At the beginning of the year I have realized a reportage on Thai contemporary art. The webmagazine CoBo Social has just published my interview with artist Noraset Vaisayakul.
Here is the link to the interview
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My article on Italian colonialism in Libya has just been published by Middle East Eye. The piece explores how filmmakers and artists are exploring a largely neglected history of Italy’s presence in Libya in the 20th century.
It took me some three months to get all the voices together and get a clear picture of history. Thought I’m taking the art lens, this artist and country and type of research is a bit outside my comfort zone, so I was tempted to stop at what I had a few times.
It took a very determined editor to allow me to go all the way down with it. Like all the difficult things in life, this allowed me to bring my understanding and writing to a new level.
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For my second collaboration with the magazine Qantara I have interviewed Indonesian writer Feby indirani. I loved her book “Not Virgin Mary”, which has been recently translated in Italian by Prof. Antonia Soriente and published by Add Editore. The book provided a light-hearted and almost zen perspective on Islam in Indonesia.
I met Feby in Rome during her European book tour. I have found out she is not only an excellent writer but also a lovely person; we had a wonderful conversation.
Here is the link to the interview
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The webmagazine Middle East Monitor has just published my review of the excellent theater play “Libya. Back Home” by Paola Di Mitri, with texts by Miriam Selima Fieno, Giancarlo Fieno and Khalifa Abo Khraisse. It was presented last week at the Romaeuropa Festival.
I’m starting researching a bit Italian colonialism in North Africa, and in Libya in particular, so it was extremely interesting to see this artistic re-elaboration who tackles this subjects, among many important others.
Here is the link to the review
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Rome’s favourite contemporary art webmagazine, Art a Part of Culture has just published my interview with the emerging artist Leonardo Crudi. It’s written in Italian – a language I take much more fun and freedom in. So, if you can read, you’ll find it a bit gonzoish.
I greatly enjoyed the works of this young street-artist-turned-Russian-avant-garde lover, and thanks to curator Tiziano Tancredi (who curated the show together with Giovanni Argan) I manage to keep in touch with the up-and-coming scene of the city I live in (most of the times)
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The contemporary art scene in Cambodia is still very young and in the making. Distinctive stylistic trends and artistic fervour are emerging in the three major cities, creating elements for a dialogue to come.
For those looking for true solace as well as engaging conversations with artists, Battambang is definitely the place to go. Here time slows down. Artistic practice largely takes a meditative slant, and are more often than not, based on considerably traditional mediums.
I have look at the four more interesting emerging artists hailing from this Cambodian city for CoBo.
Here is the link to the article
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These days I’m filled with love for the world.
Summer leaves are lighten up by the sun and look like emeralds. They have this love effect. Happy movement and endorphins have this love effect. So has making new friends. Rediscovering the old ones. By whatever means connection with what’s around me happens, that’s where the gold is. Noticing the beauty all around me.
These days, every time I go “off-track”, I “derail”, there is a sentence that pops always in my mind, sorting things out. The words are: “You think you have many different problems, but you only have one: your disconnection for Love (from Life, from God, from Source, from the Nature of Existence, whatever you want to call it.)
This happens to us when we are in pain, of course. But in pain — especially in pain — there is labour of love to do. We are called to action. And when I remember this words, I have a choice. Knowing that pain is inevitable but suffering is optional, I can either stay in the self-made hell, in the suffering — whether psychological or physical — or work towards mending the wounds.
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In their wonderful graphic novel/field journal “The Crack” photographer Carlos Spottorno and journalist Guillermo Abril report the unfolding of Europeʹs migrant crisis from Africa to the Arctic over the course of three years. Their aim is to identify the causes and consequences of Europeʹs identity crisis.
I have interviewed the two reporters for Qantara, a webmagazine promoting cultural exchange, based in Germany. I’m super-excited because of this new collaboration, which allows me to bring back my explorations in foreign realities back to my homeland Europe.
Here is the link to the interview
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The webmagazine Cobo has just published my interview with Thai artist Jakkai Siributr. This particular conversation has really provided clarity to shed new light on the whole month-long reportage I did in Thailand at the beginning of the year.
I have found this happens every reportage. There is always one conversation that reveals a particular key to read the reality your are exploring, or throws in a few challenges and reflections that stay with me long after the field research is finished.
Often that key comes from a figure – like Jakkai in this case – who has extensive knowledge of both Eastern and Western contemporary art practices, and is able to bridge the two through the narrative of his life.
There are few others interview to go to conclude the material I have collected with this reportage in Thailand, and can’t wait to share it more with you. But for the time being…
Here is the link to the interview
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I have a growing interest for Marocco and the way contemporary art is developing in this country. This time I discussed the emerging art scene with curator, artist and gallerist Yasmine Laraqui founder of Dasthe Art Space and Agency in Casablanca for Middle East Monitor.
Here is the link to the interview
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CoBo has just published one of my favourite interview from my reportage in Thailand, the one to Bangkok-based artist Ruangsak Anuwatwimon.
Ruangsak feels compelled to fight for environmental awareness. His poetic installations take on this cause, revealing the brutality of humans towards the Earth, buried under a beautiful surface.
Here is the link to the interview
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Another article from my reportage in Thailand. This is an interview with artist and photographer Pattana Chuenmana, and has been just published by CoBo.
Here is the link to the interview
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