Naima Morelli

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montella

EN: Il Ramo D’Oro is a special place in Naples for artistic reflection which is truly grassroots, and for the gathering of an international art community. Upon request of Il Ramo D’Oro’s director, Vincenzo Montella, I have written an essay called “Flow and rigidity in challenging the borders” reflecting on the experience of the series of international shows Oltreconfine. This included Attualità Indonesiane which I co-curated.

The Oltreconfine book – where you can find my essay alongside the ones of authors such as Made Bayak e Judicael Ouango – is now available on Amazon.

Here the English version: Beyond-Borders: Art and Resilience in the Internet Era

ITA: Il Ramo D’Oro è un posto unico a Napoli dove sviluppare riflessioni artistiche genuine e dove coltivare una comunità artistica internazionale. Su richiesta del fondatore del Ramo D’Oro, Vincenzo Montella, ho scritto un breve saggio chiamato “Fludità e rigidità nel mettere in discussione i confini”, il quale riflette sull’esperienza della rassegna internazionale Oltreconfine. Questa ha incluso Attualità Indonesiane che ho co-curato.

Il libro di Oltreconfine, nel quale si trova il mio saggio insieme a quello di altri autori, tra cui Made Bayak e Judicael Ouango, è ora disponibile su Amazon.

Ecco la versione italiana: Oltreconfine: Arte e resilienza nell’era di internet

Qui sotto un estratto dal mio testo:

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indonesianaples
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.

Here is the link to the piece

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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.

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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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Naples in December is possibly even more stunning and lively than normal, and walking from the train station to the Università degli Studi di Napoli L’Orientale in the winter sun has been truly a gift. Likewise, it has been a gift to have the chance to introduce contemporary art in Indonesia to the students in a seminar organized by Prof. Antonia Soriente. Prof. Soriente is a wonderful and inspiring women who is having a fundamental role in introducing Indonesian literature and culture to Italy, both with her work in the university and projects like translation of books. I was really honoured to be invited to her course.

The audience was great and there have been a lot of interesting questions popping up at the end of the lecture. Students were asking about the relationship of Indonesia with western art and eastern art, landscape painting and Mooi Indie, what role Islam is having in the contemporary art scene and also inquiring about the best way to approach contemporary art in general – as many of them are new to it. I deeply enjoyed engaging with students, as for me it’s always a chance to share and reflect, and most importantly being part of someone’s experience. With every single thing you do, you’re able to have an impact, however small it is – and you can learn so much through discussion! And now a few pics from the presentation…

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LOCANDINAorientale

Great news! I have been invited by Prof. Antonia Soriente, professor of Indonesian language and literature at Università degli Studi di Napoli L’Orientale, to give a presentation on Indonesian Contemporary Art.

It’s a great honour for me – L’Orientale is the oldest school of Oriental Studies in Europe and the main university in Italy specialized in the study of non-European languages and cultures. It is still regarded today as one of the most prestigious universities regarding Asian cultures and languages.

Moreover, it’s going to be super interesting to chat with the students and find connections between Indonesian art and literature. It’s going to happen on December 15 at 2.30pm at Palazzo Mediterraneo, where l’Orientale is located. If you’re in Naples, don’t miss it!

Here is the Facebook event

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TimesMaltaGoliaGago
I generally don’t like snarky – you’d rather build something than destroy something, right? At the same time, when I’m in the snarky mood, I go full on. And of course, when that happen, I really enjoy the bravado. Otherwise how would I earn the title of contemporary art super-villain? Like in this piece for the Sunday Times of Malta, for which I love to put a desecrator of contemporary art attitude. You might say, making fun of contemporary art is way too easy, but I can’t help it; sometimes you just walk in an exhibition and you start rubbing your hands!

Here’s the link to the review

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Yesterday we presented my book “Arte Contemporanea in Indonesia, un’introduzione” in Naples at the PAN|Palazzo delle Arti Napoli. It has been great to hear how the curators and professors who partecipated analyzed my book from their own personal perspective and background. Their approaches made me reconsider my research from new angles. It was bit surreal too, I’ve to admit. Like, is it really the work of this Sorrentinean brat over here they are talking about?

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Tuesday, April 28 at 6pm PAN | Palazzo delle Arti Napoli will host the presentation of the book  “Arte Contemporanea in Indonesia, un’introduzione” by Naima Morelli. The presentation, supported of the Consulate General of Indonesia in Naples, will be introduced by curator Maria Savarese with the partecipation of Matteo Basilé, Antonia Soriente, Professor of Language ​​and Literature at the University of Indonesia L’Orientale of Naples, Valentina Levy, curator and Asian art historian and Vincenzo Montella, director of the center of art and culture Il Ramo d’Oro.

The book is an introduction to Indonesian contemporary art, which now occupies a prominent place in the international art scene, from both a market and cultural standpoint. Placing itself in the dialectic between the global and the local, the book analyzes how in Indonesia the cultural, artistic, political and social context have influenced four generations of artists. The author guides the reader in the contemporary art places in Yogyakarta, Jakarta, Bandung and Bali, looking for the answer to the question: is there really something called Indonesian contemporary art?

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artapartd'o

Here’s my first published piece of two thousand and fifteen! Is there a more wonderful way to kick off the new year than an interview with curator Roberto D’Onorio and his project at Rialto Sant’Ambrogio in Rome?

Roberto is not just one of the most articulated and sensitive curators I know, he’s also a dear friend. This interview is already known in the sketchiest Roman art circles as the “notorious Naples interview” and it has been a lot of fun to do. It has been published by the Italian web magazine Art a Part of Cult(ure) with the title “L’immaginazione per reinventare la felicità” namely “The imagination to reinvent happiness”.

If you haven’t been to the Rialto Sant’Ambrogio yet, you totally should. It’s straight-up amazing! And now for the article:

Here’s the link to the interview (in Italian)

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For years I’ve considered myself a massimalist.
I’m Italian, I’m Neapolitan. We are baroque people. We are about adding, getting into the abundance of love, life, colours, art, words, food, everything. We don’t throw away stuff. We are sentimental people and everything has a value to us. An old handkerchief can remind us of a particular day, a necklace of a particular person. Objects for us are about suggestions, evocations.

Also, we don’t throw away stuff because “It can always be useful”. We stuff our shops with exotic objects, our wallets with family photos, the windows of our car with praying cards, our bookshelves with books. We are curious people, we are open to change our mind even in the span of a short conversation – in fact more often than not we are also contradictory in our speaking and thinking. I’m guilty of that myself, never getting straight to the point but continuously overlapping levels and levels of thoughts. A common Neapolitan saying is: “A cap’ è na sfoglia ‘e cipolla”, meaning “The head is as layered as an onion”. We might have an opinion about everything, but deep down we question everything.

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Here’s the second part of my photostory from the research for my book about contemporary art in Indonesia. If you miss the first part you can find it here

Rome, Berlin, Sorrento, Melbourne, Naples, Venice. Since I came back from Indonesia I tried to look for Indonesian art, artists and exhibitions wherever I went – and I met wonderful people in the process. At the same time I faced the challenge to organize all the material from my research and integrate it with new information. For months the arts pages of the Jakarta Post, the Jakarta Globe and Asia Art Pacific became my morning reading. I didn’t know much about how to write a research-based book when I started and I learned so much in the process – in the photo above you can see me experimenting with post-its.
In a few weeks the book will finally be published (want to be updated? Drop a mail to contact[at]naimamorelli.com with the subject line Indonesia Book and I’ll keep you posted). In the meantime here are some pictures from the European and Australian part of my research:

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