Memory and Memories

I was so incredibly impressed by the site specific installation by Anish Kapoor in Deutsche Guggenheim in Berlin called Memory. It took me a while to think about it and this again and again and this is usually a clear signal to me that an artwork somehow works for me.

First I loved tha way the title tells everything about the work: you will never get to see the entire piece, you only can use your memory to somehow put it back all together.

Second, I loved that for once I payed the ticked NOT to enter the museum. I loved to look at the texture of the surface of the piece, I love the total black in it and the silence you could hear standing in front of it (it's such a pity they decided to place the window to look in it right beside the bar but anyway...)

I loved it so much that when I heard people (yes, they were italian) complaining because they payed 3€ to see it I was almost going to shout at them. :)

I know - it's only rock and roll but I like it

I know I was supposed to use this space for visual art experiences. But what if something impresses me visually even though it's not visual arts? well, I suppose I should write about it anyway.

So, this is what happened to me yesterday night with the show "Underwork" from a young-brilliant-talented company from italy (verona): Babilonia Teatri (you'll find the link below as usual)

First of all I LOVED their physical presence. retro clothes in the same colors of italian flags and three clever faces.

They have a bitter bitter sense of humor, something you would usually describe with "I do not know if I should cry or laugh"

Both of them, I suppose. The reason why I laughed is because of their funny and clever jokes in the use of italian language. The reason why I should probably cry it's because they touched something in my inner deep pride. I just moved from italy because of my job and I still feel really strange about it.

So, what to say, I guess they deserve every single success on their way and wish them more and more.

At least because of them (well, with a few other reasons) i would say I AM HAPPY TO BE BACK TO ITALY this week :)

http://www.babiloniateatri.it/

I'm back - and Santa is free!!!

I was not the only one being relocated in Rotterdam this month :) Paul McCarthy's Santa Claus found a new home as well.

The sculpture was at the center of a debate from a few years and appearently could not find its own proper position in the city. Until one day a group of shop owners, the Binnenweg Association, asked to adopt him and gave him a new place to stay in Eendrachtsplein, right in center of the city.

The statue, a six-meters-tall hybrid between Santa Claus and a garden gnome, who holds in his hands a bell and a giant buttplug/christmas tree, is meant to represent american's consumerism and commercial success. This huge kind of "devotional image" had its celebration day on November 28th, with a whole afternoon of events dedicated to "him".

The program included a more "formal" part: the screening of Paul McCarthy's "Painter" in the early afternoon and a lecture by Ton Bevers (Professor in Cultural Sociology at Rotterdam’s Erasmus University) on the history of the sculpture.

Then, the celebration became some kind of folk event: a parade with children and music followed the sculpture on its way to Eendrachtsplein. Of course SinterKlaas and Father Christmas were attending the event as well.

It was incredible to see how a controversial based on a contemporary art piece could become a social event bringing together many different kinds of people, mostly not connected to the artworld at all. The celebration went on and on with music, free food and champagne and some screenings of Paul McCarthy's videos much longer after the final installation of Santa Claus in the square.

Will we ever see something similar in Italy?

playlist list :)

so, I LOVED the playlist event on thursday night and really had a lot of fun.
the title for my playlist was "homage to" and I chose a series of videoclips, videoart, movies and cartoons that represented any kind of homage to our visual heritage.

this is the list (soon it will available and clickable on Neoncampobase.blogspot.com)


Douglas Gordon 24hours Psycho
Be Kind Rewind
Beastie Boys – Sabotage
Red Hot Chili Peppers – Can't Stop
The Smashing Pumpkins – Tonight Tonight
Luca Lumaca – Set the world on fire
Vanessa Beecroft – VB61 in Venice
Gus Van Sant's vs Hitchcock Psycho
The Simpsons + The White Stripes
Weezer – Buddy Holly
Baustelle – Charlie Fa Surf
Matthew Barney Cremaster 3
Johnny Depp vs Charlie Chaplin
Tim Burton – Ed Wood
Quentin Tarantino – Death Proof
Frida Kahlo Movie
Foo Fighters – Big Me
Across the Universe – Hey Jude
Sofia Coppola – Marie Antoinette
Pop goes my heart!
Blur – The Universal

I hope everyone in the gallery enjoyed it and had fun :)

PLAYLIST @neon>campobase - thursday, october 23 from 7.30 p.m.

I was invited to take part to an super interesting project called PLAYLIST which will take place on thursday night @neon>campobase in Bologna. I have the possibility to choose my own visual playlist and I have to tell it's a really chalenging and funny project (at least for me). I decided not to choose videoart only, but instead to mix popular culture and high culture...so for those of you who might come I hope will be a nice surprise...and for those of you who are too far to come, stay tuned and I'll post my playlist on friday!!!!!!

wishlist

I wish the young curator was a REAL JOB in italy

one more work I love

I saw this work last winter and I LOVED it. it's the kind of picture that tells everything without need of explanation. and so, I won't tell anything more about it. I like it when a work speaks for itself and I had the feeling that these pics know very well how to speak.
Suzanne Opton, Soldier portraits.