Headline & Editorial
Last Issue: #31 The Journey
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 may seem a truism to say that every industrialized society lives in a state of torment, great changes and deep contradictions. Every day an enormous amount of information, data and streams of numbers pass through cables or over our heads in imprecise regions between earth and sky. … In my opinion the best contemporary definition of “Nomadic knowledge” is the way we dress.
Are you a visual artist?
Or you are a music composer that would like to innovate the conventional character of Berlin´s musical life?
Or you are rather a writer and you want to engage a dialogue between cultures through the verbal mode of communication that you so well know is able to supercede all cultural limitations? … Well, then you should apply for the Berliner Künstlerprogramm to get a scholarship and come to Berlin for one year.
In London partying is something that can not be avoided.
In London doing strange things is something that seems more than normal.
In London during the weekend everything can happen, more than anywhere else.
I think that London still embodies the destination par excellence for new nomads, like in the ´80s. It still attracts young people looking for ideas but also professionals in search of new opportunities. It looks like the city itself is nourished and built on these people that come and go, take and give experiences, designing the identity of this city upon the contamination of multiple cultures.
Big part of this ‘nomadic life’ is meeting new people and possibly spending good time together. Giving parties is a practice that needs as much skills and experience as any other else, especially here if you do that seriously, it might become your proper job!
A few months ago a dear friend of mine said to me: “I’ll take you to an extraordinary party tonight! It’s organised by an Italian guy. I don’t know him and I’ve heard it through the word of mouth, but should be really cool.”
Since then every time that the Italian guy organises something, I always try to be there.
The last time was the seventh edition of the Rumpus party, which is held almost every two months in a different venue in central London. I have to admit that if I think how a party should look like, this is exactly what I want.
This time the theme was Pirates vs. Ninjas. You feel ashamed if you are not dressed up at least a little bit!
Juggles and acrobats, musicians and costumed dancers performing in every corner, sax players hanging over the crowd wearing a fake tail that you can buy for a few pounds to be part of the circus, hairdressers styling hair of girls making eccentric hairdos. Then there were even five different dance halls and a cinema, all concentrated in an old iron factory in a hidden street near Angel station.
Amid all this it can happen to discover new things like the exciting balkan jazz of Gorgeous George, a young band that makes you dance all night.
If you pop by in London this weekend, go to the next event organised by the same guys on December the 17th. It will take place at The New Empowering Church, another truly nice place in East London to have a great night out, with the Balkan Beats. Don´t miss it!
Roberto Ceresia is a young Italian man with a passion for art inherited by his family running for years an antique art shop in Palermo. In 2005 he started a contemporary art gallery in his hometown, began focusing on new artistic waves from China and introduced young talented Chinese artists on the Italian scene. Next, in 2008, Roberto felt it was time to be on the move and to settle down in China to pursue his vision.
Remember Studio 54, the legendary New York nightclub where Andy Warhol and Grace Jones partied away the last days of disco until the Aids epidemic brought everything to a screeching halt?
Unthinkable today! There are no legendary night clubs in New York anymore. … That doesn’t mean, of course, that there is no nightlife. It just took on a different shape…
Watch this video message by Jimmy Wales, co-founder of Wikipedia and be part of the petition “Wikipedia for world heritage” in order to get the chartiy institution recognized as one of UNESCO’s World Cultural Heritage Sites.
It seems at the first glance a quite weird idea, but Wikipedia can be considered as a real place even though on the world wide web, it is a platform of free knowledge. Defined moreover by its founder the ”Temple of the mind” it has become in the last 10 years a vital part of our daily searches for information on the net.
Would you like to be part of the movement?
Message from Jimmy Wales from Wikipedia for World Heritage on Vimeo.
When friends come and visit in Berlin, from Italy for instance, they always get surprised because of the multitude of young and not-so-young people comfortably sitting in the cafés of Mitte with a tall cappuccino and a computer in front of them. And they ask me intrigued: “What are these people doing? And by the way, why are they so relaxed?”
Pixar celebrates over 2 decades of success with an exhibition that opened at MoMa in New York (2005-2006) and it is now travelling Europe, starting from the Milan venue at PAC (until February the 12th).
What is amazing of Pixar production is that there is no country in the world where an animation can’t be fully appreciated in every possible reference and detail. How does Pixar communicate with every type of viewers no matter what his/her culture, language or age is?
A very controversial issue that makes me anxious. In 2004 when we launched the theme “Nomadic Knowledge”, WikyLeaks was still very far to come. At that time we did not know this international organization based on the transfer via web of encrypted information, which got so powerful to get his key man Julian Assange into trouble.
At that time, my “romantic” idea was to support a civilization based on knowledge value which could become even economic profit for Nations, companies and people.
For sure romantic, but still and firmly convinced that there isn´t any progress without any knowledge. Furthermore I am more than convinced that knowledge has to be equally spread among everybody in an ethical, democratic and healthy way.
Unfortunately knowledge is actually in the hands of few and most of the time it does not correspond to a real economic recognition for the one that owns it. In fact, how often do we speak here in Italy about brain drain?
Anyway we are at the end of the year and for this occasion I would like to propose you all the last activity for this 2011 of illywords. Let’s give an idea, a concept or a text as a gift to the readers, it may be simple or complex provided that it is a gift of knowledge.
Mine follows straight away: if you add some grappa to the potato gnocchi, they become much more digestible. At a first glance it could seem a very modest gift but you’ll understand the value of my suggestion when you eat a bunch of them.
How do you return my idea?
andrea illy angela vettese architecture Art artist berlin Biennale business coffee Colour communication community company creativity culture Design europe experience food future history idea ideas innovation internet Italy knowledge life london michelangelo pistoletto milan mind new york Passion past people school social Society Students time tradition university venice world
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The premiere of "Italy, love it or leave it" in BerlinWith the victory of Fratelli Taviani´s movie the 62nd Berlinale film festival closes under the sign... More in Photo | Latest suggestion
The premiere of “Italy, love it or leave it” in BerlinWith the victory of Fratelli Taviani´s movie the 62nd Berlinale film festival closes under the sign... More in Suggestion | Latest link
The new trend in NY: global nomads meeting in hotels. A new shape for your nightlife in the Big Apple.Remember Studio 54, the legendary New York nightclub where Andy Warhol and Grace Jones partied away ... More in Last link |