Interview | Naima Morelli

Published! Palestinian hip-hop on Middle East Monitor

23-02-2016

English, Essay, Interview, Middle East, Published

memopalestinehiphop

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.

Here’s the link to the piece

Published! Interview with Aditya Novali for CoBo

By: Naima Morelli

09-02-2016

English, Indonesia, Interview, Published

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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Published! Interview with Eddie Hara on CoBo

By: Naima Morelli

03-02-2016

English, Indonesia, Interview, News, Published

eddiehara
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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Published! Australian arts professionals in Singapore for ArtsHub

By: Naima Morelli

19-01-2016

Australia, English, Interview, Published, Reportage, Research, Singapore, Visit

artshub13

Australian magazine ArtsHub has just published my latest piece where I profile three Australian art professionals who are leaving their mark on the Singapore art scene. These are Ben Hampe, co-founder of Chan Hampe Galleries, Bala Starr from the Institute of Contemporary Arts Singapore at LASALLE and artist Belinda Fox. This piece is part of my reportage on contemporary art in Singapore.

Here’s the link to the piece

Video! Interview with Cristiano Quagliozzi for TeenPress

By: Naima Morelli

14-12-2015

English, Interview, Italiano, Italy, video

I have to admit the video reports with the TeenPress guys was something I was missing from my life. We are finally back with a new micro-series with the self-explanatory name “Giovani Creativi”. For these installments creatives of all stripes join us in our studio in Pietralata, Rome. We chat about their artistic practice, creative process, everyday life and day-to-day struggles. We have started with Cristiano Quagliozzi, painter, sculptor, installation and performance artist, who opens up about his upcoming project and gives us his definition of artist. Enjoy the video!

Interview for Baltyra

By: Naima Morelli

27-09-2015

English, Indonesia, Interview, News, Reportage

baltyra
“Exoticism is an endlessly fascinating topic and an ongoing subject of exploration for me. On one hand exoticism is a necessary tool for curiosity. It has something of the infatuation in a way. When you fall in love with someone, you project your fantasies on them – which of course have nothing to do with the actual person and everything to with those damn adventures of Wolverine, Psylocke and Jubilee in Madripoor – which totally screwed up your brain as a teenager. Anyway, that confused exotic approach is necessary in order to take the next step to get closer to your subject and learn. Exoticism becomes dangerous when it’s taken at face value. When it is not the starting point for further explorations, but it becomes a stereotype to pigeonhole people and cultures. Not surprisingly many Indonesian artists and artists with a non-western background play a lot around this concept. They reverse roles, make fun of stereotypes and show potential dangers connected to them.”

I have recently been interviewed by photojournalist Stefano Romano for the Indonesian webmagazine Baltyra. In the interview we chat a bit about my book “Arte Contemporanea in Indonesia, un’introduzione“, discuss the developments of art in Indonesia and talk tradition, censorship and exoticism.

Here’s the link to the interview

Published! Interview with Nadia Kaabi-Linke for Middle East Monitor

By: Naima Morelli

23-09-2015

English, Germany, Interview, Middle East, Published, United States

memonadiakaabilinke

“I never decide in advance why I want to talk about a subject; it just arises from the context. The wall in particular is a symbol that speaks to me strongly,” says Tunisian-Russian artist Nadia Kaabi-Linke, to explain her new work at Dallas Contemporary gallery. “For me, walls mean separation. But walls are also skins that say something about a city and the people who live there in hidden ways,” she observes. “I have always been interested in revealing the invisible.”

Nadia Kaabi-Linke was born in Tunis in 1978 to a Russian mother and Tunisian father, she studied at the University of Fine Arts in Tunis before receiving a PhD from La Sorbonne in Paris. Her installations, objects and pictorial works are embedded in urban contexts, intertwined with memory and geographically and politically constructed identities. She currently has a solo show, called “Walk the Line”, at Dallas Contemporary in Texas, USA, from September 20 until December 21. I have interviewed Nadia for Middle East Monitor , asking her about her personal path through art, the Tunisian contemporary art scene and the theme of migration in her work.

Here’s the link to the piece

Published! Coppelia Theater for The Times of Malta

By: Naima Morelli

21-09-2015

English, Interview, Italy, Published

TimesofMaltaCoppelia

At the beginning of August I was invited to Tuscany for Teatro Nel Bicchiere – a three days festival matching theater and wine tasting in the small town renown for his Morellino di Scansano. While I had to pass on the wine tasting – I notoriously don’t drink – the theater part was very engaging.

Among the experimental shows, what struck me the most was Coppelia Theater, a mesmerizing marionette company. When I came to know the story of Coppelia, the gal behind the company, I had no doubts – I had to interview her for Times of Malta’s new Sunday magazine, Escape. So here’s Coppelia’s tale, involving Siberian cybernetics engineer, Mexican painters and Tuscany of course!

Here’s the link to the interview

Published! Interview with Koushna Navabi on Global Comment

By: Naima Morelli

24-08-2015

English, Interview, Middle East, Published, UK, Visit

I’m back at my desk (figuratively) after a few days hiatus. I didn’t go far really. I’m spending summer in my hometown Sorrento and I have been exploring the beautiful surroundings – Positano, Amalfi, Capri, Ieranto and so on – with my partner in crime, curator Roberto D’Onorio. (Here and here our visual diary where we shamelessly glamourize ourselves.)

Back to my beloved work, it was great to see that Global Comment published my interview with Iranian/American/London-based artist Koushna Navabi. I visited her studio one year ago, and I was fascinated by the delicate dark beauty of her art. Koushna left Iran at sixteen and flew to America. In her teen years, she discovered art, and felt in love with Europe. She therefore moved to London to attend the Goldsmith college, in the beginning of the Young British Artists movement.

Today Koushna is a successful artist living in London. Her work addresses the relationship between West and Middle East, Iranian identity and women issues. It is based both on memories and personal experience, but also discusses past and present politics of her native country. She considers art therapeutic for both the artist and the viewer. In this interview we talk taxidermy, orientalism in art, Koushna’s artistic process, her struggles to accept her Iranian identity and her final decision to embrace it.

Here’s the link to the interview

Published! Interview with Takoua Ben Mohamed on Middle East Monitor

By: Naima Morelli

12-07-2015

English, Interview, Italy, Middle East, Published

memotakoua

My interview with Tunisian-born, Italy-based graphic journalist Takoua Ben Mohamed has just been published on Middle East Monitor with the title “Drawing her own story from Douz to Rome”.

“‘I don’t actually read that many comic books,’ laughs Takoua Ben Mohamed. ‘And I have never set foot in a comic book fair.’ Don’t mistake what she says for a snooty, ‘I don’t read comic books, I only make them.’ Make what you’d like to see in the world, they say. More broadly, make something that embodies what you want to see in the world, whatever the medium you choose. It just so happens that the world of speech bubbles and comic strips is Takoua’s cup of tea.”

Here’s the link to the article

Published! Spirtu pront in St Albans on the Times of Malta

By: Naima Morelli

26-06-2015

Australia, English, Interview, Published

TimesMaltaSpirtuPront
Article number five for the Times of Malta! Here I talk with Australian artists Sonia Leber and David Chesworth, who are researching the Maltese community in St Albans, a suburb of Melbourne, for their new video projects called “One from Mosta, Two from Zabbar”. Having always worked with sound in their art, the duo was interested both in the technical aspect and the social valence on Spirtu Pront.

“The singing is extremely skillful, in a loud and tightly strained voice, exemplifying Malta’s dual Arabic and European influences.” they explain “The ritual incorporates a cadenza where everyone respectfully renounces their insults and emphatically reconfirms the need for friendship.” In their video project the artists are interested in presenting this form of singing ritualised arguments as a positive social force and as a metaphor for the resolution of conflict in the public space.

Here’s the link to the article

Published! Interview with Reko Rennie on Global Comment

By: Naima Morelli

19-06-2015

Australia, English, Interview, Italy, Published, Research

My interview with Australian artist Reko Rennie has just been published on the webmagazine Global Comment with the title “Aboriginal Royalty at the Venice Biennale: Interview with artist Reko Rennie”. This interview is part part of my research about artists in Melbourne.

Here’s the link to the article

Naima Morelli

Published! Palestinian hip-hop on Middle East Monitor

Published! Interview with Aditya Novali for CoBo

Published! Interview with Eddie Hara on CoBo

Published! Australian arts professionals in Singapore for ArtsHub

Video! Interview with Cristiano Quagliozzi for TeenPress

Interview for Baltyra

Published! Interview with Nadia Kaabi-Linke for Middle East Monitor

Published! Coppelia Theater for The Times of Malta

Published! Interview with Koushna Navabi on Global Comment

Published! Interview with Takoua Ben Mohamed on Middle East Monitor

Published! Spirtu pront in St Albans on the Times of Malta

Published! Interview with Reko Rennie on Global Comment

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