Uk/Aussie webmagazine ArtsHub has just published my highlights from the 56th Venice Biennale. With so much good work around and so many interesting shows it has been difficult to narrow down my selection to ten… but here we go!
Here’s the link to the article
Read More
A waterfall, tropical plants and artisan workshops. Who would ever guess to find all that straight out of the Laurentina metro station – the infamous Rome metro B terminal? Thanks to the art of young artist Alessandro Sabong – who painted Laurentina’s stairway – that is precisely what you will see. From his beginnings as a street artist, Alessandro attended two different painting courses before entering the prestigious Scuola d’Arte della Medaglia della Zecca dello Stato. In this third video realized with Roman news agency TeenPress, we talk to an everyday guy with a curiosity and willingness to experiment out of the norm. And now for the video (in Italian)
My review of the Art Paris Art Fair (in Italian) has just been published on the web magazine Art a Part of Culture with the title “South East Asia in Paris. If we are not going to Singapore, Singapore is coming to us”. In the article I go into the role of Singapore as a hub for South East Asia, as discussed in an interesting talk at the fair, and the other related events going on in France at the moment.
Here’s the link to the article
If you are new to that and want to start learning about contemporary art in South East Asia, I have a book (in Italian) who gives an introduction about Indonesian contemporary art. Find more about it here.
I have just came back from two weeks in Paris. It has been an incredible time. I was there for the Art Paris Art Fair and the exhibition Secret Archipelago at the Palais De Tokyo – yet again on a reporting mission for Art a Part of Cult(ure), the Italian magazine I write for. My boss at Art a Part is the M to my Bond, the Charlie to my Angels, the Xavier to my X-Men, well, you get my drift! In Paris I’ve met with a number of interesting people and had chats with artists I wanted to talk to from a long time, including Eddie Hara and Richard Streitmatter-Tran.
The first week has been a whirlwind of interviews. I already knew what it means to do three interviews in a day – I did it before, and it was crazy! But five interviews in a day? That’s don’t-try-this-at-home insane! Luckily enough, I generally feel energized by working under pressure. Plus, all the artists and gallerists I talked with have been super nice. I can’t wait to share their interviews with you! In this situation it also helped to have the most amazing sidekick a journalist can ever had, a gorgeous Sorrentinian gal called Marta, who also hosted me in Paris. We jumped from metro to metro chatting endlessly about everything from Catilina (ancient republican Rome anyone?) to haircuts, all that while chewing a pan au chocolat (aux amandes, aux pistaches…) and rushing to the next interview.
Read More
Uk/Aussie webmagazine ArtsHub has just published my article on community-funded journalism. I feel today is particularly important – and sometimes also fun -for journalist to keep up with the changes in the industry. Besides, after researching for this article I’m almost tempted to give crowdfunding a go!
Here’s the link to the interview
Read More
The Australian webmagazine RAVEN has just published my guide to the art galleries in Rome – I wish I has something like this when I first came to the Eternal city! But I’ve to say, it has been an amazing quest to discover all the galleries little by little – my constant practice as a vernissage gal has finally paid off! For this guide I’ve planned an itinerary which includes meals and gelato breaks. If you are in really a good mood you might get to visit all the galleries enlisted in one go!
Read More
Here I am with my inevitable red hat, in the third video realized by the news agency TeenPress. In a previous post I already mentioned my participation to this project by the association Arciragazzi Roma, targeted to young adults. Questionable logo, but heaps of passion. For this report I interview the people behind the publishing house Biancoenero. In Italy they have been the first to create children books marked by what they call “high readability”. That means books easily readable by kids affected by dyslexia, cognitive problems or simply “reluctant readers”. It’s always such fun realizing these reports and it gives us also a chance to sneak into amazing Roman buildings. And now for the video (in Italian)
The thing I love about Australians is inventiveness. Down Under there are so many unusual spaces that have been reconverted into galleries, and they are in the most unexpected places. I talk about them in my new article for the Australian webmagazine ArtsHub called “Unconventional spaces democratising art”:
Here’s the link to the article
Read More
Sooo… updates from my life! In the middle of my usual freelance hustling and my book launch, I have also took a new collaboration on. I’m talking about my debut as video journalist for a news agency run by a cultural association in Rome, an experience which I find both exciting and challenging. The whole team is great; they are genuine, interesting and friendly people. Then of course, talking and doing interviews in front of a camera is a relatively new experience for me. Prior to that, I’ve only took part in a series of video interviews in artists’ studios, but here I’m basically presenting the whole thing. The guys have been merciful and my first report has been about an event at MAXXI, the contemporary art museum of Rome – so at least I was playing in my home court.
I’m delighted to announce that my book “Arte Contemporanea in Indonesia” is finally out! You can buy it in all the major Italian online stores Amazon, Ibs, Feltrinelli, Rizzoli, you name it! You can also order it at your local bookshop! I’m beyond happy to finally hold in my hands the red-covered book and in these days I’m planning a few book presentations around Italy. I’ll keep you guys posted on that!
Buy book: Amazon – Ibs – Mondadori – Hoepli – Rizzoli – LaFeltrinelli – Ultima
More info on the book (in Italian)
Read More
The other day, waiting for the tram, I was lazily browsing through a lifestyle magazine. An ad captured my attention. It said: ‘Don’t you deserve a job you love?’ In the corner of the page was the name of the graphic design school that would ostensibly make such a job possible. The tram arrived. ‘We all want a job we love’, I was thinking (seated next to the typical Melburnian drunk vomiting on the floor) but it feels like it’s the first time in history we can actually think of deserving that luxury. It’s no mystery why; in the last decade, the number of people working in the arts (or associated creative professions) has increased at a much higher rate than general employment. A creative and fulfilling job is one of the great aspirations of the post-Baby Boomer generations.
In the healthy Australian economy this desire does not seem so outlandish, unlike in Europe where, in these times of economic crisis, you are lucky to have a job of any kind. In Australia more and more people are actually working, or studying to work, in the arts industry. Just looking at the people in the tram, aside from the amiable drunkard, everyone under the age of thirty seemed to exude some kind of creative attitude. The pink-haired girl in front of me held a folder of drawings. Two hippie friends near the door carried guitar cases. And a guy at the back of the tram seemed to not have paid his travel fare – which in my Italian hometown is a form of art as well, especially if you manage to not get caught.
Read More
Some time ago a friend of mine – Bietolone we will call him – told me that he was waiting at the clinic of venereal diseases in London (a banal candida, he quickly added). In the waiting room a tall slim bombshell from Russia struck up a conversation. She said she was sick of London and she wanted to move elsewhere. Like, in that very moment. She explained she was a sculptor, and England was no place to live for an artist anymore. When he heard that Bietolone gulped. He notoriously had a soft spot for artists. He would have already asked her out if only they wouldn’t have met at the clinic of venereal diseases.
She proclaimed that the future for the arts was in Asia, and she had already picked a city to live: Singapore. She threw her blonde hair behind her shoulders and asked Bietolone in a heavily accented English: “Do you want to come with me?”
“Let me think about it” he replied seriously.
She scribbled her number on a piece of paper, gave it to him and disappeared in the stairwell before even getting her diagnosis.
Naima Morelli is an arts writer and journalist specialized in contemporary art from Asia-Pacific and the MENA region.
She has written for the Financial Times, Al-Jazeera, The Art Newspaper, ArtAsiaPacific, Internazionale and Il Manifesto, among others, and she is a regular contributor to Plural Art Mag, Middle East Monitor and Middle East Eye as well as writing curatorial texts for galleries.
She is the author of three books on Southeast Asian contemporary art.
Reach out: contact [at] naimamorelli.com
