Culture360, the webmagazine of the Asia-Europe Foundation has just published my interview to Ilaria Benini, editor of the Asia series of Turin’s publishing house ADD Editore. In the interview we discuss how ADD Editore is bridging Italy and Asia via literature.
Here is the link to the interview
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The warm spring sun has not only been responsible for flushing us TeenPress reporters out of our den in Pietralata. It has also compelled us to engage in the “good deeds” dear to Collodi. My colleague Andrea and I have been sent by our Charlie to the “Good Deeds Day”, an international event which in Rome took place in the Circo Massimo.
Leaving our usual cynicism at home, we tried to understand what was about this day that would remind us to be better people. What we found is that this gathering was an opportunity for associations and organizations to meet and let citizens know of their relentless commitment to the “good”.
Likewise, individuals engaged in ideals could come together. We found out that the idea of what “good” looked like was different for everyone. What was shared though was a great energy – whether it was strawberry-clad evangelical or a Mexican wise woman fighting for an alternative version of their flag, everybody was in high spirits. Enjoy the video!
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I have been following Azerbaijan’s exploits in the contemporary art world for quite a while now, and it has been interesting to look at the backstory behind their success. The opportunity for doing so was given to me by this great and dramatic show by Azerbaijan artist Faig Ahmed at MACRO, Rome.
The show was food for thought itself – confronted with this melting traditional carpets it was impossible to leave Zygmunt Bauman and Aldous Huxley out of the equation. I have written the story for Escape, the Sunday edition of the Times of Malta.
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Contemporary Indonesian art and literature have found a new home in the Italian city of Naples. I talk about it in this article called “Making Naples a home for Indonesian art and literature” for ASEF culture360. I have been a regular reader of this webmagazine – part of the Asia-Europe foundation – so I’m excited to have become a contributor.
For the piece I have interviewed Professor Antonia Soriente from Università degli Studi di Napoli and gallerist Vincenzo Montella who have contributed to promote the dialogue between Naples and Indonesia.
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We are back with a new report from the Palazzo delle Esposizioni in Rome, where we followed a workshop for children inspired by the exhibition “Il Giardino di Matisse”, currently on in the Museum. This show displays the original art from the namesake book by writer Samantha Friedman and Italian illustrator Cristina Amodeo, who reinterpreted the work by Henri Matisse.
The book was created for the exhibition “Henri Matisse: The Cut Outs” at MoMA. This was part of a new project by the NY museum, consisting in publishing a book for every large show linked to its collection, and a collaboration with several houses national and international publishing houses. For Italy it’s Fatatrac.
The osmotic process ended up in this workshop at Palazzo delle Esposizioni, where children were trying their hand at the collage, helped by their parents. The workshop was in fact aimed at family – so that art can become a way to spend quality time together. Enjoy the video! (in Italian)
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Arts writer and curator Deianira Tolema – the gal behind Zero Hype Mag – has interviewed me for Art a Part of Cult(ure). She is the best interviewer I could hope for, a talented, committed writer and a kindred spirit in the journey in the contemporary art world – she goes west whereas I go east. In the piece (in Italian) called “Indonesian interferences with a Singaporean aftertaste. Interview to Naima Morelli”, we talk about my start as a writer, my research in Indonesia, Australia and Singapore, and about my book Arte Contemporanea in Indonesia, un’introduzione
Here’s the link to the interview
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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.
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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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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My series on studio visits is finally back! During my reportage in Singapore I had the chance to snoop around the working and sometimes also living space of local artists. First up is a wonderful Italian artist who now calls the Lion City home: Giada Tagliamonte aka Zada Tagli. Her work is delicate and poetic, and although she’s inspired by eminent figures of Italian culture, such as Giotto and Umberto Eco, the imaginary she evokes is really universal. You will soon read my interview to her, which I realized in November – but for now I’ll let the images speak for themselves.
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
Published! Fondazione Prada on Global Comment
Last month I visited the art space Fondazione Prada in Milan with my curator friend Roberto D’Onorio. It was an interesting experience, both for the exhibition itself, by Goshka Macuga, and for the heavily regulated art space.
In this piece for Global Comment Roberto, Alexis de Tocqueville and Miuccia Prada herself all helped me think what Fondazione Prada stands for in the contemporary art landscape – and it is not what it looks like.
Here is the link to the piece
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