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Twenty thousand leagues under the sea by Jules Verne (1825-1905). This book is the answer to my thoughts on travel. It certainly anticipated the saga...Read more
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It’s good to find someone who has such a clear idea of our vicious time, to add a new one to the traditional list of 7 Deadly Sins.
Luigi Ontani adds the eight of the 7 Capital Vices also known as Cardinal Sins, the boastfulness, considering it with irony and an open sympathy for sin in human life. Playing with the word ”capital”, in its architectural sense, Ontani creates a temple in the fabulous space of the Centro Arti Visive Pescheria in Pesaro, a dodecahedron that was once Chiesa del Suffragio, representing the eight sins as capitals of imagined columns.
It´s June but the temperatures here in Berlin remind to autumn. The weather changes hundreds times a day. Between pouring rain and a sunny spell I decided today to give a look at the new exhibition based in Berlin, of which I see posters scattered all over the city.
A focus on contemporary art in Russia: Dmitry Vilensky talks about his “Chto Delat?/What is to be done?”, a pioneeristic collective of artists, philosophers, writers focused on reporting and commenting the social, political and philosophical reality of the Russian country.
Inside Teatro Masini, Angela Vettese, President of the Fondazione Bevilacqua La Masa, moderated the debate on collecting in its current form, together with artists Alberto Garutti and Cesare Pietroiusti and Patrizia Brusarosco, president of Viafarini, Milan.
Having managed to catch hold of Jochen Gerz, a German artist whose public commissions retell historical moments and integrate the broader public, we asked him a bit about his motivations and what he sees as relevant to art today.
This morning – in the beautiful garden of the International Museum Of Ceramics in Faenza – we interviewed Cesare Pietroiusti, one of the most interesting and innovative artists of the Italian scene. We had a nice conversation about his ‘Museo in Esilio’ (Museum in Exile), focused on the collection of works, documents and testimonies on voluntarily marginal artistic experiences. A brillant provocation made by Italian artists and curators abroad.
As always the festival of contemporary art is focused on artists, who are called to speak about their particular relationships with patrons and collectors and to present works which resulted from specific patronage. During the first day of the festival, we met Goshka Macuga.
Cyou had the pleasure to interview today in the afternoon Ayaki Itoh, founder of Studio Hortz and curator of Japan Brand Italy, about the interrelations between art, fashion and design and the influence on his work of his dual nationality between Japan and Italy. Check it out!
It started this morning in Faenza (Italy) the fourth annual festival of Contemporary art focusing on the theme ‘Forms of collecting/Forme della committenza’ chosen by the scientific board: Angela Vettese, Carlos Basualdo and Pier Luigi Sacco. The intentional ambiguity of the title, with its double connotations in Italian, refers to a heterogeneous universe, the relationship between public and private, the role of institutions in the contemporary scene, but also of the intense “obsessive” dimension of collecting, and the relationship between patrons and artists.
Just a few more hours till official launch day of C festival arte Contemporanea in Faenza, inaugurating its fourth edition under the title “Forms of Collecting”. From 20th to 22nd May, Faenza will be overwhelmed by artists, collectors, museums, foundations, institutions, auction houses, firms or simply art lovers to speak about two main issues of contemporary art: collecting and patronage.
The programme is amazingly rich. Carlo Bach, Art Director illycaffé, will take part at the debate entitled “New patronage: art and business” chaired by Pier Luigi Sacco on Sunday 22nd May at 12.30, where he will discuss the theme – as he discloses in the following video - together with Marcello Smarelli, the artistic director of the Ermanno Casoli Foundation and the entrepreneur Giovanni Bonotto.
It would be great to be there! But for the many art lovers who cannot attend and want nevertheless to know what´s going on in Faenza, illywords will update you daily, thanks to the collaboration with “Cyou”.
Cyou is a community of 500 volunteers who follow step by step the calendar of events sharing facts, opinions and perspectives through Cyoublog. Together with Cyou, illywords will tell you about faces, ideas and words of the Festival through reports and interviews to the key figures of the contemporary art system.
Stay tuned!
Grand opening today for the seventh Gallery Weekend Berlin.
From April 29th to May 1st 44 galleries spread all over the city will highlight the artworks of their best artists. Overseen by a committee of Berlin dealers and under the direction of fair promoter Michael Neff, the Gallery Weekend has become over the years one of the most important art events on the spring art calendar in Europe, attracting collectors and art lovers from all over the world.
“So, what is time? If no one asks me I know what it is, but if I had to explain it to the one who is asking, then I don’t know it.” This ancient aphorism of Saint Agostino has been the starting point of a deep reflection about the concept of “time” by Carlo Bach, the Artistic Director of illy, who has been participating in these days to the group exhibition “Interlocutori dell´Imperfetto” (“Interlocutors of the Imperfect”) at SPAC – Spazi Pubblici Arte Contemporanea (Public Spaces for Contemporary Art) – in Buttrio, Italy.
On Tuesday I took part at the presentation of the 54th Biennale di Venezia at the Italian Embassy in Berlin. Many Italian and international journalists, artists and representatives of the art scene were there to listen from the very voice of the President Paolo Baratta and of the Curator Bice Curiger the newest revelations about the next event, opening on June 4th to November 27th 2011.
The Brasilian artist Andre Komatsu is the winner of the fourth edition of Premio illy for SustainArt. The prize was assigned today in the morning in the illy´s exhibition space, designed by the world famous artist Tobias Rehberger as integral part of ARCO Madrid 2011, the international Contemporary Art fair taking place from 16th to 20th February in the Spanish capital.
When she was a child she did not like herself. She had a huge nose, an ugly hair cut and wore orthopaedic shoes. And she was fascinated with Brigitte Bardot. Every time she asked her mother to get her nose operated, she got a slap in her face. So she made a plan: spinning around, very very fast, falling on the edge of the bed, that was sharp, break her nose, run to the hospital and show all the photos of BB collected in her pocket and get finally her nose operated. But her plan failed. Yes, she fell down, bumped her forehead and got one more slap on her face.
This was her first performance, the first of a long series, which made her into the indisputable queen of performing arts. It´s Marina Abramovic.
Always the big event of a fair is an appointment that for art experts can’t be missed. It is marked in good advance on their calendar like a celebration, usually characterised by the city where it takes place: Madrid, Basel, London, Turin, Miami.
But for the first VIP Art Fair’s edition you don’t need to book a ticket, an hotel or to move from home as for once the appointment is online.
The arte povera movement remains strong, propelled by its most representative artists whose manifesto is to use or reuse materials available to anyone. I’ve been thinking about the arte povera artists I’ve met over the years – Michelangelo Pistoletto, Jannis Kounellis, Mario Merz who passed away in 2003 – and how I have personally experienced their message. From Greek-born Jannis Kounellis (1936) perhaps I best understood how the arte povera movement made its mark… For me, he embodies the contradictions of a consumer society that has to think about reuse if it wants to survive.
Sam Taylor-Wood’s Ghosts, a 2008 photographic exploration of the Yorkshire moors, will be on display this Fall at the Herstory Gallery of the Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art at the Brooklyn Museum of Art. The series was inspired by Emily Brontë’s classic Victorian novel, Wuthering Heights, with its legendary atmospheric descriptions of the bleak, wild landscape.
In a rural hospital in Angal, in the northern reaches of Uganda, administrators are using computers to track patient and pharmacy data thanks to an Italian no-profit, “Informatici senza Frontiere”. Their project is communicated with beauty and sensibility by Matteo de Mayda, whose photographs tell the stories of the “Alur” people of Angal.
Yesterday Ariella was in Berlin. Soccer set aside, there is a lot more going on in Berlin these days. I didn’t make it to the Berlin Biennale for Contemporary Art, but I can show you some great photos from one of the events at Berlin Fashion Week which just opened.
Alla Fondazione Vedova di Venezia, una mostra dedicata a Louise Bourgeois solleva Silvia dalla pioggia.
Silvia escapes from wet London to wet Venice, and into an exhibit dedicated to Louise Bourgeois…
At the Casa d’Arte Futurista Fortunato Depero (Via Portici, 38 Rovereto (TN)), the exhibit Mendini > Depero presents furniture and tapestries designed by the Milanese architect and designer Alessandro Mendini that are inspired by the creativity of the Rovereto-born Fortunato Depero
Silvia in London attends a contemporary dance show with loud music by David Bowie and finds that she’s looking at superhuman dancers with the pleasure that one has when one isn’t a dance critic. This report in English and Italian.
Cosa significa essere donna oggi nel mondo dell’arte. Non è facile di sicuro. Angela Vettese, critica d’arte, è appena stata premiata come figura di spicco al femminile nel mondo artistico; e le altre?
Fabrice Samyn, a young Belgian artist, has won the illy prize at Art Brussels. In this article I briefly summarize his solo exhibition at Brussels and explore the relevance of his work to a contemporary and informed public.
Alexandra went to the MAXXI in Rome the week the new museum opened. She was struck by the way that space is constructed in order to make the viewer lose her way and experience the museum in a physical way.
E’ bello girare per Francoforte… Strada dopo strada sono arrivata a piedi nella zona dei musei sino al MMK Museum fur Moderne Kunst…
Frankfurt is a pleasant city for a long walk and a visit to the MMK Museum fur Moderne Kunst…
Silvia from London recounts the experience of viewing an exhibit at the Barbican not one, not two, but three times. And who could NOT resist cute birds playing the electric guitar? Curious? Read on… in English and Italian.
Anna Adriani é stata a New York ieri alla chiusura della performance di Marina Abramovic e ci manda questi impressioni. // These are the impressions of Anna Adriani, who was at yesterday’s closing ceremony of Marina Abramovic’s much discussed performance at the Moma.
The much-awaited new wing of the MACRO museum in Rome can be previewed upon appointment this weekend, while June 1 sees the opening of nine new exhibits. Our correspondent Marco Minuz expresses his opnion of the new space (in English and Italian).
Marco Minuz ci racconta la sua impressione del MACRO a Roma, che apre lo spazio nuovo per una preview questo weekend, e nove mostre dal primo Giugno.
Sabato 15 maggio si é aperta a Milano la nuova Galleria di Lia Rumma in via Stilicone. Abbiamo chiesto ad Anna Adriani la sua impressione, dato che era ospite all’inaugurazione.
Saturday May 15th 2010 was the exciting opening night of the Galleria Lia Rumma in Milan. We asked Anna Adriani, guest at opening night, for her impressions (and photos!).
Our London correspondent Silvia Vatta attended the celebrations this weekend for the 10th birthday of Tate Modern and sends us this report (in both English and Italian!).
freeDimensional (fD) is an international network that advances social justice by hosting activists in art spaces and using cultural resources to strengthen their work.
illywords shares their global support of young artists.
Here is a video that introduces fD… (more…)
I am right now entering in Arco Art Fair, Madrid.
Have you ever visited an art fair? If the answer is no, then DO IT! You will enter in a never-seen-before world.
An art fair is more than a solo exposition or a one artist’s performance. It is a “cosmo” around which several artists, galleries, interests, hopes and emotions turn frantically…
Issue #14’s theme was “refresh”. As in, the green button with two arrows at the top of Internet Explorer that is going extinct thanks to auto-updating streams. In 2005, to discuss the question of being “always on” was highly perceptive; it was pre iphone and before we could truly speak of being “always connected”. How current is this theme now, and how “right” were the observations made in Illywords back in 2005? Read on to find out…
We suggest this exhibition:
ILYA & EMILIA KABAKOV | The Blue Carpet
MACRO | Museo d’arte contemporanea Roma
Via Reggio Emilia 54 | Roma | Italy
preview: Friday, January 22, 2010 – h. 7 pm
Open from January 23 – April 5, 2010
www.macro.roma.museum
Illywords and Galleria Continua worked together in the past — I met up with Daniel Buren for a conversation in 2004. This interview is in illywords #8 Place-Not Place
How art can help the future?
Olafur Eliasson is to know that if you paint a river of green perhaps it hurts
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