Naima Morelli

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banksyhotel

The webmagazine Middle East Monitor has just published my article on the controversial Walled Off Hotel by graffiti artist Banksy with the title: “Playing with sand in a sandstorm: Palestinians on Banksy’s Walled Off Hotel”. I gathered a few opinions on the subject, by three Palestinians involved in different way with art and an art blogger, then drew my conclusions:

“Banksy’s hotel provides us with the opportunity to reflect on the role of art in sensitive contexts, such as the situation in occupied Palestine. What art needs is not to be more witty or ironic. It should neither become didactic nor necessarily take sides. Artists need to have a heart and some empathy; a capacity and willingness to listen. In order to do that, though, they need to break out from the cage that is their own narcissism. This won’t make the art necessarily cooler, but it would make it more meaningful. More human, in fact.”

Here is the link to the piece

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EmiEu

For the next installment of the series “Heroines Behind Galleries”, CoBo has just published my interview with Singapore Tyler Print Institute’s (STPI) director Emi Eu. It was fun to write a profile, capturing the impression of the woman behind the institution. The interview is also part of my reportage on Singapore contemporary art, soon to become a book!

Here is the link to the piece

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6
These days life is white-hot, red-hot, glowing, incandescent. This excitement runs all over my body and my mind. It nourishes my spirit. Sometime I feel like those sparkling sticks kids hold in their hands on the first of the year. I feel empowered and harmonious. When I lose balance, I’m able to catch myself and correct course; if I happen to linger there, I try to deal with it with a stoic attitude, meaning, why let yourself be bother by something you can’t change? Or else, I try to convert the energy of rage or indignation into good energy, in the form of animated talks or laughs with friends.

This good energy runs through me while I’m heading towards the coffee shops I work at every morning. This is what was Tiffany for Holly Golightly; except that here they serve real breakfasts. I’m so revitalized getting out of the house in the fresh morning here, coasting the Aurealian walls, walking down the sunlit market of the working-class neighbourhood of Via Del Pigneto, watching kids from many different ethnicities going to school. The hurried or cheerful attitude of the mothers reminds me to the one of my own mother. I recall how was it to go to that terrible and yet so fundamental place which was school. And yet, schoolkids remind me how important is to feel to be on a learning path, and having buddies to share that experience with. I treasure that sensation that I experience elsewhere, walk in the coffee shop, order a cappuccino, and sit to do my work, an independent, solitary but beautiful adventure. Something that I have proudly built from scratches.

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Tomtandio
CoBo has just published my interview with Indonesian collector Tom Tandio: “Is life about discovering oneself, or is it more about building oneself? If there is an activity which can respond to the evergreen nature/nurture question, that is art collecting.

In the process of grappling with their own identity through art, the best collectors understand that acquiring art is not simply an individualistic pursuit. It is rather about becoming part of an artistic ecosystem, which they can help nurture. Indonesian collector Tom Tandio exemplifies this attitude, modelling an ethic which makes the entire system grow.”

Here is the link to the interview

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charcoal

I have contributed an essay titled “Rules, imagination, and magic powder” to the catalogue of the Drawing Future exhibition at CushCush Gallery in Bali. My words are in the very good company of texts by John Andrews, Mella Jaarsma and Natalie Sprite.

A few words on CushCush Gallery; this is an alternative platform for contemporary art and design in Denpasar. Suriawati Qiu and Jindee Chua have founded the gallery to share art and design with their local creative community, general public, as well as generate conversations with international artists and creative people.

Within the gallery many initiatives, the Charcoal For Children program is a social project that put together 6 working artists and children in 3 sessions, to create collaborative artworks together. As the name suggests, the yearly program focuses on Charcoal as the medium, to foster creativity amongst children. I have been honoured to have given my small contribution in the form of a write-up about creativity to such an exciting project!

Here’s the pdf version of the essay

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Fyerool

My interview with Singaporean artist Fyerool Darma has just been published on CoBo Social. Fyerool works with the forgotten histories of Singapore, drawing from its Malay past. We have recently seen his work at Art Stage Singapore, at the art center Objectifs and in the Singapore Biennale.

Here’s the link to the article

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Jimbo

CoBo Social has published my interview with Indonesian artist and member of MES56 Jim Allen Abel, also known as Jimbo. I interviewed him in Singapore during Art Stage 2017 and he shared about his background and art practice.

Here’s the link to the piece

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ArtStage2017

Asian webmagazine and collectors’ platform CoBo has just published my report from Art Stage Singapore 2017 titled “Why Having Less International Galleries at Art Stage Singapore 2017 was Actually a Good Thing”.

As the title suggests, I see the tendency to develop a “glocality” in the art market as generally positive – giving character to art fairs which would otherwise be all lookalikes. The regional features of Art Stage 2017 are far from being a directed by the organizer of Art Stage; it all depended from a series of circumstances that modified the Asian art ecosystem.

I spoke with the present and absent galleries to explain what happened.

Here’s the link to the article

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JeremySharma

Cobo has just published my interview with Singaporean artist Jeremy Sharma, titled: “Artists As The Arbiter of Knowledge in The Information Era”.

We did the interview in Rome, in a cafè near Via di Ripetta, after a bit of walking around that side of the Eternal City, and talked about his residency at the Stelva Foundation, in Desenzano del Garda, and his art practice in general.

Here is the link to the interview

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TimesMaltaElizabethPisani
As I’m running around Singapore collecting interviews, attending vernissages and getting lost in shopping malls, Escape – the Sunday magazine of the Times of Malta – has just published my interview with Elizabeth Pisani author of the travelogue “Indonesia etc.” (the Italian version was published here).

Here is the link for the interview

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ariabajuari

First published article for 2017 – and what better way to kick off the year than an interview with Montreal-based Indonesian artist Ari Bayuaji – for the webmagazine CoBo!

Here’s the link to the interview

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2
“Scholastic years” are perhaps more meaningful for many in framing seasons of life than actual “calendar years”. Summer is the great divider, and for me September has often corresponded in looking for a new house and resuming old and new plans. And yet, the end of the year is a great opportunity to stop and look back at the recent past, review one’s own narrative, look at mind-shifts, shift of priorities, meditate on lesson, remember the great moments and trying to get to know oneself better (hopefully).

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