus I decided to title the piece “the Punk Uncle of Indonesian Contemporary Art”.
In the interview Eddie Hara opens up about the decision that compelled him to move to Switzerland. He also recalls his decision – radical at the time – to study art, consequentially facing his family’s opposition. He talks about the comrades from the early days, who are now big names in the art world. From Heri Dono “he knows everything about my life”, to Mella Jaarsma and Nindityo Adipurnomo.
Here’s the link to the piece
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Who would ever expect to find a technology wonderland right in the heart of the Villa Torlonia, Rome? Learning through play is the motto of Technotown, a building dedicated to children and teenagers to experiment with technology, nature and creativity.
Technotown consists in nine rooms equipped with different technologies, from Lego Mindstorms to the first plant ever to have a twitter profile. In this place children are no longer approaching technology in a mindless and lazy way. They are rather using it to imagine a sustainable future and developing new ideas.
I visited the place for a video report for the news agency Teenpress, guided by Technotown’s manager Gabriele Catanzaro. It has been a blast of energy and excitement. Technotown is the sort of place which reinforces my hopes for a better future. In their own little world, Technotown is forging a new generation of lateral thinkers and innovators. It’s a thing of beauty! And now for the video…
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