This Saturday 10th February 2018 I’m going to have a talk at the art space in Kon Len Khnhom in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
For this art talk, I’ll be sharing about my own experience and methodology in researching the emerging art scenes. Meanwhile, I will also present my findings about the Cambodian art scene so far and ask feedback from the audience to analyse together these different aspect of the art scene.
Please drop by if you are in town!
Here is the link to the fb event
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On December 6 I took part in a panel discussion with artist Myriam Laplante and art critic Gabriele Perretta about the work “Il Cantico dei Cantici” (Ha Shir Ha Shirim Shelì) by artist Isabella Tirelli, which was screened at the MACRO, the Contemporary Art Museum of Rome.
Isabella Tirelli is a multimedia artist working with painting, sculpture, performance and video. Her art deals with spirituality and is rich in symbolism and references to alchemy. The work she screened at MACRO is a free adaptation of the Song of Songs from the Bible (a short trailer is available here). The video was realized in the span of four years and composed by more than 1200 digital paintings.
In the discussion I talked of Isabella Tirelli’s work in an international framework. I traced the artistic lineage of “Il Cantico dei Cantici”, and compared it to the oeuvre of artists such as Australian Bindi Cole and Marco Brambilla (the author of Kanye West’s “Power” video). Here are some pictures from the discussion.
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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.
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On Friday I had the honour to be invited by Professor Vito Di Bernardi to a conference on Indonesian art at Università di Roma La Sapienza entitled: “New research on Indonesian traditional and contemporary arts (music, dance, theatre, visual arts): an exchange between Indonesian and Italian perspectives”. It was the second time for me to speak about my research in an institutional setting (the first time was when I introduced the Melbournian art scene at an artists’ talk at Rome’s Art Academy) and I found out I really enjoy speaking!
In my paper entitled: “Indonesian Contemporary Visual Art: Origins and Recent Developments” I gave an overview of how contemporary art has developed in Indonesia, from Raden Saleh to Jompet Kuswidananto. Moving from painting in the colonial times I explored the role of art during the independence struggle (how could I have not shown the beautiful paintings of S. Sudjojono, Hendra Gunawan and Affandi?) I then focused on art under the Suharto regime and pointed out the importance of art movements like Gerakan Seni Rupa Baru and PIPA. I described the flourishing of independent art spaces at the beginning of the Reformasi period and evaluated the influence of the market on young artists.
The other speakers at the conference (here’s the complete program) looked at different aspects of the arts in Indonesia. While Prof. Vito di Bernardi analyzed the Javanese and Balinese theater of the twentieth century, Prof. Widyo Harsanto Prayanto explored the concept of Ethnophotography in West Timor. On the other hand, Davide Grosso, Lorenzo Chiarofonte and Ilaria Meloni concentrated on different aspects of music and traditions in Indonesia. I have found particularly interesting Prof. Francesca Gallo’s paper, who delved into the concept of Orientalism in Italian Contemporary Art. Through the work of artists like Matteo Basilè and Luigi Ontani, she showed how the concept of exoticism has to be reconsidered in the postmodern era.
I’ve to say that the audience was just amazing, being composed by people whose interest in Indonesian art was not merely academic. Aside from the professors from the Indonesian Institute of the Arts of Yogyakarta, there were many young people who had traveled to Indonesia many times, researching different cultural aspect and mingling with the local community. It was great to get to know them and exchange contacts and information! Below some images from my presentation and the conference:
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A quick update! On the 21st I will partecipate to a conference at Sapienza Università di Roma called: “New research on Indonesian traditional and contemporary arts (music, dance, theatre, visual arts): an exchange between Indonesian and Italian perspectives”. I will give an overview of the origins and developments of Indonesian contemporary visual art.
The conference will be in two different dates, the 20th e 21st of November at the Museo Nazionale d’Arte Orientale ‘Giuseppe Tucci’ and at the Facoltà di Lettere di Sapienza Università di Roma and has been organized by the Sapienza and the Isi – Institut Seni Indonesia di Yogyakarta. At the end of the conference there will be also a concert by “Gamelan Gong Wisnu Wara” at the Indonesian Embassy at the Holy See.
My talk will be on Friday 21 novembre 2014, 1pm – sala Odeion – edificio di Lettere piazzale Aldo Moro 5, Roma, see you there!
Here’s the link on the Sapienza website
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For the “Nothing happened since yesterday – Due Artisti da Melbourne” exhibition, I organized a talk at Accademia di Belle Arti Roma – aka Rome’s Art Academy – with the two exhibiting artists.
The talk was hosted by Prof. Isabella Tirelli and was meant to fuel a discussion with the students about the path of artists after art school. I thought that the experience of Kenny Pittock and Georgina Lee could have been interesting for the students. To start as emerging artist in Melbourne is certainly easier in Rome, thanks also to a very tight community and the presence of artist-run space. I hoped that by comparing the Australian art system to the Italian one, the students could have been inspired and come with new ideas for their own art environment.
I started the talk by introducing the Australian context and my research on the Melbourne art scene. Then Kenny and Georgina went on talking about their own work.
I’m happy about the outcome of the talk. Some students asked about the conceptual process of making work, some others inquired about how an Italian artist could start exhibiting in Australia. Georgina replied very clearly to all the questions and Kenny made even the more impassible students laugh. A student called Francesco even made a drawing of Georgina and Kenny and gave to them as a gift!
Giovedì 29 maggio ore 15
incontro pre-mostra con gli artisti Kenny Pittock e Georgina Lee
incontro moderato da Isabella Tirelli e Naima Morelli
Thursday May 29 , 3 pm
pre-exhibition talk with artists Kenny Pittock e Georgina Lee
talk moderated by Isabella Tirelli and Naima Morelli
Accademia di Belle Arti
Roma via ripetta 222 Aula 207
Giovedì pomeriggio all’Accademia di Belle Arti di Roma si terrà il talk degli artisti australiani Kenny Pittock e Georgina Lee. La discussione, che coinvolgerà anche gli studenti, verterà sulle peculiarità del sistema dell’arte australiano rispetto a quello italiano e sul percorso artistico degli artisti emergenti in entrambi i paesi.
Nel corso dell’incontro gli artisti discuteranno la propria pratica artistica in vista dell’imminente mostra alla Galleria 291est, curata da me nell’ambito della rassegna Common Place. Inoltre, codiuvata dalla Prof. Isabella Tirelli, fornirò una breve introduzione del contesto australiano basandomi sulla mia ricerca condotta a Melbourne nel corso del 2013.
A talk by artists Kenny Pittock and Georgina Lee will be held at Rome’s Art Academy on Thursday afternoon. The discussion with the students will focus on the peculiarities of the Australian art system compared to the Italian one and on the emerging artists’ path in both countries. The artists will also talk about their work for their upcoming exhibition at Galleria 291est, Rome, curated by me for the Common Place series. Together with lecturer Prof. Isabella Tirelli, I will also give an introduction to the Australian context based on my research on the Melbourne art scene.
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Il 31 maggio inagurerà alla Galleria 291 est a Roma la mostra dei due artisti australiani Kenny Pittock e Georgina Lee, con mia curatela. La mostra è parte della mia ricerca sugli artisti emergenti a Melbourne. Beccatevi il comunicato e una galleria di immagini:
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The inevitable destiny of every artists is to be know from the wide public just for a single artwork or an aspect of their more extensive production.
Duchamp is for everyone “the guy of the urinal”, Damien Hirst is the chap who did the shark, Eric Clapton is Layla’s ex boyfriend and so on..
If I say Haris Purnomo, what comes to your mind?
Babies with tattoos, of course.
Haris has painted babies with tattoos for almost 22 years – becoming one of the most popular Indonesian artists in the meantime.
The last solo show of Haris Purnomo “Beyond the Mirror Stage” at the Mifa gallery in Melbourne, Australia, has just finished.
The day of the finissage – you say “finissage” only in Italy and France, what a ridiculous name for “closing”! – the gallery Mifa decided to host a talk with the artist.
It was an interesting talk of 45 minutes with the SBS radio presenter Sri Dean and with frequent interventions from the public. The discussion was focused on the symbols used by the artist and his way of working.
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
