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ITALIANO | 17 06 2010 Saturday, June 5: The Beggar Robot at Isola Public School |
18 05 2010 May25th - June 29th 2010: ODDS AND ENDS, opening May25th |
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17 06 2010 Saturday, June 5: The Beggar Robot at Isola Public School The Beggar Robot at Isola public school Isola Art Center and the Art Laboratory of the Isola Comprehensive school "Rosa Govone" presents THE BEGGAR ROBOT | a project by Saso Sedlacek Saturday, June 5 from 9.30 to 12.30 at the Rosa Govone School party, Via Pepe, Milan The school, recently renovated, now has several laboratories to be equipped but the school coffers are empty, therefore the kids of the 'afternoon school' at Rosa Govone together with Isola Art Center has built a " beggar robot"to raise funds for equipment of the laboratories. The little robot was built with computer scraps, electronic junk and cheap pieces. The idea came in 2009 when Isola Art Center has presented the "Beggar Robot 1.0, created by Slovenian artist Saso Sedlacek, to the pupils and teachers of the secondary school. They liked the robot so much that they decided, with the collaboration of the teachers, to build one with the help of Isola Art Center. The project was realized with the help of the Rosa Govone’s parents Association, Sottobosco and Soundmetak. Special Projects/The Beggar Robot/
18 05 2010 May25th - June 29th 2010: ODDS AND ENDS, opening May25th Isola Art Center and NABA in collaboration with Millepiani and Punto Rosso present ODDS AND ENDS May25th - June 29th 2010 Puerto de Libros bookshop, via Pollaiuolo 5 / Punto Rosso, via Pepe 14, Milano Opening: Tuesday, May25th, 18h:00 Odds and Ends, hosted by Puerto de Libros bookshop is a special project by artists and curators of the Master’s Degree in Visual Arts and Curatorial Studies at NABA Milan: it brings together sixteen prototypes of publications by: Anna Caterina Bleuler | Enrica Casalicchio | Massimiliano M. Cucciniello | Bercin Damgaci | Sara Errico | Rosie Eisor | Dario Leone | Serena Marconi | Giorgio Massoni | Daniella Andrea | Isamit Morales | Alessandro Pezzati | Sara Porcari | Linda Turri | Claudia Ventola | Gianmaria Zanda supervised by Andrea Sala and Bert Theis. During the evening will be presented the second issue of Millepiani Urban, the magazine made by the cultural association Millepiani, with essays by Leonie Sandercock, Mike Davis, Tiziana Villani, Ubaldo Fadini and others. Introduction by Tiziana Villani, Sabine Reiff, Nomeda and Gedeminas Urbonas from Pro-testLab in Vilnius. On that occasion, Punto Rosso, Via Pepe 14, will show Isola Rosta Project 4: three projects on shutters made by Pasquale Campanella, Francesco Cerini and Rosetta White, professors of Caravaggio Art School in Milan together with the students Alice Boffa, Valentina Santinoli (2A); Margherita Canevari (2B); Niccolò Polimeno, Anita Rossi, Lucia Rho, Giulio Ferraro, Gaia Ciarla, Chiara Di Gennaro (3C); Susanna Castelli, Riccardo Sossella (5B), Daniele Rossi (1E). Take part also the Laboratorio Artistico with the students Giammarco Coato, Denise Mitidieri, Leo Valentini, Amanda Maffei, Alessandro Turchet, coordinated by Filippo Ballarin, Adele Bressa and Stefania Catanoso. The unrealized projects will also be shown. At 20:30 Punto Rosso will host the screening of the film “From no man's land” about the transformation of the Bovisa district by director Elvio Annese (2009, 53 '). Since 1976, for more than thirty years, the filmmaker has documented the transition from industrial district to the University area, always working alone, and narrating the lives of people who have undergone the radical changes of the urban transformation. Finally remind that at Puerto de Libros bookshop (via Pollaiuolo 5) and Tantrika Shop (via Pollaiuolo 2) continues until June 29 (Tuesday to Saturday 16.30 - 19.30) Horror Vacui - Occupying the Present, curated by Aria Spinelli and Valerio Del Baglivo. Artists Fabrizio Bellomo, Valentina Maggi, Maria Pecchioli and Mirko Smerdel confront themselves with the void offering new imaginaries for the Isola district. Isola Art Center 339 6057 111 info@isolartcenter.org www.isolartcenter.org
13 05 2010 From May 8 - June 26 2010 out&Theis: Galleria Contemporaneo Mestre out&Theis office for urban transformation&Bert Theis 8 May - 26 June 2010 Opening Saturday, May 8th - h 18.00 In collaboration with Federico Bianchi Contemporary Art – Milano, Lecco Bert Theis is perhaps one of the most consistent supporters of the art as a moment of relationship, never giving up the quality of the artworks he creates. He focuses on a sort of reinterpretation of the topical moments of modernism: one only needs to think about the “Suprematist platform”, shown in Tirana in 2008, or about the recent structures shown at Museo Pecci in Prato and obtained from Walter Gropius’ projects for a philosophy institute (“Building Philosophy”). These projects grow out of the modernist language, but they are always careful to encourage a free use by the people. They are structures designed to receive, making possible to have a break, to seat down, to lie down, to look at, etc. Bert Theis’ proposals (only utopian?) about bringing back the urban space to a state of nature are well known: his projects let a few buildings, which identify cities, emerge from thick greenery. During the last few years, his artistic research and production have been more and more interlaced with his activity as a curator and a promoter of public projects able to involve people in protecting and qualifying the urban environment in a grassroots way, and also in supporting a new idea of community and conviviality. In 2002 Theis and few friends of him created an open platform a sort of operating at the Isola District, near Garibaldi railway station in Milan, which is supporting situations, events, conferences, exhibitions, meetings and is working with the neighborhood associations. Its name is out, an English acronym that indicates a self-organized office dedicated to urban transformations, and is one of the groups of Isola Art Center. Considering the transformations currently related to Venetian terra firma, Galleria Contemporaneo hosts a new exhibition project personally curated by the artist, who, besides showing his work, has included works of other members of out (office for urban transformation) in the exhibition: Marco Vaglieri, Alice Pintus, Mariette Schiltz, Alberto Pesavento, Mara Ferreri and Kings. Bert Theis (born in 1952, in Luxembourg, he lives and works in Milan and Luxembourg) In 2002 he created the office out (office for urban transformation), located in Milan and Mexico DF. He has participated in several international artistic events, such as the Venice Biennial in 1995, Sculpture. Projects in Münster in 1997, Arte all’Arte in 1998, Manifesta 2 in 1998, Gwangju Biennial 2002, Tirana Biennial 2003, Busan Biennial 2006, Taipei Biennial 2008. GALLERIA CONTEMPORANEO Tue-Sat 15.30-19.30 closed on Sunday and Mondays P.tta Olivotti 2 – 30171 Mestre-Venezia, Italy http://www.galleriacontemporaneo.it/
16 04 2010 Tuesday, 27 April to 29 June 2010: Horror Vacui - Occupying the Present Horror Vacui Occupying the Present April 27th to June 29th , 2010 A project by Isola Art Center curated by Valerio Del Baglivo and Aria Spinelli Opening Tuesday, April 27th , 19:00 Fabrizio Bellomo | Valentina Maggi | Maria Pecchioli | Mirko Smerdel Bookshop Puerto de Libros, via Pollaiuolo 5 and Tantrika Shop, via Pollaiuolo 2 Tuesday – Saturday, 4.30 – 7.30 pm and by appointment ______________________________________________________________________ meetings and events, April 28th to May 4th 2010, 19:00 Köken Ergun | Granaio | Gerald Raunig | Oliver Ressler and Dario Azzellini | Sottobosco | Total Recall Soundmetak, P.le Segrino 1 and Punto Rosso Via Pepe 14 ______________________________________________________________________ Horror Vacui - Occupying the Present is a project that involves artists, curators and inhabitants in the implementation of various events with the intent to meet the aggressive speculation involving the Isola neighborhood. The massive construction projects by desiring to fill each piece of free urban space seem to fail to coincide with the need to preserve neighborhood’s identity and to ensure effective livability of the concerned urban area. On a closer look, these physical modeling processes intervene radically and thoroughly on the area, and seem to be organized around an impulsive feeling of horror vacui (abhors a vacuum), rather than governed by a sensible urban planning. If the action of constant construction on one part is directed to fill the urban area, on the other produces a process of gentrification consequently creating fractures that in time become more difficult to assess. There is another kind of emptiness that can be found between Isola neighborhood’s residents that has to do with the difficulty to relate with an ever-changing territory and hence the impossibility of recognizing the place where one lives. To address this absence Horror Vacui – Occupying the present proposes a two-way gaze on the one hand that traces a historical line, on the other that activates a temporary platform for creation, discussion and confrontation between different realities. Artists Fabrizio Bellomo, Valentina Maggi, Maria Pecchioli, Mirko Smerdel, in order to confront the empty spaces, insinuate themselves in the interstices proposing a new imaginary. The philosopher and theorist Gerald Raunig will present Art and Revolution, Transversal Activism in the Long Twentieth Century and his new book A Concise Philosophy of the Machine as Social Movement, both published by MIT Press. The new video by Oliver Ressler and Dario Azzellini entitled Comuna en construccion will be projected. The Venetian art platform Sottobosco presents Showdesk, a two-day event that gives young emerging artists the chance to present their work in public. The collective from Milan Bouganville promotes their well-known project Granaio, a brunch during which artists’ projects are voted by the participants and awarded with the meals’ profits. The young Turkish artist Köken Ergun presents a video archive project in collaboration with B'Tselem - The Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories. On the final day a neighborhood walk entitled Total Recall will take place, inviting all the artists who collaborated with the Isola Art Center over the years, to participate in a public ceremony with the inhabitants of the Isola district in order to rename the places most affected by processes of gentrification. Horror Vacui – Occupying the Present has the ambition to invade the void and temporarily revitalize a neighborhood characterized by strong social dispersion and subdued to the evident signs of a crisis of identity, in order to contrast the aggressive building construction speculation. The project involves artists and curators in the implementation of various events for a week to trace the recent history and to critically rethink a future. The show will open until the 29th of June. Info Isola Art Center 339 6057 111 info@isolartcenter.org www.isolartcenter.org Valerio Del Baglivo valeriodelbaglivo@gmail.com Aria Spinelli aria.spinelli@gmail.com PROGRAM .Tuesday 27 April,pm Exhibition Opening: Maria Pecchioli and Mirko Smerdel - Bookshop Puerto de Libros on via Pollaiuolo 5 Fabrizio Bellomo and Valentina Maggi - Tantrika Shop on via Pollaiuolo 2 . Wednesday 28 April, 3-6 pm Punto Rosso on via Pepe 14 The Art Platform Sottobosco was born in 2009 to promote young artists and develop artistic projects. Since March 2010 their Archive has been permanently located at the Galleria Contemporaneo in Mestre. For their event entitled Showdesk, Sottobosco installs a desk, a projector and a PC in a room where artists have the opportunity to present their work, to meet diverse audiences and to leave their portfolios for the archive. During Horror Vacui, Sottobosco promotes Showdesk at Punto Rosso on two different occasions. Artists invited: gruppo di ricerca artistica Trama21 | Andrea Kunkl and Giuseppe Fanizza | Katia Meneghini | Alessandro Nassiri | Thanos Zakopoulos .Thursday 29 April, 7 pm Bookshop Puerto de Libros on via Pollaiuolo 5 The philosopher and theorist Gerald Raunig will present his book entitled «Art and Revolution, Art and Transversal Activism long the Twentieth Century», which examines the links between art and activism. He will also introduce his new publication «A Thousand Machines. A Concise Philosophy of the Machine as Social Movement». Introduction by Marco Scotini and Bert Theis. .Friday 30 April, 3-5 pm Punto Rosso on via Pepe 14. Showdesk by Sottobosco. .Saturday 1 May, 7 pm Punto Rosso on via Pepe 14 After the May Day parade, the new video work by Oliver Ressler and Dario Azzellini will be projected. Called Comuna en construccion, the video is on self-organizations at one of the most problematic districts of Caracas. For the first time in Italy, the video will be shown in the original audio with Italian translation - courtesy Artra Gallery, Milan. Introduction by Nadia Riolo. .Sunday 2 May, 12-5 pm Punto Rosso on via Pepe14. Since this past winter, the collective Bouganville organizes a very special Sunday bruncho once a month. During the meal the total from the profits of revenue minus the cost of expenditure is used to finance artist’s projects, voted democratically by a majority of diners. The cost of each brunch is 10 euros per person and the project is called the Granaio. For Horror Vacui, Bouganville organize a Granaio at Punto Rosso. .Monday 3 May, 7.30 pm SoundMetak on P.le Segrino 1. The Turkish artist Köken Ergun is invited to present his video archive project in collaboration with B’Tselem - The Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories followed by a discussion with Alterazioni Video, Aria Spinelli and other guests. .Tuesday 4 May, 7.30 pm Total Recall starting point at Punto Rosso (red wine will be distributed) At the end of the week, Total Recall invites artists and inhabitants for a walk to those places most affected by the gentrification, and asks them to rename these sites through small public ceremonies. Many artists, who in recent years, have collaborated with Isola Art Center, will attend the event. more about the event: dettagli dell'evento: Horror Vacui >> and undo.net/enventinvideo
21 03 2010 1 May, 2010, 7 pm: Film-screening: Comuna Under Construction Comuna Under Construction | Comuna en construcción A Film by | Una película de Dario Azzellini & Oliver Ressler 94 min., 2010 Original Spanish version with German and English subtitles. (for Spanish please scroll down) Current screenings: - “Activist Club”, Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven (NL), 18 March, 2010, 6 pm (http://www.vanabbemuseum.nl) (O. Ressler in conversation with Galit Eilat) - Lichtblick-Kino, Berlin (D), 20.03., 21.03., 29.03., 30.03., 31.03.2010 (www.lichtblick-kino.org) - Brooklyn College Graduate Center For Worker Education & Working USA: Journal of Labor & Society, 25 Broadway, 7th Fl., New York (USA), 22 March, 2010 (with D. Azzellini) - Skydive Office of Cultural Affairs @ Domy Books, Houston (USA), 15 April, 2010 at 7:30 pm (http://www.theskydive.org) - Isola Art Center / Associazione Punto Rosso, Milan (I), 1 May, 2010, 7 pm (http://www.isolartcenter.org) - “Uneven Geographies: Art and Globalization”, Nottingham Contemporary, Nottingham (GB) 8 May – 4 July, 2010 (http://www.nottinghamcontemporary.org) COMUNA UNDER CONSTRUCTION A film by Dario Azzellini & Oliver Ressler 94 min., 2010 “We have to decide for ourselves what we want. We are the ones who know about our needs and what is happening in our community”, Omayra Peréz explains confidently. She wants to convince her community, located on the hillside of the poor districts of Caracas, to found a Consejo Comunal (community council). In more than 30.000 Consejos Comunales the Venezuelan inhabitants decide on their concerns collectively via assemblies. Omayra is supported by the activists of the nearby shantytown “Emiliano Hernández”, which has had a Consejo Comunal for three years already. The inhabitants there managed to get a doctor from the governmental program “Barrio Adentro”, who treats everyone free of charge. They also got money to renovate their houses and replaced over a dozen of sheet iron huts by new houses. All of these activities and a lot more have been organized via the Consejo Comunal. By local self-organization from below several working groups have been established on self-decided topics and decisions are made in assemblies. Several Consejos Comunales can form a Comuna and finally a communal town. The film “Comuna Under Construction” follows these developments throughout the hillside of the shantytowns of Caracas and the vast and wet plains of Barinas in the countryside. The councils are built from below and alongside the existing institutions and are supposed to overcome the existing state through self-government. In an assembly for the construction of the communal town “Antonio José de Sucre” Ramon Virigay from the independent peasant’s organization Frente Nacional Campesino Ezequiel Zamora (FNCEZ) reminds the delegates of the participating Consejos Comunales: “Even if we definitely need the government agencies at the moment, we have to be independent tomorrow due to our development. We cannot depend solely on the state forever.” For this reason the councils are to establish own structures of production and distribution in order to achieve autonomy. The assemblies are a central element of the film “Comuna Under Construction”. The film starts off in the well organized Consejo Comunal Emiliano Hernández located in one of the shantytowns of Caracas. It then shows the intentions of forming Comunas and a communal town in rural Barinas and ends in Petare, a gigantic shantytown of the agglomeration of Caracas where there are 29 Consejos Comunales intending to build the Comuna of Maca. Is it even possible to bring together state and autonomy? Every one of the Consejos Comunales spokes-persons has positive as well as negative experiences with the institutions in store to talk about. In an assembly in Petare the grass-roots activist Yusmeli Patiño blames a high government representative: “We are losing our credibility because of the incompetence of the state institutions”. But there are also members of the institutions who make a big effort to accompany the basis in making its own decisions. The relation between the basis and the institutions is marked by cooperation as well as conflict. But the Consejos Comunales also have internal difficulties; participation has to be learned. Progresses as well as setbacks mark the difficult process of people actually taking the power of deciding on their own lives and environment by themselves. Concept, film editing, production: Dario Azzellini & Oliver Ressler Camera: Volkmar Geiblinger, Oliver Ressler Sound, sound editing, supervisory editor: Rudi Gottsberger Production assistant: Adriana Rivas Image editing: Markus Koessl, David Grohe Grants: Bundesministerium für Unterricht, Kunst und Kultur; Kulturabteilung der Stadt Wien; Stiftung Umverteilen; Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung; Solifond der Hans Böckler Stiftung; Fraktion die Linke im EU-Parlament; Bundestagsfraktion die Linke; Netzwerk e.V. Check out the film online at http://www.ressler.at/comuna_under_construction/ ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// COMUNA EN CONSTRUCCIÓN Una película de Dario Azzellini & Oliver Ressler 94 min., 2010 “Vamos a decidir nosotros qué es lo que queremos. Nosotros somos los que sabemos las necesidades, qué es lo que pasa en nuestra comunidad”, explica Omayra Peréz con firmeza. En los barrios de los montes de Caracas, ella quiere convencer a su comunidad para que, juntos, formen un consejo comunal. Las y los habitantes de Venezuela deciden, de manera colectiva, en las asambleas de los más de 30.000 consejos comunales, sobre muchos asuntos de su comunidad. Omayra tiene el apoyo de las y los activistas de una comunidad cercana, la “Emiliano Hernández”, que desde hace ya tres años se auto-organiza en un consejo comunal. Hay un sinnúmero de iniciativas que tienen su origen en esta organización: así, lograron que viniera un médico del programa gubernamental “Barrio Adentro” para que, en adelante, le preste asistencia gratuita a la gente de esa comunidad; también consiguieron financiamiento para arreglar sus casas y reemplazar una docena de ranchos de lámina y cartón por casas nuevas. Desde abajo, la comunidad se ha autoorganizado en variadas comisiones de trabajo, con temáticas que ella misma define y tomando sus decisiones en asambleas. Varios consejos comunales pueden unirse y construir una comuna –y varias comunas pueden formar una ciudad comunal. „Comuna en construcción“ nos lleva a conocer esos procesos –de Caracas y sus barrios extendiéndose sobre sus montañas, al campo, a los llanos de Barinas, surcados por rios–. Los consejos se construyen desde abajo, paralelamente a las instituciones existentes, y buscan superar la actual forma de organización estatal a través del autogobierno. En una asamblea para la construcción de la ciudad comunal “Antonio José de Sucre” Ramon Virigay, miembro de la organización indepentiente Frente Nacional Campesino Ezequiel Zamora (FNCEZ), recuerda a los delegados de los consejos comunales allí presentes: “Si bien es cierto que en este momento necesitamos de los organismos oficiales, mañana, debido al desarrollo que vamos alcanzando, nosotros tenemos que ser autosuficientes. No podemos seguir dependiendo exclusivamente del Estado.” Por eso, para alcanzar su autonomía, los consejos comunales construyen sus propias estructuras de producción y distribución. El elemento central de la película “Comuna en construcción”, son las asambleas. El inicio nos presenta un consejo comunal bien organizado: el “Emiliano Hernández”, de los Magallanes de Catia, en los barrios de Caracas. Luego, los documentalistas nos llevan a la zona rural de Barinas, para conocer los intentos de construcción de comunas y de una "ciudad comunal". El final nos lleva nuevamente a la Gran Caracas, a Petare, extenso barrio en el que 29 consejos comunales tratan de construir la comuna de Maca. ¿Será posible unir Estado y autonomía? Con relación a las instituciones estatales, cada vocera y vocero de los consejos comunales tiene experiencias positivas como también negativas que contar. Durante una asamblea de base en Petare, la activista comunitaria Yusmeli Patiño acusa a un alto representante gubernamental: “Nosotros perdemos la credibilidad gracias a la incompetencia de la instituciones del Estado”. Aún así, en las instituciones estatales también hay empleados que hacen grandes esfuerzos por acompañar a las comunidades autoorganizadas en sus propias instituciones. La relación entre la base y las instituciones está atravesada tanto por la cooperación como por el conflicto. Y los consejos comunales también tienen problemas internos. –La participación, hay que aprenderla. Avances y retrocesos marcan el difícil proceso del pueblo tomando el poder de decidicir sobre su propia vida y su mundo. Versión original en castellano y con subtítulos en aleman o en inglés. Guión y dirección, edición y realización: Dario Azzellini & Oliver Ressler Cámara: Volkmar Geiblinger, Oliver Ressler Sonido, mezcla de sonido y supervisión de edición: Rudi Gottsberger Asistente de producción: Adriana Rivas Corrección de imágenes: Markus Koessl, David Grohe Apoyo: Bundesministerium für Unterricht, Kunst und Kultur; Kulturabteilung der Stadt Wien; Stiftung Umverteilen; Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung; Solifond der Hans Böckler Stiftung; Fraktion die Linke im EU-Parlament; Bundestagsfraktion die Linke; Netzwerk e.V. Información & contacto:www.azzellini.net www.ressler.at
30 01 2010 Charles Esche presents Art and Social Change, Afterall, One Work Wednesday 3 February 2010 at 19.30 ISOLA Art Center – Libreria Puerto de Libros Via Pollaiuolo 5, Milano Charles Esche, director of Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven, NL, presents the publications Art and Social Change, Afterall, One Work. introduced by Marco Scotini and Bert Theis Art and Social Change The desire to change the world has often led artists to align themselves with wider social movements and to break with established institutions of art. This reader gathers together an international selection of artists’ proposals, manifestos, theoretical texts and public declarations that focus on the question of political engagement and the possibility of social change. The approaches represented are many and diverse, from Gustav Courbet’s involvement in the Paris Commune and the socialist art theory of William Morris to the hybrid activist practice associated with the twenty-first century “movement of movements”; from the political commitments of the Modernist avant-gardes to the rejections of Modernism in favour of protest, critique, utopian social experiment or revolutionary propaganda. Six specially commissioned essays – by Geeta Kapur, Lucy Lippard, John Milner, Gerald Raunig, Marina Vishmidt and Tirdad Zolghadr – further explore both the historical context and the contemporary situation. Published in association with Afterall Afterall is a research and publishing organization based in London. Founded in 1998 by Charles Esche and Mark Lewis at Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design, University of the Arts London, Afterall focuses on contemporary art and its relation to a wider artistic, theoretical and social context. In 1999 Afterall, a journal of art, context and enquiry, was launched. Afterall offers in-depth analysis of artists’ work, along with essays that broaden the context in which to understand it. http://www.afterall.org/ One Work is a library of small books, each title focusing on one important work of contemporary art through a single text. http://www.afterall.org/books/one.work/
24 01 2010 Tuesday 26 January 21.00: Libreria Puerto de Libros & IAC Tuesday 26 January, 21.00h: Isola Art Center and Libreria Puerto de Libros: Exhibition and presentation of the reader "Territoria 4. Il grande balzo / The great Leap". Libreria Puerto de Libros via Pollaiuolo, 5, Milano - Exhibition: Paola di Bello and Wolfgang Träger present the fotos realized for Territoria 4. Projection of the video-documentation Territoria4. - Aperitif and sale of the Reader "Territoria 4. Il grande balzo/The great Leap", ed. Pacini Editore, (it/eng)
24 01 2010 Tuesday 26 January 18.30: Careof & IAC, Territoria 4. The great Leap "Territoria 4. Il grande balzo / The great Leap" curated by Bert Theis and Stefano Pezzato Presentation of the Reader and projection of the video documentation "Territoria 4. Il grande balzo / The great Leap". with Andrea Abati, Marco Bazzini, Marco Colombaioni, Paola Di Bello, Kings, gruppo museo aero solar, Stefano Pezzato, Mirko Smerdel, Sonia Soldani, Bert Theis Tuesday 26 January 2010, 18.30h DOCVA, Fabbrica del Vapore, via Procaccini 4, Milano DOCVA presents the reader "Territoria 4. Il grande balzo/The big Leap", co-produced by Pacini Editore and Regione Toscana (2009). Program: Careof 18.30 - projection of territoria 4, video documentation by Mariette Schiltz, 17’ - discussion with Marco Bazzini, director of Centro per l'arte contemporanaea L. Pecci, Prato, Stefano Pezzato, curator at Centro per l'arte contemporanaea L. Pecci, Prato, Sonia Soldani, cultural director of the Province of Prato, Bert Theis, curator of Territoria 4, Paola Di Bello, artist, Marco Colombaioni, artist, Kings, artist group, Mirko Smerdel, artist, gruppo museo aero solar. Libreria Puerto de libros 21.00 - Exhibition: Paola di Bello and Wolfgang Träger. Presentation of the fotos realized for territoria 4. - Aperitif and sale of the Reader Territoria 4. Il grande balzo/The great Leap, Pacini Editore, (it/eng)
24 01 2010 January 22nd at 15.00: New models of organization at Brera Accademy New models of organization - Workshop Accademia di Belle Arti di Brera - Milan Friday, January 22 2010 15.00, Aula 44 with: Wurmkos Isola Art Center / isolartcenter.org Brown Project Space / brownmagazine.it The meeting is organized by Marcella Anglani (professor of "Recent trends in the visual arts"). Assistant: Matteo Mascheroni
29 11 2009 3 –19.12.2009: ISOLA RANDAGIA – WANDERING ISLAND ISOLA RANDAGIA – WANDERING ISLAND 3 december –19 december 2009 inauguration: Thursday 3rd Dicember 2009, 18.00h Liceo Artistico Caravaggio,(Art school “Caravaggio”) via Prinetti, 47 – Milano monday-friday 9.30/14.30 A project by OsservatorioinOpera (Piero Almeoni, Paola Sabatti Bassini), Carmelo Mutalipassi, Valentina Maggi, Mila Popdimitrova, Kings (Federica Perazzoli, Daniele Innamorato), Barbara Frappi After the events that ended up with the demolition of the Stecca degli Artigiani, of the Gardens and after the beginning of the works that are upsetting the deep nature of the Isola neighbourhood, almost wandering on its own territory (the places of meeting and civil sharing have been wiped out), Isola Art Center, together with the inhabitants is organizing itself in a new form to assert the rights of deciding their own quality of life, against the economic and political power of the multinational companies. With the installation at the Art School “Caravaggio” of Milan, Isola Art Center presents its new condition that marks the territory by reproducing one of the most important current and permanent actions that the artists realized on the shop shutters of the neighbourhood. Isola Art Center lives in the neighbourhood, so making its critical action visible through the different events that in this way define a path of information and reflection about the present state of things. To be wandering metaphorically means therefore to live in a new wandering, roving condition, out of the gang. Isola Rosta Project Rosta was the name of the soviet telegraphy agency that from 1919 used its windows to display posters created ad hoc by several artists including Vladimir Majakowski. Isola Rosta Project presents large format images by Italian and international artists painted on the shutters of the Isola district. This ongoing project is carried out with the help of professionals and international institutions as well as with the aid of the inhabitants of the neighbourhood. Thanks to this permanent show on the shutters, Isola Art Center has a continuous presence in the streets of the district. Between 2003 and 2007 the centre had worked in the former industrial building called Stecca degli Artigiani and in the nearby parks. There it started to create a Center for Art and the Neighborhood together with the inhabitants, before being drummed out of the building, together with the craftspeople, by the City of Milan and the American multinational Hines. Since then the centre has continued its construction hosted by local spaces, associations, shops and restaurants in solidarity with the opposition to the pharaonical real estate development plans, to speculation and to the gentrification of the district. Bert Theis 2009 translated by Mara Ferreri
16 11 2009 November 19th 2009: rotor - Graz, Austria: What is going on in Milan? Participating in what is going on and what is changing in the Annenviertel. Learning about what moves other people Isola Art Center Discussion and presentation with Bert Theis and Mariette Schiltz. Moderator: Oliver Ressler November 19th 2009, 20.00h < rotor >, Volksgartenstrasse 6a, Annenviertel, Graz Association for contemporary art www.rotor.mur.at www.steirischerherbst.at The Isola Art Center is an outstanding art initiative dealing with urban development and city district field work. Founded in 2001, the center operates in the Milan district of the same name – Isola. In 2003 a former factory building at the heart of the district was occupied and subsequently put to intensive cultural use. In 2007 the building was cleared falling prey to the intentions of the Milan city government and a Texan real estate development agency. Yet the activists didn’t bury their heads in the sand but decided to continue their work. Since then a number of projercts have been developed in cooperation with initiatives from the Isola district and beyond. ANNENVIERTEL! is supported by: Stadt Graz Kulturamt der Stadt Graz Kulturabteilung des Landes Steiermark BMUKK mur.at Culture Programme of the European Union steirischer herbst ANNENVIERTEL! is part of: THE ART OF URBAN INTERVENTION a project by < rotor > association for contemporary art/ Graz, University of J. E. Purkyne/ Usti nad Labem, [BLOK] – Local Base for cultural refreshment/ Zagreb (in collaboration with DeLVe | Institute for Duration, Location and Variables, Zagreb), The Blue House Foundation/ Amsterdam, Institute of Contemporary Art Sofia and NABA – New Academy of Fine Arts/ Milano. www.rotor.mur.at
05 11 2009 We Do It. From November 11th - Dicember 20th WE DO IT The Isola neighborhood in two inadequate descriptive systems with Adrian Paci Andrea Sala Bert Theis Christoph Schäfer Danilo Correale Enzo Umbaca Yang Jiechang Maria Papadimitriou Mariette Schiltz Millepiani magazine Museo aero solar (Tomas Saraceno) OUT (Office for Urban Transformation) Paola Di Bello Stefano Boccalini Undo.net Wurmkos curated by Marco Scotini assistant curator Matteo Lucchetti Kunstraum Lakeside Lakeside Science & Technology Park Lakeside B02 9020 Klagenfurt Austria WE DO IT. The Isola neighbourhood in two inadequate descriptive systems. The city is the privileged field for the exertion of power. Subjugation procedures are deployed everywhere (on bodies, on language, on places).But nothing is in itself political for the mere fact of hosting the exercise of power relationships, and yet anything, upon the right occasion, can become so. Over the last seven years, the Isola neighbourhood - both in itself and within the city of Milan - has become a “political” space. It has become a field of forces, tensions, resistance, desires and aspirations. Maybe as a heritage of its local past, the Isola has ended up representing a disturbing element for modern urban narratives: speculative projects, spatial police projects, gentrification. Starting from 2000 the Isola neighbourhood, an isolated workers dwelling area in the heart of Milan, has been subject of a gentrification intervention through the realization of an urban plan committed to Hines, a Texan corporation. From that moment, the pivot of the antagonistic movement against the top-down plan of the municipality, has been an abandoned factory, leftover of the Milan industrial past, and occupied by several associations, that merged into the artistic project of constitution of an art and community center, Isola Art Center Faced with the wicked conscience of planners accusing the neighbourhood's antagonist action of “stalemating”, Isola had nothing to show but a transforming reality, a new, multi-cultural social morphology, stories of progressive contextual adaptations, a collective and projectual intentionality based on self-organization. When accused of boasting for its community an originary ideological purity, Isola can and has to answer claiming the right to the city as a democratic, “radical” need, re-asserting the necessity - for both groups and individuals - of an active control and projectual freedom over their life. Isola Art Center was born in those years with the aim of catalyzing the neighborhood’s actions and forces. It is an open and indeterminate artistic platform, ready to host within itself a progressive investment of different subjects: neighborhood committees, volunteers, urban designers, philosophers, art critics, curators, besides - obviously - artists. Isola Art Center thinks of a center for and community life as an urban device: as an urban-scaled collective service actively supporting self-empowerment occasions. Isola Art Center, quoting Rancière, believes that “the logics of demonstrations [has always], inevitably involved an aesthetics of manifestations". We Do It wants to present again a rearticulation, through a series of documents, of the protest lead by the antagonist movement. The project intend to illustrate at the same time, both the municipality plan (in the making), both the one by a parallel city planning the has been object of the opposition. www.lakeside-kunstraum.at Undo.net: Isola space
25 10 2009 L'INDIANO IN GIARDINO Opening 29th October, 7pm L'INDIANO IN GIARDINO project by Alek O. and Santo Tolone in collaboration with Isola Art Center Opening 29th October, 2009, 7pm October 29th – November 1st, 2009 Starting point Bar La Cantinetta, P.le Archinto, Milan with Pedro Barateiro, Dafne Boggeri, Marco Colombaioni, Camilla Candida Donzella, Alessandro Di Giampietro, Lucie Fontaine, Francesco Fossati, Matteo Rubbi, Manuel Scano, Mauro Vignando and Zhou Tao A redskin indian is in a black-lined limousine. He’s naked, and the touch of leather on his body makes him shiver; a cloud of breath rising from his mouth mists the car windows. The indian pops out of the sun-roof and escapes. He next appears in a small courtyard clogged with abandoned neon signs. The indian slowly turns around, looks up and a geometric patch of sky shines over his head. He climbs the narrow walls around him, clinging with his hands and pushing with his feet, and goes away. Idly descending the stairs of a mezzanine workshop the indian appears once again: he’s blocking the entrance to the adjacent room. He smiles, his arms crossed: he’s forcing bystanders to coexist in a very small space, a single flight of stairs. At the crack of dawn, in a square surrounded by silent buildings, a bar with a bunch of red tables scattered on the sidewalk becomes the playroom we fell short of not having. The indian awaits, sitting, skimming the game’s wooden tokens. He leans on the wall his plume-clad nape and looks straight in the eyes of his playmate. Then, shaking his head, he rubs his legs to get rid of the cold. He gets up and runs away, stopping only in front of the window of a luxury car dealer, full of stretched-out silhouettes. Its gates are open, and reveal a whole carpet of cars, tightly cramped side by side. A redskin indian is in a black-lined limousine. The indian is the subject of an innocent yet reckless fantasy abruptly entering our everyday; the spaces he appears in are anything but random. The places’ disposition, however, appears unforeseeable: they could well be the displaced rooms of a blown-up museum. They concentrate around a bunch of streets, scattered in the Isola neighborhood, which the show’s two promoters – alongside other artists, some involved in this project – have already worked with. The explosion of a hypothetical museum could also be the best metaphor to describe the new approach chosen for L’indiano in giardino. After disposing of the curator’s role, all that’s left is the organizational strength and the works of the eleven artists involved, some of which have never before worked together. Manuela Ravasio Opening hours 5 pm – 8 pm Various seats, Isola, Milan Piazza Minniti – newspaper kiosk Via dal Verme, 2 – courtyard Piazzale Archinto – bar Via Pollaiuolo, 8 – garage Via Lambertenghi, 25 – studio Special thanks to Autoservizi Mariani, Bar La Cantinetta, Edicola Ambrosini, Falegnameria Clerici and Insegne Longoni. Download the map
23 09 2009 26.09.09: Paola di Bello with "Framing the Community" in Graz, Austria "ANNENVIERTEL! THE ART OF URBAN INTERVENTION" Exhibitions – Discussions – Workshops – Guided Tours – Neigbourhood Radio –Annenpost When? Saturday, September 26, 6 pm in the frame of steirischen herbst 2009 Where? < rotor >, Volksgartenstraße 6a, 8020 Graz • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • Paola Di Bello, "Framing the Community" Participating in what is going on and what is changing in the Annenviertel. Learning about what moves other people On September 26th we really get started in the ANNENVIERTEL! The launch of an intensive discussion of this neighbourhood of Graz around the Annenstraße linking the Lend and Gries districts is scheduled for this date. Residents and tradespeople, artists and scientists, activists and experts will explore one of the most exciting areas of Graz and discuss ongoing processes and changes. < rotor >, association for contemporary art based in the Volksgartenstraße 6a will provide the headquarters for this two-year project. Here is where you find exhibitions related to the subject, interesting evening events, an archive on art forms in public and social space, workshops – and, of course, all information on the project progression, the many satellite stations and all events organized in the ANNENVIERTEL! All information on the programme: Send an email to rotor@mur.at to subscribe the Email newsletter. • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • Till September 12 this exhibition can be seen at < rotor >: SELECTED: 10 YEARS OF < ROTOR > With more than 30 artists and a selection of works presented in these ten years which played a key role in the development of the programming. Many of these works of art could be produced in the frame of < rotor > projects – exhibitions here in Graz and abroad, in public space and in the frame of residency programs. Opening hours: MON – SAT, 10 am – 6 pm • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • The ANNENVIERTEL! kick-off is organized in cooperation with the steirischer herbst festival and with the support of the Culture Programme of the European Union ANNENVIERTEL! is supported by: Stadt Graz Kulturamt der Stadt Graz Kulturabteilung des Landes Steiermark BMUKK mur.at Culture Programme of the European Union steirischer herbst ANNENVIERTEL! is part of: THE ART OF URBAN INTERVENTION a project by < rotor > association for contemporary art/ Graz, University of J. E. Purkyne/ Usti nad Labem, [BLOK] – Local Base for cultural refreshment/ Zagreb (in collaboration with DeLVe | Institute for Duration, Location and Variables, Zagreb), The Blue House Foundation/ Amsterdam, Institute of Contemporary Art Sofia and NABA – New Academy of Fine Arts/ Milano. • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • < rotor > association for contemporary art Volksgartenstrasse 6a, 8020 Graz, Austria 0043 / 316 / 688306, rotor@mur.at www.rotor.mur.at "Framing the Community
23 09 2009 IAC and out at Tirana Art Biannual from Sept 25th until October 22nd The Symbolic Efficiency of the Frame T.I.C.A.B – Tirana International Contemporary Art Biannual EPISODE 2 Opening 25 September, City Walks 1 and 3 October, Tirana Dialogues from 3 ? 6 October Curated by: STEALTH.unlimited (Ana Dzokic and Marc Neelen) Of all the cities in the Balkans region, Tirana's recent development is maybe the most perplexing. In the last two decades, following the long period of Albania's self?isolation, this city grew from 250.000 to about 700.000 inhabitants and more than tripled in size ? a majority of which is built informally and without (much) plan. In an attempt to critically respond to the current development of Tirana ? through ‘wild’ urbanization, fast capital investment and set within the horizon of a neoliberal context – T.I.C.A.B – Tirana International Contemporary Art Biannual – this year expands beyond the field of visual arts, into the domain of architecture and processes of urbanization. By involving architects, artists, cultural workers, activists and journalists from the Western Balkans region and the wider global context, EPISODE 2 examines the deficiencies resulting from the highly individual and profit driven development of contemporary cities ? and points at alternatives that emerge from these cracks, opening the horizon to different contributions and involvement of citizen’s to what the future of our cities could be. EPISODE 2 manifests itself in four parts ? through an exhibition positioning key issues, practices and alternative approaches to the contemporary developments in the city; the Cities Log (chronology) of spatially important events, decisions and discussions in the cities of former Yugoslavia and Albania – which in turn serves as a backdrop for a set of public discussions ? Tirana Dialogues ? bringing practitioners from this region and a broad international context. And finally the production of the Tirana Guide to Parallel Urban Realities, made by local and international participants. For who comes to Tirana, one of the most exiting parts of the program might be the Tirana Dialogues ? from 3rd to 6th of October ? co?organised with Emiliano Gandolfi. Each of these discussions brings in dialogue two regional or globally active and socially engaged practitioners. The topics covered will range from a/o social and spatial neighbourhood interventions, architecture biennials as a tool for change, new and upcoming architecture and planning institutions, to new models of belonging. (See below for detailed information and list of participants.) The Biannual under the title "Symbolic Efficiency of the Frame" opens in three episodes, each one week after the other. Episode 1 is curated by Edi Muka and Joa Ljungberg (and opened 18th of September), while the Episode 2 has been conceived by STEALTH, Ana Dzokic and Marc Neelen (25th of September) and the last, Episode 3 by Corinne Diserens (2nd of October – the overall inauguration of the Biannual). The title refers to a passage in Slavoj Zizek's book "The Parallax View" where he describes how reality through the act of enframing turns into its own appearance. What possible "frames" can we use to enable a more multilayered reading of reality? How are we to read our overall current condition, recent past ? or our possible futures? T.I.C.A.B is organized by the Tirana Institute for Contemporary Art (T.I.C.A.) and will last until 22nd of October 2009. For a thorough list of participating artists, the Tirana Dialogues schedule, city walks, satellite events and other information, please check the Biennial's website: http://tica?albania.org/TICAB/ Exhibition contributors Alterazioni Video / Laurence Bonvin / Co?plan / Deadmalls.com / Detroit Unreal Estate Agency / Elemental / El Puente_Lab and Jenny Giraldo / Estudio Teddy Cruz / Bojan Fajfri? / Louize Ganz and Ines Linke / Interboro / Isola Art Centre and The Office for Urban Transformation / Kartun Development Group / MAP Office / Nebojša Milikic / Ou Ning / Leonard Qylafi / Streetfilms Tirana Dialogues public discussion series at Hotel Dajti ? 3rd to 6th of October co?organised with Emiliano Gandolfi. Saturday 3/10 [19.00h] Hands Over the City ? civil groups and investigative journalism for urban justice Teodor Celakoski (Right to the City, Zagreb) / Brankica Stankovi? & Miodrag ?vorovi? (Insider, RTV B92, Belgrade) Sunday 04/10 [17.30h] Activating the Local ? neighbourhood interventions for social engagement Nebojša Miliki? (cultural activist, Belgrade) / Doina Petrescu (Atelier d'Architecture Autogérée, Paris) [20.00h] Exposing the City of Tomorrow ? architecture biannuals as a tool for change Emiliano Gandolfi (11th Architecture Biennale Venice, 3rd Architecture Biennale Rotterdam) / Ou Ning (Shenzhen & Hong Kong Architecture Biennale) Monday 05/10 [17.30h] Urban Commons ? policies and public involvement for the inclusive city Emil Jurcan (Pulska grupa, Pula) / Aleksandra Kapetanovi? (Expeditio, Kotor) [20.00h] Printed Matters ? architecture magazines: media strategies and societal ambitions Fabrizio Gallanti (Abitare magazine, Milan) / Maroje Mrduljaš (Oris magazine, Zagreb) Tuesday 06/10 [17.30h] Shifting the Field of Action ? a new role for architecture and planning institutes Marko San?anin (Platforma 9.81, Zagreb) / Dritan Shutina (Co?Plan, Tirana) [20.00h] Building Participation ? making places for local empowerment Teddy Cruz (Estudio Teddy Cruz, San Diego) / Francisco Sanin (Syracuse University, New York ?Medellin, Colombia) Cities log with contributions from Belgrade, Kotor, Novi Sad, Podgorica, Prishtina, Pula, Skopje, Tirana and Zagreb, by: Besnik Aliaj / Branko Bela?evi?, Marko Mileti?, Dubravka Sekuli?, Jelena Stefanovi? / Dafne Berc / Teodor Celakoski / Valon Germizaj / Žakilina Gligorijevi? / Adelina Greca / Astrit Hajrullahu / Florina Jerliu / Aleksandra Kapetanovi? / Ivan Kucina / Ilir Murseli / Oliver Musovik / Divna Pen?i? / Petrit Selimi / Pulska grupa / Aneta Spaseska / Borislav Vuki?evi? and others ? designed with Ajdin Baši?. The Cities Log includes works by and documentation from Lorenz Aggermann, Eduard Freudmann, Can Gülcü / Sabine Bitter and Helmut Weber / Luise Donschen and Archis Interventions Prishtina / Fifth Park / First Archi Brigade / Insider B92 / Vladan Jeremi? and Rena Rädle / Civil Initiative Muzil / Right to the City, Zagreb. Tirana Guide to Parallel Urban Realities co?organised with Polis University Tirana, with: Ivan Kucina (Faculty of Architecture, Belgrade) / Endrit Marku (Polis University) / Gezim Qendro (Polis University) / Miguel Robles?Duran (Cohabitation Strategies, Rotterdam) / Piet Vollaard (ArchiNed, Rotterdam) / Aleksandar Zograf (cartoonist, Pancevo) and students Polis University, and Tirana City Walks 1st and 3rd of October with Marc Armengaud (AWP, Paris). TICA Tirana Institute of Contemporary Art
08 06 2009 15.06.09 - 28.02.10: Bert Theis. Building Philosophy. Centro per l'arte contemporanea Luigi Pecci - Prato Bert Theis. Building Philosophy Special project curated by Stefano Pezzato and Marco Scotini Promoted by the Regione Toscana and the Commune of Prato With the support of the Province of Prato Part of the Territoria #4 project Lounge / Project Room, Luigi Pecci Centre for Contemporary Art – Prato Inauguration: Monday 15 June 2009, 6 p.m. Open daily until 28 February 2010, 10 a.m.-7 p.m. Closed on Tuesdays Admittance free The Luigi Pecci Centre for Contemporary Art is presenting the first solo exhibition of the work of Bert Theis in any Italian museum. It is linked to an extensive nation-wide exhibition curated by the artist himself. Bert Theis. Building Philosophy The works of Bert Theis are conceived as symbolic, philosophical or utopian projects distributed in spaces in which art can take part in individual or communal life as a place for reflection, a usable form or situation of social discourse. Marquees, benches, daises, stages, kiosks, containers, suggested as much by minimalism as by impromptu architecture, are offered as open mechanisms whose interpretation and eventual use is left up to the public: works which induce rest and relaxation, which prompt one to political and cultural activism, or else, to put it in the artist’s own words, “audience specific” works “in which uncertainty becomes synonymous with democratic practice”. (Marco Scotini) A comparable ambiguity is to be found in Building Philosophy, a concept adapted from Guy Debord’s Réalisation de la philosophie, which Theis introduced into his show at the Federico Bianchi Contemporary Art exhibition at Lecco in 2008, and is now presented again in his new project in Prato. The title may be construed either as “building philosophy” – something essential, given the lack of any theory that can match up to the present crisis in culture – or else as “a philosophy of building”, the creation of “platforms” and other structures such as the art and cultural experimental “laboratory” Isola Art Center and the out office for urban transformation, promoted and coordinated by the artist since 2001. The artist’s one man show is displayed on the ground floor of the museum, starting with the series Gropius Drifters (2008), eight workable wooden models based, though on smaller scale, on the plan devised in 1924 by Walter Gropius for a group of buildings that was never constructed, the International Academy of Philosophy at Erlangen in Germany, and will be so located as to create a dialogue with the permanently installed work of Sol LeWitt, Wall Drawing #736. Rectangles of Colour. On the other hand the series of five Mudam Drifters (2006), also based on models from modernist architecture, will be located in the Lounge and the Project Room, along with the photomontage Le troisième système (2006), which reflects Le Corbusier’s plan for a great conurbation for three million inhabitants with cruciform towers, and the video installation Fuad Labord (2003), a metaphorical mirror-image of the urban jungle which has grown up in areas destined for building in the Isola quarter of Milan, viewed from below, and the treeless, built-over space of this same zone viewed from a skyscraper. In addition we have the up-dated 2008-09 Isolartcenters series of photographs and photomontages intended by the artist to be ideal spaces for the collective projects of the Isola Art Center and out, also set up in the Isola quarter of Milan. “A center for art and for a neighborhood is not a building but an idea, a programme. Whoever thought they were destroying the Isola Art Center by destroying the building in which we worked from 2003 to 2007 made a mistake. The center went up in smoke but is still alive. Its showplaces and meeting places are dispersed all over the Isola neighborhood, the guests of associations, shops, a restaurant, the piazzas, the shop shutters… That destruction has set free the imagination and dreams.” (Bert Theis) The idea thus expressed by the artist is represented in the show by the installation called Senza titolo (2008), a tent-structure reminiscent in form of the “Stecca degli artigiani”, the original headquarters of the Isola Art Center in Milan, which will be located in the piazza directly opposite the Lounge and the museum bar, as an environment in which to welcome the public, but also a place for communication, for cultural encounters and social sharing. Theis’s project for Territoria #4 In parallel with his exhibition project at the Pecci Centre, Bert Theis has been invited to curate the latest edition of Territoria, the art event throughout the province (Prato, Montemurlo, Carmignano and Cantagallo) scheduled for the months of October and November 2009. Theis has therefore planned a “work in progress” to be directed at focusing on certain key features of the territory and involving Italian and foreign artists, architects, philosophers, writers and sections of the population who as a rule have no contact with contemporary art. Especially for the occasion he has coined a number of slogans which sum up the themes on which the researches and artistic results of Territoria #4 will be based: “Understanding the territory”. Dreaming the territory. Marking the territory”. Biographical notes on the artist Bert Theis was born in Luxembourg in 1952. For more than fifteen years he has been working in Luxembourg and in Milan. In the early 1990s, with other artists of his generation, he came to the fore by developing operative strategies within urban contexts having to do with relational conditions. He thereafter took part in major international art events such as the Venice Biennale (1995), the Skulptur Projekte at Münster (1997), Arte all’Arte at Volterra and Manifest 2 in Luxembourg (1998) the Melbourne International Biennial (1999), the Biennia at Gwangju in South Korea (2002), the Tirana Biennial (2003), the Shenzhen International Public Art Exhibition in China (2004), the Emergency Biennale in Chechnya (2005), the Biennale of Busan in South Korea (2006), the Biennale at Istanbul (2007) and the Taipei Biennale in Taiwan (2008). Publications Now in the press is a new monograph on Bert Theis in a tri-lingual edition (French, English, Italian) co-ordinated by Judith Quentel – art director of the Domaine Départmental de Chamarande (France), containing articles by Christian Bernard, Hou Hanru and Marco Scotini, and a conversation with the artist by Vasif Kortun. The volume will be the outcome of a European collaboration between the Domaine Départemental de Chamarande, Mamco of Ginevra, Mudam of Lussemburgo and the Luigi Pecci Centre in Prato. Info: www.centropecci.it www.isolartcenter.org Communication: Dr. Silvia Bacci Mob. 338 6660784 silviabaccistampa@tiscali.it download the invitation Territoria 4 online Download the flyer of Territoria 4
18 05 2009 May 22,23,24,25 - August 31: Public Turbulence. Art, events and discussions in the Isola neighborhood Isola Art Center in collaboration with Naba organized for inContemporanea, promoted by the Province of Milan, presents Public Turbulence/Disordine in pubblico Art, events and meetings in the Isola neighborhood, Milan curated by Alberto Pesavento e Bert Theis 22, 23, 24, 25 May – 31 August 2009 Opening: Friday 22 May, 18h – 24h Saturday 12h – 20h Sunday 16h – 24h Monday 25 May, 18.30h Agenzia X, Stefano Boccalini, Park Fiction, Stina Fisch, Gaia Fugazza, Angelo Sarleti, Sašo Sedla?ek, HR Stamenov, Urbonas, Fani Zguro, Isola Art’s Club Band and many more. Special project by artists and curators of the Master’s Degree in Visual Arts and Curatorial Studies at NABA Milan: Valentina Angeleri, Paolo Caffoni, Arianna Carcano (with Igor Muroni), Michele D’Aurizio, Anita Gazzani (with Luca Puglia), Matteo Lucchetti (with the Milan complaints choir), Valentina Maggi (with Sofia Scarano), Giulia Paciello, Mila Popdimitrova, Beto Shwafaty, Lorenzo Tamai. In the context of a finally sequestered construction site and ecologically un-sustainable urban projects, the people, artists and activists of the Isola neighborhood carry on their struggle against authoritarian projects and dangerous creative gentrification processes. They propose a critical perspective and an inappropriate use of urban spaces through the activities of Isola Art Center, a center for art and community life under permanent construction. From May 22nd to May 25th (and up to August 31st), an array of artistic interventions, meeting and performances will take place, conceived both for visibility and for harboring critical discussions, based on the conviction that public discourse shouldn’t leave its spectators silently, powerlessly facing everyday decisions. A beggar robot roams the Isola, stopping to talk and panhandle, while a train mysteriously deviates from its track to appear between the buildings. A neighborhood street becomes a guide for an unconventional use of city spaces: bookshops become libraries, shops become places where you’re free not to buy anything; it offers examples of protests and defences against the privatization of public spaces, which could very well include a choir singing its complaints or a bench to be carried around to sit down and listen to a Club’s band ultimately identified as a simple inn. A logic of common disorder, a slight shift in usual meanings and social conventions. Isola Art Center is a laboratory and open platform combining the activities and desires of the people of the Isola neighborhood with contemporary artistic research. Evicted in 2007 from the Stecca degli Artigiani, it is the result of a decade-long struggle, engaged by dwellers, artists, researchers and activists in defense of their neighborhood. A set of people sharing the assumption that the destruction of public spaces and their conversion into areas of consumption or real estate speculation can be stopped or limited, also by the use of unconventional tactics. Today Isola Art Center is hosted by Soundmetak, Piazzale Segrino 1,Tantrika Shop, Via Pollaiuolo 2, Puerto de Libros, Via Pollaiuolo 5, Osterialnove, Via Thaon de Revel 9, Punto Rosso, Via Pepe 14, by the streets and squares in Isola and by Naba, via Darwin 20. _____________________________________________________________________ info: 346 39 98 571 / 339 60 57 111 info@isolartcenter.org www.isolartcenter.org master@naba.it www.naba.it download the program of Public Turbulence
08 05 2009 May 8,9,10th: Triennale of Milan: inContemporanea Nr 3: Isola Multipla 8 th /9 th /10 th of may 2009 NOI SIAMO QUI inCONTEMPORANEA '09 - Numero TRE Triennale of Milano Viale Alemagna 6 10.30/20.30 Isola Multipla Isola Multipla is a sequence of videos presented simultaneously: voices, gazes and reflections of people who have lived or known the artistic, social and political facts of the Isola neighbourhood from within or from outside. The conflict between dwellers, real estate companies and political powers is still ongoing, as the politics of destruction and speculation against the neighbourhood has not been accepted. Isola Art Center has been working since 2001 side to side with the neighbourhood dwellers defending their public space and opposing gentrification, because art in the city can be something else than urban marketing. Isola Art Center is a local experience attracting much attention also from abroad, that needs to be documented and discussed in order to obtain a deeper knowledge of what has been happening. Contemporary art, in fact, can choose not to be a tool of decoration and persuasion of public opinion, used to change the social composition of neighbourhoods towards a reality of luxury residences and cool creative class. Isola Multipla, in order to generate a “collective feedback”, presents simultaneously a large amount of video interviews with dwellers, artists, international curators and relevant figures of Milano’s cultural scene. We have asked everybody to tell their story and reflection regarding their personal experience with the Isola neighbourhood. These multiple voices create an important archive on the recent history of the neighbourhood and the city. The videos of the interviewed people also show images and scenes regarding the activities conducted in the neighbourhood during these last years. The interviews will be divided in groups and loop-screened on a series of monitors. Apart from the exhibiting event of inCONTEMPORANEA number 3, the project will also be presented on the weekend of the 23/24 may within the Isola neighbourhood, in order to reach the local dwellers who are not used to attend artistic events. The whole work of video recording and production will be collectively made by artists, researchers and dwellers of Isola neighbourhood and Isola Art Center. UPCOMING EVENTS: Public Turbulence Art, events and public talks, curated by Alberto Pesavento and Bert Theis 22th /23th /24th of may 2009, Isola district, Milan with Agenzia X, Stefano Boccalini, Park Fiction, Stina Fisch, Gaia Fugazza, Angelo Sarleti, Sašo Sedla?ek, HR Stamenov, Urbonas, Fani Zguro, Isola Art’s Club Band and many others, special project by Naba artists and curators: Valentina Angeleri, Paolo Caffoni, Arianna Carcano, Michele D’Aurizio, Anita Gazzani, Matteo Lucchetti, Valentina Maggi, Giulia Paciello, Mila Popdimitrova, Beto Shwafaty, Lorenzo Tamai. Monday 25 th of May, 18.30: “ Attica Project – “Tactics of the liberation of space” #1, Naba via Darwin 20 Public talk between Park Fiction (Amburgo), Nomeda e Gediminas Urbonas ( Vilnius ) and Isola Art Center (Milano) moderated by Marco Scotini (Milano). Supported by: EU Culture Programme 2007-2013, Education and Culture DG
05 05 2009 April 24th: Fuorisalone 09: Open Care, Open Day. Works from the Isola Art Center collection Fuorisalone 2009: Friday 24th April 2009 Open doors at Open Care – Art Services via Piranesi 10, Milan Open Care is currently hosting an exhibition by Isola Art Center to present artworks from the centre’s collection rescued from the Stecca degli Artigiani. Showing works by Gabriele di Matteo, Alessandro di Giampietro, Bert Theis, Luca Pancrazzi, Loris Cecchini, Dan Perjovschi, King’s, Alek O., Paola Di Bello, Alice Pintus, out-Office for Urban Transformation, Guy Debord / Mara Ferreri, Enzo De Cotiis. Isola Art Center is a centre for art and neighbourhood activities created in 2003 in the Isola district by artists, curators, researchers and inhabitants. In 2007 the centre was forcefully cleared from the Stecca building and has since carried out its activities in other spaces within the neighbourhood, both public and private, such as associations, shops and restaurants. The centre has also been using of their shutters as exhibition space for projects commissioned to Italian and international artists. During the clearing out of Isola Art Center and the subsequent demolition of the building, a number of artworks were destroyed or damaged, and only a few were rescued. The responsibility and future repayment of the damages suffered is still being discussed. Open Care has promptly committed to rescue the artworks, some of which, art interventions on the building’s structure, have been detached through the strappo technique and restored. These works are now stored at Open Care, together with other pieces awaiting restoration. The “open doors” on the 24th of April is an opportunity to exhibit these works inside Open Care restoration laboratory. The exhibition is completed by a series of photographs of the building and spaces of the Stecca, where the pieces were originally located as part of the collective dream of a neighbourhood to create a centre for art and the local inhabitants.
16 03 2009 Saturday 21 march, 2009: Stiftelsen 3,14 Gallery, Bergen, Norvegia: out & Isola Art Center S O F T M A N I P U L AT I O N WHO IS AFRAID OF THE NEW NOW? 20.03. – 03.05.09 with ALEXANDRA CROITORU & ST / KÖKEN ERGUN / SAGI GRONER / PER HASSELBERG / SASKIA HOLMKVIST / ANDREJA KULUN?I? / JULIA MELTZER & DAVID THORNE / CARLOS MOTTA / RABIH MROUÉ / AN-MY LÊ / FERHAT ÖZGÜR / JENNY PERLIN / LISI RASKIN / BERT THEIS / MÅNS WRANGE / CAREY YOUNG / KATARINA ZDJELAR / ARTUR ŽMIJEWSKI GREGORY WHITEHEAD "PROJECT JERICHO" in collaboration with Lydgalleriet Opening Friday March 20, 18.00 Saturday March 21, 15:00: - Discussion with the curators Enrico Lunghi & Zoran Eric - Presentation of Isola Art Center, Milan, with Bert Theis & Marco Vaglieri "Soft Manipulation: Who is afraid of the new now?" exhibition curated by Maria Lind, Enrico Lunghi, Zoran Eric. In collaboration with Casino Luxembourg - Forum d'Art Contemporain.
17 02 2009 Sunday 22nd febbruary: Casino Luxembourg: Isola Art’s Club Band and Vincenzo Latronico Sunday 22 February 2009, 11:00 am: Isola Art's Club Band (Xabier Iriondo, Steve Piccolo, Gak Sato) (electroacoustic performance) and Vincenzo Latronico. Casino Luxembourg, Forum d'art contemporain within the show Soft Manipulation. Who is Afraid of the New Now?, curated by Zoran Eric, Maria Lind, Enrico Lunghi. Isola Art’s Club Band Xabier Iriondo – table guitar, inventions, kalimba, electronics Steve Piccolo – voice, bass, oddities Gak Sato – theremin, percussion, electronics Your classic cover band from the deepest back room of some experimentally bent roadhouse forgotten by time, mass media, record execs, tax collectors and – unless something really weird happens – cops and robbers alike. Drinks are cheap, the girls are friendly and the food can occasionally be consumed (at your own risk). Somewhere out in the provinces the tradition of buzzing jacks and bare wires, distorting microphones, feedback and sharp-tongued waitresses has never died. Steve Piccolo sings tunes everyone knows and never gets sick of, to the accompaniment of all kinds of noises including, now and then, musical notes. With something from the timeless Sgt. Pepper’s album and an open-mike session. Sing-alongs are encouraged.
18 11 2008 22 November 2008 - 28 February 2009: Taipei-Beirut-Madrid-Berlin-Isola Video screening TAIPEI–BEIRUT–MADRID-BERLIN-ISOLA videos by Kuang-Yu Tsui, Ziad Antar, Democracia, Nevin Aladag, Manuel Scano, Matteo Rubbi Opening Saturday 22 November 22 from 6pm Tantrika Shop, Via Pollaiuolo 2 Soundmetak, Piazzale Segrino 1 25 November 2008– 28 February 2009 Tuesday – Saturday 3.30 – 7.30pm Screening-round table-dinner Sunday 23 November 23, 6-11pm, Osterialnove, via Thaon de Revel 9 with Anna Daneri, Mario Gorni, Marco Scotini, UnDo.Net, Tiziana Villani After the “Stecca degli Artigiani” in Milan has been privatized in April, 2007, Isola Art Center has not died. The Center still pursues its project of a Center for Art and Community alongside other Isola associations, within various public and private venues in the neighbourhood. After Tantrika Shop and Soundmetak, which have followed Punto Rosso in hosting Isola Art Center projects, a new address is now added to the list: Osterialnove will host the single screening of a film selection and a public discussion of it. TAIPEI–BEIRUT–MADRID-BERLIN-ISOLA is a selection of films, most of which have been screened within the Taipei Biennial 2008 curated by Vasif Kortun and Manray Hsu. All participating artists experience new ways to come to terms with urban life, oftentimes reserving a special eye to musical and sound elements. TAIPEI: Taiwanese artist Kuang-Yu Tsui's self-ironical videos, featured in Italy already at the 2005 Venice Biennial, portray him as a sort of present-day Buster Keaton, facing contemporary urban objects and landscapes. Often his works' titles and concepts are linked to the Taiwanese tradition. In Taiparis York, 2008, instead, the artist surprisingly deals with some occidental cultural symbols somehow grafted within his own country's public space, as the statue of liberty, the Eiffel Tower or the Paris Arc de Triomphe. BEIRUT: Lebanese artist Ziad Antar's two videos, Wa and Tambourro, intimately deal with life as it can be within family walls. Their protagonists – two kids in the first, a showering man in the second – use rhythm and music instead of words to convey us their feelings. MADRID: A wholly different story for the Welfare State/Smashing the Ghetto video, by the Democracia group (Pablo Espana and Iván Lopez), portraying the destruction of a Roma encampment just outside Madrid as if it were a show or a demolition party. BERLIN: Turkish artist Nevin Aladag goes looking for Turkish squatters and has them spend the night singing their native countries' songs. Or drives through a suburb letting the wind play a harmonica. Or has model cars dance to the frenzied rhythm of Arabian music. ISOLA: Italian artists Matteo Rubbi and Manuel Scano have lived in the neighborhood and worked with Isola Art Center for years now. The former's video attentively studies the American ambassador in Tirana's driver, while the latter offers us two of his video-performances, with their almost neo-dada liberating poetical drive, one of which is titled Festa in città (urban party). A public round table will be held at Osterialnove on the evening of Sunday, November 23rd, with Antonio Ratti Foundation critic and curator Anna Daneri, video archive C/O curator Mario Gorni, critic and curator Marco Scotini, contemporary art network UnDo.Net directors Vincenzo Chiarandà and Anna Stuart, and philosopher Tiziana Villani. info: 339 60 57 111 info@isolartcenter.org www.isolartcenter.org
13 10 2008 Sunday 26th October 2008: Isola Nostra at This Is Not A Gateway Festival, London Isola Nostra A documentary about the self-organised collective Isola Art Centre in Milan, charting their battle to save a unique neighbourhood under threat by developers. Followed by Q&A with Mara Ferreri, Isola Art Centre member Sunday 26/ Space 1 15:00-17:00 This Is Not A Gateway Festival is a free three-day event in Dalston, London that is forging new ways of investigating cities and the changing global urban condition. Emerging European practitioners from the fields of film, photography, literature, critical theory, performance, geography, architecture and planning come together to reveal knowledge about cities 'from the ground up'. The festival comprises over 40 separate events including discussions, film screenings, workshops, symposiums, exhibitions and walks. The programme includes work from over 100 compelling emerging urbanists from across Europe. Events take place in Dalston's cafes, architectural studios, streets, pubic squares and shop fronts. All events are free and open to the public. www.thisisnotagateway.net 24-26 October 2008 . . . Deepa Naik and Trenton Oldfield This Is Not A Gateway (TINAG) phone: + 44 (0)7 932 558 515 email: deepa@thisisnotagateway.net / trenton@thisisnotagateway.net web: www.thisisnotagateway.net
06 10 2008 October 4th-14th: Museo aero solar at Walker Art Center, Minneapolis Museo aero solar started in the United Arabs Emirates, in occasion of the 8th Sharjah Biennal ( 2007 ). After that, the first place where it displayed all its potential was the Isola neighborhood, in Milano, with Isola Art Center people involved.Museo aero solar group, often accompanied by Isola Art Center’s staff, is still carrying on its construction and making it fly, with the help and the ingeniousness of local inhabitants… Hello everybody! This is the first time we send a message from museo aero solar to everybody we have met and to those we haven't found a way to meet again in these past 2 years: we would like to thank you. After working and traveling with all of you in Sharjah, Milano, Medellin, Lyon, Rapperswil, Tirana, Ein Hawd, and now in Minneapolis, we have decided to start a blog to give everybody the possibility to follow on what we are doing, join us again, send us suggestions, proposals, pictures or take on the initiative to start their own museo aero solar somewhere else. The blog address is: www.museoaerosolar.org A technological hoax... Now we are in Minneapolis for the next 2 weeks. If you are here, let's meet soon if you want to try to do something with us: we don't want an audience. Invention: something obscure and born in the mind of an individual genius? We think there's more inventive potential among a group of people gathered in a circle than in any governmental research agency 24/7. The spread of an invention is more decisive than the invention itself. We all know what we would do but nobody knows how to do it. If you think about the Chinese Wall, it wasn't built starting from the beginning to the end… We use the waste par excellence of capitalism, the plastic bag. An object that is used on the average for 9 minutes, a useless object, we don't recycle it, we use the bags as we use art, to move from one place to another. We use solar energy and some adhesive tape. Now we would like to learn how to use the wind, too. In hard times humanity looked at the sky to fly off, to not look further down. Museo aero solar is a shuttlecock to come back to the earth. In the last centuries the sky was the center of the imaginary: the (failed) conquest of the space, the air war, the first flying machines, all together amount to a kind of obsession to posses the sky, to dominate and control the planet. We want to create a real hoax, something that could change the perception and the use of the sky. Specialization, industrial exploitation, patents and high cost technologies characterize the present research in every field. People are more and more uninvolved in invention. We may be behind compared to new technologies but this endeavor will allow us to be ahead of time when the requirements change. We are in search of something unsustainable: all that exceed the order of forms provokes something at the level of thought. Next week we'll be working with members of the Aerospace Engeneering and Mechanics Department at the University of Minnesota, the Walker Art Center (who invited us), and at an empty storefront place we kindly have for free on 1250 Hennepin Avenue (near the Minneapolis Community and Technical College). For those of you in Minneapolis/St. Paul area, we invite you to join us on the following dates: Saturday, October 4, 10 AM - 3 PM Free First Saturday at the Walker Art Center, 1750 Hennepin Avenue Monday, October 6 (everyday until Thursday), starting at 10 AM 1250 Hennepin Avenue Wednesday, October 8, 1 PM Conversation at the MCAD, 2501 Stevens Avenue South Friday, October 10, 10 AM Blake School, 511 Kenwood Parkway (Gym) Saturday, October 11, early morning Display of museo aero solar outside the Walker Art Center Sunday, October 12, early morning We'll try to fly the museo, early in the morning, somewhere in Minnesota (depending on the weather) Tuesday, October 14, 5.30 PM Conversation Cafe Scientifique: Art and Aeronautics Nomad World Pub, 501 Cedar Avenue South Don't try this at home. Try it open air, with good weather and some experience. Do it with your comrades and away from electricity lines! Museo aero solar Alberto Pesavento »« »« »« »« »« »« »« »« »« »« »« »« »« »« »« »« »« »« »« »« »« »« »« Museo aero solar is a flying museum, a collective artwork initiated by Tomás Saraceno and conceived in the course of a dialogue and cooperation with Isola Art Center,Milan. Museo aero solar is a solar-energy air balloon, completely made up of reused plastic bags, with new sections being added each time it travels the world, thus changing techniques, drawings and shapes, and growing in size every time it sets sail in the air. Museo aero solar stands for a different conception of space and energy, both anomalous and forceful at the same time. The core of the museo resides in the inventiveness of local inhabitants, not in its image: among spontaneous networking action and art, do-it-yourself technology and dreaming, it is a voyage back/forward in time. Museo aero solar has already traveled to Sharjah (United Arabs Emirates), Isola neighborhood in Milano (Italy), Medellin(Colombia, Lyon (France), Rapperswil (Switzerland), Tirana (Albania) and Ein Hawd (first recognized Arab village in Israel). From October 1-12, 2008 it will be in Minneapolis, MN, U.S. http://www.museoaerosolar.org www.youtube.com/aerosolar aerosolar@gmail.com
15 07 2008 July 4th: out at Guggenheim Museum Bilbao Out & Isola at Museo Guggenheim Bilbao in the context of the installation “Untitled (he promised) by Rirkrit Tiravanija 12:00: Presentation of the Schindler House and the work of out – Office for Urban Transformation 12:30: IN/OUT (official urbanism/marginal urbanism. Public discussion: Renaud Codron, Lorenzo Rocha, Fabrice Mafolo, Pascal Lecailletel 13:30: ISOLA NOSTRA video by Mariette Schiltz and Bert Theis produced by out for Istanbul Biennial 2007 target="_blank">http://es.youtube.com/watch?v=FC7mVOwiKAQ
15 07 2008 12-14 July 2008: Art, Society and Urban Space: International Guerrilla Festival in Milan Milan 12-14 July 2008 Art, Society and Urban Space: The Second Edition of the IGVFest comes to Milan The mobile festival of video art travels to the zones of Corso Como, Chinatown and Isola. The videos of artists artists active in the area and international artists will be projected on the walls, streets, and squares transforming the city into a living screen. The International Guerrilla Video Festival (IGVFest) is a migratory festival that integrates video art with the urban and social environment. The initiative was founded by the curator Jason Waite and had its first edition in Florence in 2006. One of the aims of the festival is to create a continuous dialogue from the videos into the community, focusing on lapses in the current framework such as an absence of communication or invisible components of the area. Open to local and international artists, the festival widens the panorama of the discourse to include the perspective of communities elsewhere that have parallel circumstances. The 2008 edition in Milan will be located in three different zones of the city over three evenings, starting at 9:30 pm. The festival begins July 12th in Corso Como, then transfers to Chinatown (via Paolo Sarpi) on July 13th and concludes on July 14th in Isola. The International Guerrilla Video Festival (IGVFest) is a mobile festival integrating video art with the urban and social environment. The festival removes the technologically complex medium of video out of the institutional situation re-positioning it as open and reflexive in the public domain. The artworks have sitespecific thematic relations to the space where they are shown, engaging and reflecting upon the unique architectural, historical and interpersonal context of each area where the festival travels. Artists: 3P=3Players, 21bis, Alterazione Video, Anti-Advertising Agency & Graffiti Research Lab, Zhao Bandi, Raphael Copper & Li Qiu Qiu, Wu Ershan, Shu Haolun, Qiu Jun, Labratorio Mobile, Zhenchen Liu, Francesca Montà & Marthe van Dessel, Plaza Real Foundation, Mariette Schiltz & Bert Theis, Nadja Schrade, Jonathan Trayner, Marco Villani, Fiona Whitty, Chen Zhong. A self-contained, transportable GPU (Guerrilla Projector Unit) facilitates the incursions into the public realm. Transforming public space into a fertile ground for experimentation toward new possibilities in the relationship between art and society. Festival Locations: The map with all of the festival sites and times can be downloaded from www.igvfest.com. In the neighborhoods of Chinatown and Isola the festival will be accompanied by the trip-hop group ilmionomenonhaimportanza. The acoustic mobile set will intervene at the different sites with contributions by musicians based in the area. The IGVFest is organized with collaboration from Cittadellarte-Fondazione Pistoletto, Unidee-University of Ideas, Isola Art Center, La Pergola Social Center, Intelligent Alternative (Beijing) Info: +39 333 7658678: e-mail: igvfest@gmail.com: website: www.igvfest.com
29 04 2008 23rd, 24th, 25th of May 2008: inContemporanea. Triennale di Milano 23rd, 24th, 25th of May 2008 inContemporanea, the art network Triennale of Milano Viale Alemagna 6 10.30/23.00 New Museum a project by KINGS curated by Alessandra Poggianti Isola Art Center, on the occasion of inContemporanea, the art event promoted by the Province of Milano, presents New Museum, a project by KINGS curated by Alessandra Poggianti. New Museum is a 10 meters long writing made of neon, realized in 2006 in order to be put on the roof of the “Stecca degli Artigiani”, the place where Isola Art Center used to carry on its activities. The project is based on what Henri Lefebvre has once called “the logic of visualization”: besides communicating to the neighborhood the existence of an art center, thus legitimating its clandestine presence, the writing aims to make visible to the public the specific precarity of the place, overwhelmed by the arrogant dynamics of banalization and omologation of public space. Some months after having placed the neon writing on its roof, in fact, that precarious space (the “Stecca degli Artigiani”) has been destroyed and the New Museum piece had to start an ongoing period of “poaching”. Today, as a guest of inContemporanea, it is thus carrying out a new function: instead of indicating the existence of a place, it marks its period of transition, that is a special moment during which Isola Art Center is re-thinking its own tactics and strategies. Having lost its originary and representative place, now its activities are forced to move around the urban tissue of the Isola neighborhood. As a guest of other associations, shops and public spaces, Isola Art Center has ended up creating a solidarity network through which it tries to re-invent the relations between the individual and the social body, as much as re-conceptualizing the public space as a space of action, in order to start a process that can change the social structure into a generator of creativity. Presentation of a flyer created for inContemporanea 2. Curated by Mariette Schiltz. Graphic design: Tommaso Garner. Text: Alberto Pesavento, Marco Scotini, Bert Theis, Vincenzo Latronico, Luis Miguel Selvelli, Alessandra Poggianti. Translation: Vincenzo Latronico, Luis Miguel Selvelli. Photo: Simona Barbagallo, Stefano Boccalini, Kings, out, Alberto Pesavento, Tomas Saraceno, Fabrizio Stipari, Bert Theis. Photo poster image: Maria Vittoria Trovato and Urban Blooz Project, “Interferences”, "subvertisement" act carried out for the Situazionisola exhibition, Isola Art Center, Milano, 2007. Sunday 25th of May 2008 Picnic, Art and Music in a one-day garden since 11am – Minniti Square, Milano The Isola Forum in collaboration with Isola Art Center organizes a day-long event dedicated to the collective creation of a temporary garden, in order to celebrate there a pleasant picnic. During the day there will be the opening of an exhibition by the young artists of NABA at the Tantrika exhibiting space of via Pollaiuolo 2, and a guided tour of the Verde Permanente / Permanent Green exhibition. Moreover, a surprise music event!
06 04 2008 April 13th – July 31st, 2008: VERDE PERMANENTE / PERMANENT GREEN Isola Art Center e Forum Isola present VERDE PERMANENTE/PERMANENT GREEN April 10th and 13th – July 31st, 2008 Art around the streets of Isola supporting the neighbourhood parks Works on shop shutters, videos, open-air performances. curated by Bert Theis "Verde Permanente/Permanent Green" is an exhibition conceived in various friendly venues that, after the gallery’s original space was torn down alongside the Stecca degli Artigiani, have agreed to host the Center through a network of mutual support. "Verde Permanente /Permanent Green" thus hits the road, using over twenty shop shutters to display art projects, in cooperation with other international art centers. This series of interventions starts shaping a project whose title evokes the neighborhood’s only public green, a necessary breathing lung that was recently privatized. The exhibition collects a wide variety of artistic experiences each in its own way taking a stand with respect to the environmental issues recently raised by the reckless urge to build. Such an issue deeply concerns both the whole of Milan and the inhabitants of the Isola neighborhood, still fighting for the “Parco Possibile”, an alternative development project allowing to save the park and create a Center for art and community life. Our struggle’s first positive results have been obtained in the neighborhood council, in the Regional Administrative Court and in the Italian Supreme Court. The “Temporary green”, as the city council once referred to our park, must become a “Permanent green”. Video Fikret Atay, Kurdistan/Turchia: “Tinica”, video 7’32”, 2004 Minouk Lim, Corea: “New Town Ghost”, video 10'28", 2005 Sound Metak, Piazzale Segrino 1 tuesday-friday, 3.30-7.30 Opening: Thursday, April 10th, 2008, from 6.30 pm Both videos have been premiered at the 10th Istanbul Biennial, in 2007, and try to capture a frantic urban growth that leaves no room for the individual inhabitants’ lives and desires. This is true of Batman, Turkey, of Seoul, Korea and of Milan, Italy: skyscrapers and concrete invade all green spaces. Shutters Alek O., Kristine Alksne, Stefano Arienti, John Armleder, Dafne Boggeri, Michelangelo Consani, Stina Fisch, Gaia Fugazza, Kings, Peter Kogler, Maija Kurseva, Gabriele di Matteo, Osservatorio inOpera, Adrian Paci, Luca Pozzi, Matteo Rubbi, Marco Vaglieri - out, Werkstatt, Fani Zguro Via Thaon Di Revel / Via Lambertenghi / Via Pollaiuolo / Via della Pergola / Piazza Minniti /Via Pastrengo / Via Pepe / Via Borsieri / Via Sebenico. Opening: Spazio Espositivo Tantrika, via Pollaiuolo 2, Sunday, April 13th, from 11 am. Isola Rosta Project’s second edition is an event taking place in various streets of the Isola neighborhood. Both Italian and international artists have conceived big format drawings on the shutters of over twenty shops and cultural associations. The project has been possible thanks to the help of professionals and international institutions as well as the neighborhood inhabitants. Special Project Con-senso by Luciana Andreani curated by Giacomo Bazzani Sunday, April 13th, 1 pm in Piazza Minniti An artistic event seeking to involve the Isola neighborhood inhabitants in the public discussion of contemporary ways of consumption and their impact on urban design choices. Access to the Isola neighborhood park has been barred and the Stecca degli Artigiani was torn down. The neighborhood lacks room for the inhabitants to aggregate, thus forcing them to meet and develop their relationships on the streets. Acknowledgements: Latvian Center for Contemporary Art, Riga / Mamco, Ginevra / Casino Forum d’art contemporain, Lussemburgo / Galleria Chantal Crousel, Parigi / NABA, Milano /Vasif Kortun, Istanbul / Manu Park, Gwangju. supported by the Province of Milan __________________________________________________________________ info: 339 60 57 111 info@isolartcenter.org www.isolartcenter.org
06 04 2008 Thursday, April 10th, from 6.30 pm, Video at Sound Metak, Piazzale Segrino 1 ISOLA ART CENTER and FORUM ISOLA present April 13th – July 31st, 2008 VERDE PERMANENTE / PERMANENT GREEN Art around the streets of Isola supporting the neighbourhood parks Works on shop shutters, videos, open-air performances. curated by Bert Theis VIDEO Fikret Atay, Minouk Lim Sound Metak, Piazza Segrino 2 Tuesday - Friday 15.30-19.30 Opening on Thursday, April 10th, from 6.30 pm Fikret Atay Tinica 2004 In Tinica (2004), a young man stands on a hill overlooking Batman. He prepares with utmost care a makeshift drum set from used cans, plastic bottles, and container covers. He gives a bravura performance to an indifferent and distant city-scape. Upon finishing, he kicks the drum set down the hill in total detachment. The cans and bottles roll down the slope in the direction of the town and finally come to rest among the rubbish at the bottom. The drumsticks are thrown not to the competing hands of fans, but with disdain towards the town which is deaf to him. New Town Ghost 10'28" 2005 In the video, we see a young woman as a slammer and a drummer who performs on top of a truck. Her short hair and wild eyes convey her aggressive demeanour. She is hanging around the streets of Yeongdeungpo in Seoul. For more than a century that part of the city has been an important industrial area, and recently it has been decided to transform as one of the 'new towns' of the Seoul Metropolitan Government's New Town Project. Yeongdeungpo is a symbol not only for Minouk Lim but also for other Koreans of the same generation. Lim transforms the perception of space into a dystopian form of hope, a retrospectively sarcastic belief for a better future and a sort of resistance to change. During her trip, she uses a megaphone to read a text that talks about the new mall, the housing complex and the economy of the 'new ghost town'. New ghosts and new hosts for those ghosts… Adnan Yildiz ( part of text from exhibition 'An Atlas of Event' 2007 at Lisbon) http://www.soundmetak.com
14 03 2008 Wednesday, March 19 2008: Isola Art Center presents 3 works by Paola Di Bello Isola Art Center presents 3 works by Paola Di Bello Tantrika Shop Spazio Espositivo Via Pollaiuolo 2, Milano, MM Garibaldi Wednesday, March 19 2008 18.00 – 21.00 2006, Framing the Community 2007, Strip, via de Castillia and via Confalonieri 2007, L'Isola-Che-Non-C'è Tantrika Shop, in via Pollaiuolo 2, hosts for one night three recent works of Paola Di Bello’s, created within the neighborhood’s situation of conflict. Framing the Community displays about fifty pictures of local families, taken within the “Stecca degli Artigiani” – nowadays torn down; Strip is a take at reporting the situation in the park and the “Stecca” itself as of one year ago; L’Isola-Che-Non-C’è is a project advocating free access for children and families to the via Confalonieri park, oftentimes obstructed by cars. Paola Di Bello’s photographic project can be seen as an eclectic taxonomy of contemporary areas of urban disquiet: from Italian working class neighbourhoods, to favelas in Sao Paulo; from Romani’s suburban nomad camps, to squatters in Tokio. It is difficult to isolate one representative image, not because they have a serial character, but because each time they are determined by specific social and spatial relations. These work as an organising grid, coherent yet fragmented in variables, in different territorial sections, in images that can be composed and recomposed as in a Perec puzzle or a Borges map. Paola Di Bello’s work could thus be characterised as a geo-photography of the global city. For years Isola Art Center has been cooperating with Forum Isola to convert former industrial building “Stecca degli artigiani” in a Center for art and community life. Isola Art Center remains a laboratory offering an experimental platform to contemporary art, acting with interdisciplinary methods, international yet firmly rooted in the local social fabric, with the long-term aim of opposing political decisions and urban design projects that will have a negative impact on the neighborhood. In April 2007 the city government and real estate multinational Hines have cleared the Stecca, evicting Isola Art Center and the artisans and associations, subsequently proceeding to the demolition of the building, destroying or damaging of many works of art. The operation was aimed at delivering the Stecca and park to the corporation, so as to develop new buildings summing up to over 90.000 m3. Such project has been opposed by many legal actions and by the alternative project “Il Parco Possibile„ , recently approved by the local council. Isola Art Center’s firm local rooting has allowed it to survive the eviction and carry on its activities hosted by other venues in the neighborhood, such as cultural association Punto Rosso, Sound Metak, and Tantrika Shop. We are thankful to Federico Bianchi Arte Contemporanea and Marco Scotini.
10 03 2008 15.2. - 5.4.08: OUT (Office for urban Transformation) at Galerie Erna Hecey, Brussels. BERT THEIS Platforms and Aggregations 15 February 2008 - 5 April 2008 Tuesday to Saturday from 2 to 7 pm and by appointment Erna Hecey Gallery is pleased to present the exhibition Platforms and Aggregations by Luxembourg artist Bert Theis (°1952; lives and works in Milan and Luxembourg). Bert Theis constructed his system of artistic thoughts and actions entirely on the enquiry of the relationship between art and public space, between the “art object” as a personal proposal to the public space and the intervention of the public through their active participation in the making of the final sense of the work. In the meantime, Bert Theis’ proposal has always been specific – site specific and, in his words: “audience specific”, while a big picture of the position of public art in urban space has developed. While urban spaces are gradually privatised due to the introduction of both global capital and new technology, Bert Theis seeks to propose alternatives to balance out such a tendency and hence revitalise urban life itself. The exhibition Platforms and Aggregations will present an assembly of models, photographs and video of Bert Theis’ interventions, often adapting the form of platforms, in various public spaces and art institutions throughout the world. These platforms are painted white, expanding into public spaces, embracing the interventions of the public. They are tangible and physical, results of deliberately planned occupations of urban territories with strategies of minimalist and even immaterial transformations of the given conditions. They are discrete, firmly anti-spectacular. They provide, in turn, the best spaces for spectacular events ranging from meditation, games, dances, concerts to all kinds of everyday activities. However, these activities have never been planned and organised by the artist. Instead, they are improvised and realised by the public with passion and spontaneous inspirations. This is particularly remarkable because it incarnates perfectly the logic of self-organisation and self-governance: the most decisive element in the creation of sustainable urban societies which is at the very centre of Bert Theis’ artistic concept. Besides he likes to call his work philosophic. They are systematically informed by philosophic works and guide the audience to reflect “philosophically” on life. In addition Bert Theis presents his photomontages of the city, a place that is our essential Umwelt, but at the same time completely denaturalised. A different city is nevertheless possible. In these photomontages Bert Theis operates an ecologic deconstruction of metropolises like Paris, Milan and Münster. These cities are completely invaded by dense vegetation, except for skyscrapers, church steeples, monuments, etc. As such it seems that Bert Theis converts the modern metaphor of the urban jungle. Also included in this exhibition is the research institution OUT - Office for Urban Transformation, created by Bert Theis and his colleagues of the Isola (Art) Project Milan. The aim is to look for solutions of “sustainable urbanism”. They have come up with the notion of “Telecity” intending to substitute the conventional image of the city as a “concrete jungle” with an innovative and humane “digital jungle”. More significantly they put forward, alongside with new technologies and ecology, new administrational forms - new communities along with self-governance - in order to make the new urban life really relevant and hence sustainable. This is Bert Theis’ third solo exhibition at Erna Hecey Gallery. Bert Theis has realised some remarkable projects at the Venice Biennial, Venice, Italy (1995); Skulptur Projekte, Münster, Germany (1997); Manifesta 2, Casino Luxembourg, Luxembourg (1998); the Gwangju Biennial, Gwangju, Korea (2002); the 5th Shenzhen Public Art Exhibition, Shenzhen, China (2003); the 2nd Tirana Biennale, Tirana, Albania (2003); BOZAR, Brussels, Belgium (2005); MUDAM, Fondation Musée d’Art Moderne, Luxembourg (2006); Busan Biennial, Busan, Korea (2006); Domaine départemental de Chamarande, France (2006/2007), the 10th Istanbul Biennial, Istanbul, Turkey (2007) and MAMCO, Musée d’art moderne et contemporain, Geneva, Switzerland (2007). For more information on Isola (Art) Project and OUT – Office for Urban Transformation, check www.isolartcenter.org Per informazione:http://www.ernahecey.com/
29 01 2008 Friday, February 1st, 2008: Street by street Isola Art Center www.isolartcenter.org info@isolartcenter.org info: 339.6057111 hosted by Associazione culturale Punto Rosso Via Pepe 14, Milano, MM Garibaldi Friday February 1st, 2008, hours 19.00 – 22.00 STREET BY STREET After years operating within Milan’s Isola neighborhood, amidst a lasting urban conflict between inhabitants, politicians and private realtors which eventually resulted in its spaced being erased, Isola Art Center keeps offering attention and visibility to artistic and theoretical research projects aimed at discovering crisis patterns and new possibilities of urban living, seeking a new beginning on the streets themselves. Street spaces, subject as they are to control, are paradoxically the first to offer opportunities for innovative forms of action. To open the 2008 season, Isola Art Center proposes a special event: - a meeting with Cuban artist Carlos Garaicoa - the presentation of the new issue of philosophical journal millepiani - the screening of Fani Zguro’s video “Street by Street” - an extension of Isola Rosta Project 1 on Punto Rosso’s shutters, until March 1st, 2008. > Carlos Garaicoa The meeting with Cuban artist Carlos Garaicoa will be attended by curators Roberto Pinto and Marco Scotini. Thanks to NABA, New Academy of Fine Arts, Milan. “A place’s history is engraved in its streets. You don’t have to read books to know what’s been happening. The main question I ask myself then is: how do you discover a city?” Carlos Garaicoa was born in Havana, in 1967, where he still lives and works. His research has been centered since its start on architectures and cities. He’s been known on the international scene after he took part in the Havana Biennial, Cuba (V, VI and VII), São Paulo Biennial, Brazil (XXIV and XXVI) and Documenta XI (Kassel 1997). Since the early Nineties his work has been presented to the public in a vast amount of solo and groups shows in important institutions: Centro Wilfredo Lam and Fundación Ludwig de Cuba, L’Avana; Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston; Kunsthalle, Vienna; Museo de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid e Vancouver Art Gallery, Canada. In Italy his work has been shown at Castello di Rivoli, Turin, at Galleria Continua, San Gimigniano, in 2005’s Venice Biennial as well as in Isola Art Center, Milan. > millepiani 33 For a political ecology, against all economy of value. Presentation of millepiani 33 dedicated to André Gorz with Tiziana Villani and Alessandro Rudelli. The crisis in the sphere of contemporary subjectivity has brought before us an undeferrable task: the need to consider in all their breadth the conditions of impoverishment and debasement to which existences are now subsumed. The hegemony of an ideology that takes man to be but a means to produce wealth, the deceitful insistence of those who keep eulogizing the primacy of business-mankind, whose “self-valuation” ability would be spendable only within the prodution-goods-consommation circuit, unambiguously explain the sadness, vulgarity and violence unmistakably marking our present time. Technological, social and economical transformations are – as we have seen over many issues of millepiani – “meaning transformations”, requiring not only a critical analysis, but also new modes and practices of interpretation. millepiani 33 has texts by André Gorz and contributions by Christian Bernard, Giacomo Bazzani, Davide Calenda, Saverio Caponi, Ubaldo Fadini, Luca Greco, Roberto Marchesini, Patrizia Mello, Luca Mori, Daniela Piana, Stefano Righetti, Felix Stadler, Simone Vertucci, Tiziana Villani. The cover picture is by Bert Theis. > Fani Zguro, “Street by Street”, video 9 min, 2007 The video, on Italian premiere, has been shot on the streets of Tirana. With this work, Albanian artist Fani Zguro has won Onufri Prize’s fourteenth edition, held by the Tirana National Gallery in 2007 and curated by Ervin Hatibi and Rubens Shima. “What strikes me the most when I come back to Tirana is how much my city is different from the places I arrive in. The first thing that gets you is the sunlight’s incredible strength. Each movement in Tirana is made possible by everyone’s reflexes; when a muezzin is singing the belfry also gives its best… when stray dogs are scratching non-stop, the tourist can find a good meal…” Fani Zguro lives and works in Tirana and Milan. In 2007 his work has been shown in Milan (MiArt, Galleria Unorossodue), Modena (“Lo Schermo Ansioso”, curated by Matteo Chini and Bruno Muzzolini), Tirana (National Gallery of Arts, Tirana Institute for Contemporary Art, 5th Tirana International Film Festival) and Pristina (Mulliqi International Prize, Kosovo). On the same year he has also taken part in “Absolute Beginners” (Isola Art Center), a group show featuring also Jakup Ferri’s, Armand Lulaj’s and Anri Sala’s earliest works. He is the director of Tirana Art Center, which on February 18th 2008 will be hosting “museo aero solar”, a solar energy hot-air balloon created and designed by the inhabitants with Tomas Saraceno, originally realized by Isola Art Center in the district of Milan. > Isola Rosta Project 1 extended until March 1 Marco Colombaioni, Dan Perjovschi, Andreas Siekmann, Marco Vaglieri Rosta was the name of the Russian telegraphy agency which, from 1919 on, had been using its window displays to show posters created ad hoc by artists such as Vladimir Majakowski. Isola Rosta Project 1 displayed big format drawings on the shutters of the Punto Rosso cultural association. The works were centered on the risks the Isola neighborhood has been facing, owing to the urban design projects Saskia Sassen has recently summarized with: “Too much displacement, too much power casting the weaker away”. ...and Isola goes Tuscany Strong end weak end nella città che sale curated by Pierluigi Tazzi. Dryphoto arte contemporanea, via Pugliesi 23, Prato, January 19th – March 14th 2008. After partaking – with contributions by Luciana Andreani, Alberto Pesavento e Rafaela Trevisan – to the round table held in Florence on January 18th at Gecekondu Networking event 2006-2007, Isola Art Center will be presenting its work in DRYPHOTO Arte Contemporanea, Prato. Some of our video works will be shown: Mariette Schiltz’s Isola Nostra, 2007, premiered in the 2007 Istanbul Biennial, and the video documentation of two projects by Italian artist Stefano Boccalini: Stone Island, 2007 and Wild Island – Archivi 2.0.2002. There will also be a presentation of the Center’s website www.isolartcenter.org.
23 10 2007 Monday, October 29th 2007, 6.30-10.00 pm at Associazione Culturale Punto Rosso:Isola Rosta Project 1 Isola Art Center www.isolartcenter.org info@isolartcenter.org info: 339.6057111 Monday, October 29th 2007, 6.30-10.00 pm, Associazione Culturale Punto Rosso Via Pepe 14, opposite Via Carmagnola Garibaldi MM2 Subway After having lost its spaces at the second floor of La Stecca, where artists, curators, philosophers and neighborhood associations have been working for 4 years, Isola Art Center moves out, and considers the whole Isola district as its working field and exhibition space. This season’s first event will be hosted by the cultural association Punto Rosso, which has agreed to offer its shutters to Isola Art Center as a public exhibition space, and its conference hall as video projection room for the italian premiere of “Isola Nostra”, a documentary outlining a sketch of recent history some people would happily ignore. Isola Rosta project 1 will be opening on closed shutters, both as a form of protest against a policy aimed at effacing places and in the attempt at concealing a social and artistic project of international scope. Isola Art Center and Forum Isola present: Isola Nostra A film by Mariette Schiltz, 2007, 60’ An italian premiere will be held for the video on the Isola neighborhood shown at the Istanbul Biennale 2007. The film narrates six years of Isola’s history, and is divided into six chapters: The district, its public space with the parks and the former factory, the urban transformation projects, the neighborhood associations’ reactions, the role of contemporary art in this process, the conflict between the Milan city hall, the real estate companies and the inhabitants of Isola, and last summer’s final events. The film makes a clear stand in favour of the district’s demands and collates for the first time a lot of unpublished documentary footage. Starting from Tuesday, October 30, the video will be visible online at the following address: http://undo.net/eventinvideo/63 Isola Rosta Project 1 Marco Colombaioni, Dan Perjovschi, Andreas Siekmann, Marco Vaglieri (out) Rosta was the name of the Russian telegraphy agency which, from 1919 on, had been using its window displays to show posters created ad hoc by artists such as Vladimir Majakowski. Isola Rosta Project 1 will show big format drawings by Italian and international artists on the shutters of the Punto Rosso cultural association. Marco Colombaioni’s prophetic drawing representing La Stecca’s demolition had been on public display for the first time in march 2005 in the out–office. Marco Vaglieri, too, in a 2005 drawing made for out, anticipated an outcome reached only in 2007, when a project has been set forth for two high rise buildings on the Isola parks. In 2005 Adrian Paci, as curator of the “Revolution is on hold” show, transferred on the walls of Isola Art Center’s cafeteria a series of drawings by Bucarest artist Dan Perjovschi. Those drawings and several other art works have been destroyed when the construction firm hired by real estate company Hines demolished La Stecca’s inner walls. Isola Rosta Project 1 will feature new drawings by Dan Perjovschi, who’s been among the artists invited for this year’s Venice Biennale and has held a solo show at the NY MoMA. The project will also include two graphic design projects by Andreas Siekmann, the only artist featured, last summer, in both Documenta 12 and Sculptur.Projects Münster. His works will tackle the gentrification undergone by working-class neighborhoods to turn them into highbrow communities: such is the risk posed to the Isola district by the urban design projects Saskia Sassen has thus summarized: “Too much displacement, too much power casting the weak out”.
04 09 2007 The Lombardy Court Appeals has ruled in favour of the action of the citizens The Lombardy Court Appeals has ruled in favor action of the citizens of the Isola neighborhood, revoking the permit to build a commercial development in the parks on Via Confalonieri.
03 09 2007 Made In Isola Art Center hosted by AssabOne via Assab, 1 20132 Milano “Made In” New Works, Plamen Dejanoff in collaboration with Hubmann&Vass architects Vienna Body-Without-Organs, Daniela Kostova in collaboration with Dj Joro Boro Curated by Katia Anguelova Opening– Monday, 28th May 2007, 7pm 29th May– 28 June 2007 Assab One (piano terra) Via Assab, 1 20132 Milano (from Tuesday-Fryday -3pm-7pm) Isola Art Center runs the risk of losing the spaces in which it has operated since 2003, and no suitable alternative space in which to continue its activity has been proposed. Temporary Isola Art Center is hosted by AssabOne, an exhibition space founded by Elena Quarestani that produces and promotes cultural and art projects. Isola Art Center has worked with 1500 square meters of exhibition space on the second floor of the industrial building known as the "Stecca degli Artigiani", owned by the city. The space contains a permanent collection of artworks inserted in the architecture of the building by international artists like Marjetica Potrc, Tania Brughiera, Seamus Farrell and Italian artists like Michelangelo Pistoletto, Stefano Arienti, Luca Pancrazzi, Massimo Bartolini, Gabriele Di Matteo, Vedovamazzei, Loris Cecchini and Bernardo Giorgi. For this event Katia Anguelova has invited Daniela Kostova and Plamen Dejanoff –residents of NY, USA and Vienna, Austria respectively. The two artists share a common Bulgarian origin that also acts as a starting point for their projects. Plamen Dejanoff’s project originates from the relationships between art, culture and economy, issues that the artist has been investigating for some years now. In Planets of Comparison Dejanoff explores the relations between the systems of art and of economy. Here he acts simultaneously as artist, manager and collector. In the nineties Dejanoff bought seven houses in Veliko Tarnovo (a city in the centre of Bulgaria) to be restructured by Plamen Dejanoff in collaboration with a number of architecture studies (Kühn/Malvezzi, Vienna, Berlin, Grüntuch & Ernst Berlin, Gruppo A12 Milano, Cocktail Lyon) and afterwards used by institutions, galleries and museums for cultures activities. The project started with MUMOK, the Museum of Modern Art Ludwig Foundation Vienna, where a bronze statue representing a part of the first realised house was exhibited in the spring of 2006 (the project was realised by Plamen Dejanoff with the Austian architects Wiederin/Konzett and Hubmann &Vass). The project will then move to Veliko Tarnovo where MUMOK will be establishing a space in the Balkans for the next years. Plamen combines strategies of art and business in a similar way to how Andy Warhol combined Pop and Conceptual Art. For this exhibition Plamen Dejanoff presents a new phases of the project on MUMOK house in Veliko Tarnovo, designed together with architects Erich Hubmann & Andreas Vass from Vienna, featuring drawings, maquettes, and a new objects branded ‘dejanoff’ that are actually realised in collaboration with bulgarian craftmens and “made in Bulgaria”. This project, playful and economically rewarding at the same time, transforms the existential experience into a sort of joint venture which is typical in the real economy, thus continuing his investigation into art and economy. Daniela Kostova uses her documentary video, Body-Without-Organs, as raw material for an installation, especially designed originally for Isola Art Centre, composed of a series of ‘social environments’. The passage through the installation invites viewers to reflect on the issues of emigration, travelling and music as a point of integration. The title of the work borrows the concept of “body-without-organs” from Gilles Deleuze. The expression “le corps sans organs” may seem obscure, but its definition is quite clear. It means conceptualizing the body without reducing it to an organic form, not a body deprived of the organs, instead a body on its way to differentiation. The body without organs is therefore in-organic life and, as such, a power of individualization not yet turned into an organism. The exhibition becomes a means for cultural dialogue and confrontation between geographical places that are different yet near. Inspired by the New York music scene of ethno-mesh and gypsy-punk the installation describes the Bulgarian Bar ironically named the Bulgarian Cultural Centre in New York City seen through the eyes of those recently emigrated there. Bulgarian Bar is not a “cultural center” but rather a cultural imaginary and an area of converging opposite tendencies: on one hand the institutional representation of the National Cultural Center and on the other the essence of the nomad spirit expressed through the gypsy-punk music. Dancing in the Bulgarian Bar transcends the usual bodily function, overiding it with new possible meanings provided by the orgasmic fusion with music. The experience in the Bulgarian Bar becomes an anthropological metaphor that shows plurality of culture. The work of Daniela Kostova becomes the search of one’s self in the human community, where spiritual values are the consequence of collective adventures. It is not by chance that DJ Boro says of gypsy music – “the gypsy idea works very well, because they don’t have a state. They are continuously nomadic”. In short, the party depends on the people’s possibilities and on their capacity to forget their own identities. For further information please contact the curator of the exhibition, Katia Anguelova, zebonski@fastwebnet.it For image material please contact info@isolartcenter.org Thanks to Elena Quarestani and Supporting body: European Cultural Foundation the project is supported by: Province of Milan _____________________________________________________________________ Save Isola Art Center! - Non chiudete Isola Art Center! - Save Isola Art Center!
09 08 2007 Laws of Relativity Laws of relativity Curated by Anna Colin and Elena Sorokina. Alterazioni Video | Anamaria Bresciani | Paolo Chiasera | Claire Fontaine | Formazero | Norma Jeane | Elena Nemkova | Anapaula Pasarini | Andrea Salvino | Shoggoth (Paolo Pennuti in collaboration with Lorenzo Pazzi and Gianluca Stazi) | Mario Spada | Lupo&Burtscher | Eugenio Tibaldi | Italo Zuffi | and more artists to be confirmed Laws of relativity brings together artistic work that reflects on the tensions between legal and illegal in Italy and abroad. The project sheds light on practices which query the way constitutional laws as well as unwritten rules function, their stability and rightfulness both on the short- and long-term. The relativity – ensuing from cultural, historical, economical, political and geographical difference – of the very notions of legality and legitimacy are being put forward for thought and comment in this exhibition. The works and projects presented provide different takes and strategies to address this topic and to navigate the spaces in between legal and illegal. Several research-oriented projects point to concrete cases in the recent past, when the legality of the State's actions became questionable and strong opposition arose. Using film, documentary, audio recording, photography, drawing or installation, some artists adopt a sociological or journalistic approach (Elena Nemkova, Mario Spada and Eugenio Tibaldi) – sometimes one that reinterprets the subject under scrutiny (Shoggoth). While, a few artists make use of metaphorical modes of address (Paolo Chiasera) or represent events according to the modern tradition of societal portrayal (Andrea Salvino), others opt for more direct means of action such as provocation (Italo Zuffi), the realisation of an illegal act (Claire Fontaine) or the denunciation of arbitrary governmental decisions (Formazero). In the latter case, this can be done through providing structural support to the group of people affected by these decisions, or, in the case of Alterazioni Video, through giving legal support. Here, what is known as legal action – respectively evicting sans-papiers squatters from a building and suing demonstrators for the physical damage they’ve caused during their opposition – is presented as defendable (or is defended) by the artists who dispute the verdict. If in many cases the artists choose to treat or refer to a specific context – illegal buildings in Naples or the power structures of the art world, for instance – the works’ main reading is often a commentary on the relevance and meaning of such topics on a global level and within other realities. Laws of relativity will be designed by Studio Lupo&Burtscher, which will also devise a design solution for the archive compiled by the curators together with Jimena Acosta during their research throughout Italy this Spring. Composed of audiovidual material and publications including catalogues and artists' books, the archive’s content relfects upon the issues treated in both exhibitions, while opening it up to wider possibilities.
07 04 2007 Monday, April 16th 2007: situazionIsola. A new Urbanism situazionIsola A New Urbanism curators Marco Biraghi, Maurizio Bortolotti, Bert Theis with the support of NABA and Forum Isola and the official support of the Province of Milan Special Event Saturday 14 April 2007, 11.00-18.00, Giardini di via Confalonieri, Isola Tomas Saraceno: Think global, act local! (project curator Maurizio Bortolotti), for the creation of the first flying museum: Museo Aerosolar. Construction of a solar energy hot-air balloon with the inhabitants of the Isola neighborhood, and flight test. The Argentine artist and architect Tomas Saraceno has developed this project during a long residency, in close contact with local residents and the young artists of Isola Art Center. Hundreds of people have collected thousands of plastic shopping bags to create this group work. The project is being developed on a global scale with the collaboration of other institutions. The collection of plastic bags has also been done at: Sharjah Biennial 8, UAE United Arab Emirates, La casa del encuentro cerca a el museo de Antioquia- Medellín, Colombia, Flugzeug Hanger, Flugplatz am Burghof 55 Bonamese/Kalbach- Germany. Collettivo 3.2.1.: Workshop on the construction of paper balloons, for children of the Isola neighborhood. This is the second appointment after the success of the event held on 24 March. The project of Collettivo 3.2.1. is connected to that of Tomas Saraceno and has also made it possible to get local children involved, a fundamental factor for the construction of the Center for Art and the Quarter in the parks of the neighborhood, Isola-Q’ART, the workshop activated by Forum Isola. Exhibition opening Monday 16 April 2007, 18.00-21.00, Isola Art Center 16 April – 15 May 2007 Thursday and Saturday, 16.00-19.00 and by appointment Tomas Saraceno, Argentina, FlyingCity, Korea (project curated by Marco Scotini), Paola Di Bello, King’s (Daniele Inamorato and Federica Perazzoli), Marco Colombaioni and Bert Theis, Steve Piccolo with Xabier Iriondo, Donata Clovis and Manuel Scano, Luciana Andreani, Christophe Bouvet, Brice Della strada e Giovanni Giaretta, Mara Ferreri, Alek O., Alice Pintus, Luca Pozzi, Anja Puntari, Collettivo 3.2.1, Love Difference, Osservatorio inOpera, ufficio out, Forum Isola, Design Course of the Nuova Accademia di Belli Arti (NABA) in collaboration with the Parents’ Association F. Confalonieri (“Piedibus”) The exhibition tries to explore the cultural and social value of an experience like that of the Isola Art Center, in the Isola neighborhood in Milan, as well as the desire and interest of the local residents and a number of artists to produce a gathering place inside a neighborhood with a relatively unified social fabric. The show reinterprets the Isola Art Center phenomenon in relation to the ideas of the Situationist International in the 1960s, a movement that had a particularly active section in Milan. The question taken as a starting point was “which Situationist ideas still survive today, and how many of these ideas still respond to the needs of contemporary life?” In this perspective, “to what extent does an experience like that of Isola Art Center now represent a form of ‘new urbanism’, based on a different way of thinking about urban space and the social ties that form inside it?”. To develop the Isola Art Center project in the light of Situationist ideas, situazionIsola has three closely interconnected parts. - A historical part on Situationist ideas and materials, especially writings, presented in a different way to indicate action-concepts. - A part on the projects completed by Isola Art Center together with local institutions and residents, projects that in some ways reflect the modes of implementation and experimentation of the Situationist legacy. - A part on contemporary artists, with the participation of Flying City and the special project “Think global, act local” by the Argentine artist and architect Tomas Saraceno, produced in collaboration with the inhabitants of the neighborhood and the young artists of Isola Art Center. To underline the timely pertinence of the Situationist movement, the exhibition attempts to evaluate how many of its ideas have become part of the behaviors and modes with which people experience the city today. The possibility of connecting parts of the city neglected by the everyday functions active inside them becomes an interesting point for identification of forms of spontaneous aggregation, offering a different interpretation of urban space. The projects will be placed inside the Isola Art Center and in the nearby parks, or precisely in public spaces that are threatened with demolition due to the city’s plans for the transformation of the area. Curators: Marco Biraghi teaches contemporary architectural history at the Milan Polytechnic. He works with a number of architecture magazines, and is part of the editorial staff of "Casabella". He has written and edited many books on 20th-century architectural culture and criticism. He has lectured at Columbia University and Cooper Union in New York, the Faculty of Fine Arts of Toronto and the Berlage Institute of Rotterdam. Maurizio Bortolotti is an art critic and curator. He contributes to Domus magazine and the online magazine of the University of Leeds, “Seconds”. Curator of Art Experience for Domus Academy. He has recently been curator of the following projects: "No Vitrines, No Artists, No Museums: Just a Lot of People", with Rirkrit Tiravanija, Pierre Huyghe, Philippe Parreno (2004); "Modelmania", with Olafur Eliasson (2005), Venice; with Marco Scotini "The Utopian Display Platform" 2003-2006, Milan; "Yona Friedman. A Project for MART", 2006, Mart, Rovereto. He is now working on projects for Istanbul, Venice, Luxembourg and Birmingham. Bert Theis. Born in Luxembourg, resident in Milan since 1992. He has worked on contemporary art projects at the Isola since 2001, as an artist and subcurator. In 2002 he created OUT (Office for Urban Transformation), with offices in Milan and Mexico DF. He has taken part in international art events like the Venice Biennale 1995, Sculpture. Projects in Münster 1997, Arte all’Arte 1998, Manifesta 1998, Biennial of Gwangju 2002, Biennial of Tirana 2003, Biennial of Busan 2006. __________________________________________________________________________ Save Isola Art Center! - Non chiudete Isola Art Center! - Save Isola Art Center!
20 03 2007 Saturday, 24th march 2007: Collettivo 3.2.1. On saturday 24th of march, from 11am to 5pm in the Confalonieri gardens, Forum Isola presents: Collettivo 3.2.1: First meeting of the workshop for the construction of flying baloons with the children of Isola Neighborhood, under the direction of Alice Rosa, Francesca Riva, Laura Piazzola. The workshop is linked to the project of the argentinian artist Tomas Saraceno "Think global act local", who wants to produce a huge flying baloon powered only by solar energy with the inhabitants of Isola neighborhood. After having shown the videos of similar baloons previously realized in Brazil, the project will be presented at mid April from Isola Art Center and Forum Isola.
20 03 2007 Thursday, March 22nd 2007: Conference Although its difficult situation, Isola Art Center goes on with its artistic calendar: The exposition "Absolute Beginners", showing the works of the albanian artists Jakub Ferri, Armand Lulaj, Anri Sala and Fani Zguro, will be on show until the 5th of April. Opening times: thursdays and saturdays from 4pm to 7 pm, or in case of further special requests. On thursday 22nd of march, panel conference on "Ten years of contemporary art in Albania" with the contribution of Edi Muka, curator and founder ot the Tirana Biennale Roberto Pinto, co-curator of 3rd Tirana Biennale Stefano Romano, artist and founder of the "Insurgent spaces" project in Tirana,previously professor at Fine Arts Academy of Tirana Bert Theis, artist, participant of 2nd Tirana Biennale
17 03 2007 Una Stecca diversa e necessaria Una Stecca diversa e necessaria 1. Diciamo no allo sgombero di artigiani, associazioni e del centro per l’arte presenti all’interno della Stecca degli artigiani. Chiediamo l’allontanamento degli elementi criminosi con interventi delle Forze dell’Ordine che non mettano in pericolo gli abitanti dell’Isola. Chiediamo la chiusura temporanea degli spazi non utilizzati da associazioni qualificanti e di pubblica utilità o da artigiani. 2. Chiediamo che l’area dei due giardini e della Stecca, di proprietà del Comune di Milano, rimanga pubblica, e che i progetti edilizi degli operatori privati siano realizzati dove insistono i loro diritti di volumetria o verso il Garibaldi-Repubblica, senza effettuare lo scambio di aree tra proprietà pubblica e privata. 3. Ci proponiamo di realizzare un Laboratorio per l’Arte e per il Quartiere in una Stecca diversa, ristrutturata e sicura, e nei giardini di via Confalonieri bonificati: Q’ART sarà un luogo di quartiere e d’arte, un luogo da vivere e non solo da visitare, un progetto già in fase di realizzazione con le attività di Isola Art Center e del Forum Isola. Un innovativo uso dello spazio pubblico che prevede la compresenza di più attività, dalla ricerca artistica allo sport, e una inedita formula di aggregazione di tutte le componenti sociali del quartiere, dagli adolescenti fino agli anziani. 4. Il Comune non è il solo e unico proprietario della Stecca. Uno degli artigiani, che dal 1984 dispone come proprio di tutto il secondo piano in modo pacifico e mai contestato dal Comune, ha citato in giudizio quest’ultimo affinchè gli venga riconosciuto il diritto di proprietà da lui usucapito in ragione dei 23 anni passati da quando iniziò ad occupare quei locali. Forum Isola Comitato I Mille Associazione Genitori F. Confalonieri Associazione Isola dell’Arte
03 05 2007 Thursday, March 15th 2007: Absolute Beginners Opening: Thursday 15 March 15th, h 7pm ABSOLUTE BEGINNERS Four artists from Albania and Kosovo curated by Fani Zguro Participating artists: Jakup Ferri | Armando Lulaj | Anri Sala | Fani Zguro Works: Don’t tell anybody (2003): video Walking free in harmony (1999): video-performance Avec Marubi (1996): video-animation Fotogramma (2004): video-loop ABSOLUTE BEGINNERS features four videos by Albanian artists Jakup Ferri, Armando Lulaj, Anri Sala and Fani Zguro. The exhibition’s paradoxical title, ABSOLUTE BEGINNERS, is essentially tied to the participant artists’ condition at the time of the work’s production, evoked as evidence of the indefinable, uncertain moment always catalyzed by beginnings. The ABSOLUTE BEGINNERS project set up in ISOLA ART CENTER aims to explore the first steps of artists now operating on an international scale; the exhibition thus offers an unprecedented configuration of research, doubts, transformations, ways sought and found, investigating the possibilities of artistic survival on the contemporary scene, as well as the ambiguous relationship between up-and-coming artists and established figures in the art system. Jakup Ferri/Don’t tell anybody. Young Kosovan artist Jakup Ferri’s video – “Don’t tell anybody” – is one of his first works, selected from a video cycle made between 2002 and 2005. His works explore the artist’s condition between humor and self-irony, exploiting his image as if it were a depiction of his own research’s first stage. In “Three virgins” the artists takes part with his own voice in a Lennon & Ono duet; in “An artist who speaks no English is no artist”, he ironizes on his own work in terrible English, whilst re-using a title already chosen by Croatian artist Mladen Stilinoviç; the work picked for ABSOLUTE BEGINNERS belongs to this early period: “Don’t tell anybody” displays the artist counting, one by one, a huge heap of rice grains, splitting them into small groups, in search of the exact amount contained in a kilo of rice. Armando Lulaj/ Walking free in harmony. Armando Lulaj’s work has, from the outset, found expression in performances. “Walking free in harmony” is one of his first actions, performed while he still was a student at the Florence Fine Arts Academy; in it, Armando Lulaj sought and developed a relationship with the academy’s environment by impersonating Christ’s last open-armed pose on the academy’s dome – the one sheltering Michelangelo’s David. Following this performance, Armando Lulaj was expelled from the Academy and has carried on with his independent performing, taking part in many international events such as the 2003 Prague Biennale and the 2005 Tirana Biennale. Anri Sala/Avec Marubi. Internationally renowned artist Anri Sala has been showing work for years in the most prominent venues and events of the contemporary art scene, such as the Venice Biennale, Manifesta, Hugo Boss Prize, etc. The work here is perhaps his very first film: “Avec Marubi” is a video-animation based on what is now a cult picture by Albanian photographer Marubi, taken in the early 1900s; two northern Albanian women, traditionally dressed, are working on a sewing machine to make a depiction of Manet’s famous masterpiece, “Le dejeuner sur l’herbe”. By the end, Manet’s naked woman is wearing the same traditional outfit as the two seamstresses in Marubi’s picture. Fani Zguro/Fotogramma. Fani Zguro’s work began in 2004, with “Fotogramma”, shot in Tirana. “Fotogramma” is a short film depicting an alley on a rainy night. The film’s initially short footage has been dilated to almost a minute; the audio has been eliminated. “Fotogramma” is the first part of Fani Zguro’s “Night Project”. Isola Art Center events: Thursday 22 March at 19.00: Discussion: “Albania, 10 years of contemporary art”. Monday 16 April – Tuesday 15 May: “SituazionIsola – a New Urbanism“ curated by Maurizio Bortolotti, Marco Biraghi, Bert Theis
03 12 2006 Saturday, December 16th 2006, “Caosmos” Presentation of Millepiani review The sociologist David Lyon in "The Information Society" gives us a critical analysis of information in the age of new capitalism, introducing a new concept which will be crucial in the developing of his following works: the power of surveillance. According to Lyon "to know is to have power" is a misleading claim in the age of information: "Knowledge is for sure an important issue in the management of power, but who owns this resource does not necessarily detains power as well (...) information means to have power in a different realm, the one of surveillance and control". To these arguments is dedicated the last issue of "Millepiani": G. Simondon - D. Lyon Caosmos Philosophy and technic in the control society For commenting them, we will then gather with some of its authors, as well as some researchers from Uninomade and Out, at Isola Art Center (Stecca degli Artigiani) Via Confalonieri 10, Milano On saturday 16th of december 2006, 5pm
28 11 2006 Friday, December 8th 2006: Collegare & New Museum New Museum by Daniele Innamorato and Federica Perazzoli curated by Alessandra Poggianti Collegare group show curated by Gianni Romano René Arbeithuber, Daniel Lange/Malun, Benjamin Wittner, Sascha Thoma/CASTO, Julie Djohan, Nino Maljevic, Marco Villaseñor, Davide Farabegoli, Linda Hörnquist, Philippe Werhahn New Museum is the ten-meter long neon sign hung on the Isola Art Centre terrace, so as to become its signpost. Such an imposing light sign, readable from afar, signals, self-legitimates and claims both the presence and the existence of a Centre for the Arts. Neon lights are often used in Daniele Innamorato and Federica Perazzoli’s works, aiming, alongside LPs, record covers, sketches and rare rep files, at offering “an anarcho-punk aesthetics typical of dirty boys” (Marco Scotini, exhibition text for “R’n’R”, Artra Gallery, Milan, 2005). On this occasion, the sign atop the Stecca building denies its precariousness, underlining its active presence. Within this “new museum” the two artists have set up a photographical work – linked to the outward stance – activating a musealization process, driven towards a New Museum imagined as “an area viable for anyone… new room for movement, exchange, silence, music…” (Daniele Innamorato and Francesca Perazzoli). “Collegare” represents the result of ten young artists’ cooperation revolving upon the theme of “connection”. This term gathers today many different meanings, reaching far beyond mere “getting connected” or establishing connections between different objects. Such an explosive project is aimed at investigating its various meanings, its hidden faces, letting every artist independently interpret the theme. Valuing very disparate backgrounds, “Collegare” group sports an interesting combination of works, ranging from illustration, fashion design, film, photography, graphics]…], graffitis, interior design, animation… Each different mode of expression corresponds to a distinct cultural context, each work gathering layers of meaning in its relation to each other, resulting in a whole with markedly choral aspects. Interventions by: René Arbeithuber and Daniel Lange/Malun, two young German artists forming together the DFM group. Also from Germany Benjamin Wittner,photographer, Sascha Thoma/CASTO, writer, and artist- designer Julie Djohan. From Serbia video-animations by Nino Maljevic, from Mexico-City filmmaker Marco Villaseñor and from Italy Davide Farabegoli, photographer. Concluding the “connection” the two stylists Linda Hörnquist (Sweden) and Philippe Werhahn (Germany). Program 10 december: “Fashion happen(-ing)”: Linda Hörnquist & Philippe Werhahn offer the public a chance to have their used garments re-fitted into new clothing. Bring your clothes before 15.00 pm. 17 december: fashion-sale auction 18 december: end of the exhibition with conclusive artwork auction Meeting Saturday 16 december, 17.00 pm Presentation of the new issue of Millepiani’s review: “Caosmos”.Philosophy and technics in the control society, by G. SIMONDON-D. LYON.
12 10 2006 Thursday, October 19th 2006: Women shi gaibian. The revolution is us “Women shi gaibian” (The revolution is us ) Artists from Canton, China curated by Martina Köppel-Yang Xu Tan, Jiang Zhi, Zhou Tao, Liang Juhui, Duan Jianyu, Lin Yilin, Yang Jiechang, Huang Xiaopeng, Yang Yong e santomatteo and Libreria Borges In an era when the colour of a cat is not important but only the fact that it catches mice, bringing back the idea of a colour, is crucial. Who could fulfil this task better than artists? Culture and art have the capacity to provide this kind of not primarily pragmatically motivated thoughts, like for example utopian ideas. Surplus value, of course, makes reference on the fact that art in China today, where the creation of a cultural industry is enhanced by the government, is considered an indicator and an important factor of social and economical productivity. Adorno wrote in the early 1950s: “Happiness is obsolete: uneconomic”. For art in China today it is just the other way round: “Art is certainly not obsolete: economic.” This is even more true as there is more to art than just a measurable economic value. It is this surplus value that makes art attractive and provides it with a great potential, a potential to engender and promulgate ideas, a capacity to preserve values, cultural and social. One basic question still is that of the value of the individual. Is happiness obsolete, uneconomic? In the exhibition "Accumulation- Canton Express, the Next Stop" (July-September 2006, Beijing) accumulation means the accumulation of “human capital” ,which is represented through artists from Canton. Most of them first exhibited together as “Canton Express” in 2002. Canton, a region far away from the political and economical centre but with a long colonial tradition, has been the craddle of China's utopian and revolutionnary throughts and concepts.Sun Yatsen, and Kang Youwei are both of Cantonese origin. Today in the field of contemporary art, new impulses and trends come from this region. An individual art scene has emerged that first manifested itself at the Gwangju Biennial in 2002 as “Canton Express” in 2002, an art scene that still is less touched by the international art market than those of other regions in China. “Women shi gaiban (The revolution is us) - Artists from Canton" presents works of members of Canton Express. Milano-based artists santomatteo who spent six weeks in Canton and China will participate in the show as new members of Canton Express. They also take part in "Accumulation" in Beijing. Martina Köppel-Yang is a Paris based curator and art historian. She has curated two recent shows in Bejing, China: "Surplus Value" (2006) and "Accumulation: Canton Express - the Next Stop" (2006). Thanks to Tang Contemporary Art Center, Beijing and Provincia di Milano
12 10 2006 Tuesday, October 10th 2006: Book presentation with Paola Nicolin Isola Art Center Via Confalonieri 10, Milano Tuesday 10th october 2006, 6.30pm Isola Art Center and Forum Isola are glad to invite you at the presentation of the book: Palais de Tokyo, place of contemporary creation by Paola Nicolin Followed by the debate The discorse of others: Paris, Frankfurt, Mexico City… Milano With Paola Nicolin, Bert Theis, Katia Anguelova, Alessandra Poggianti, Marco Scotini., Stefano Boeri (architect), Pippo Ciorra (architect), Francesco Garutti (curator/architect), Cloe Piccoli (art critician), Gianni Romano (curator/publisher), Gabi Scardi (art critician/curator), Francesca di Nardo (art critician/curator) The case of Palais de Tokyo, opened in 2002 in the left wing of a 1937 building, can be considered a truly experimental case in the context of the Paris contemporary art scene. The analisys of such a case and the interpretation of some of the artworks that it has been producine is the content of Paola Nicolin’s book, which presents the center as a perfect example for the mingling of “art and life”. After having considered these issues, the debite “The Discorse of others” will start, introduced by Bert Theis who will speak about the specific case of Isola Art and Community Center of Milano and from what has to be learnt from the events of Portikus in Frankfurt. Then will follow the analysis of other international art centers by Katia Anguelova (Le plateau, Paris), Alessandra Poggianti (El faro d’Oriente, Mexico City) and Marco Scotini (Beaubourg, Paris). What all these cases have in common is the fact of having challenged and solved, in different ways, the same kind of issue: how to be dealing with both the Art and the Community. At this point the open discussion will start, animated by the interventions of Stefano Boeri and Pippo Corra, Francesco Garutti, Cloe Piccoli, Gabi Scardi, Francesca di Nardo, Gianni Romano… and of corse from whoever will like to join from the public. During and after the event, at the new cafeteria “Ginoteca” of Isola Art Center will be on sale the Isola Art Beer, an organic beer produced to support the struggle and the projects of Isola neighborhood.
24 06 2006 12 Proposte per un'Isola migliore Il Forum Isola è stato voluto e creato dall’Associazione Genitori F. Confalonieri, dal Comitato I Mille e dall’Associazione Isola dell’Arte al fine di far emergere i bisogni del quartiere, proporre delle soluzioni progettuali condivise e portarle a realizzazione. Questo documento rivolto agli operatori pubblici e privati, e a tutta la città, ha lo scopo di soddisfare le principali esigenze sociali e culturali degli abitanti del quartiere per l’area dei giardini di Via Confalonieri e della “Stecca”. Il Forum si fa portavoce dei problemi fondamentali dello spazio pubblico del quartiere con proposte concrete, mentre non intende occuparsi di un progetto di urbanistica partecipata ritenendo l’architettura un compito dei progettisti. La caratteristica principale dell’ Isola è il suo isolamento dalle grandi arterie di traffico che attraversano la città di Milano. Questa calma relativa insieme alla presenza di una popolazione variegata e molto vitale dal punto di vista sociale hanno fatto finora dell’Isola un quartiere a misura d’uomo. L’Isola è un modello urbanistico che il Forum Isola s’impegna a mantenere, difendere e a promuovere. Preservare la qualità dello spazio pubblico dell’Isola significa in primo luogo evitare una viabilità che tagli il quartiere in due, e riservare l’accesso ai giardini a pedoni e ciclisti. Un’altra qualità importante dello spazio pubblico dell’Isola è la conformazione abbastanza aperta del panorama urbano in Via Confalonieri e in Via De Castillia che permette di non sentirsi soffocati dalla densità delle costruzioni. L’ ”area di respiro” attuale dovrebbe essere preservata trovando delle alternative per la localizzazione delle costruzioni previste sui giardini. Riteniamo che i due giardini pubblici attualmente esistenti siano lo spazio appena necessario e appena sufficiente per rispondere alle esigenze del quartiere. L’edificio della Stecca degli Artigiani ha la volumetria necessaria per rispondere alle esigenze aggregative e culturali della comunità. Riteniamo inoltre fondamentale che nella risistemazione dell’edificio sia mantenuta la sua funzione pubblica. Proponiamo una “Stecca” che diventi parte integrante del verde pubblico di quartiere e perciò passaggio naturale da un giardino all’altro, ponte tra passato del quartiere e suo futuro, luogo denso di significato, che dovrebbe essere vissuto pienamente in tutta sicurezza in ogni momento della giornata. I giardini una volta bonificati e ripensati in modo da aumentare la loro qualità e fruibilità per il quartiere e i cittadini in generale, dovranno essere direttamente collegati ai giardini previsti nell’area Garibaldi-Repubblica. Forum Isola Milano, Guigno 2006 Indice delle proposte: A. Verde di prossimità 1. Integrazione reciproca tra verde e struttura 2. Area gioco per i bambini in zona ombreggiata 3. Campo sportivo multifunzionale recintato 4. Area ricreativa con tavoli per anziani in zona ombreggiata e area ludica per adulti 5. Fontanelle d’acqua 6. Area cani con ingresso autonomo 7. Messa a dimora di alberi ad alto fusto 8. Interventi artistici sullo spazio verde B. Centro per l’arte e per il quartiere (La “Stecca” futura): 9. Attività di quartiere 10. Centro per l’Arte contemporanea 11. Artigianato: spazio per botteghe artigiane di qualità 12. Associazioni: spazi per associazioni di utilità pubblica Isola Art & Community Center A. Verde di prossimità 1. Integrazione reciproca tra verde e struttura. È importante prevedere l’integrazione reciproca tra verde e struttura che unisca tutta la superficie verde attualmente divisa. 2. Area gioco per i bambini in zona ombreggiata con ingresso separato. La piccola area gioco esistente al centro del giardino ovest è esposta al sole per tutta la giornata. Nella bella stagione la possibilità di uso è molto ridotta per questo motivo. L’area è aperta a tutti e i bambini non sono protetti neanche dai cani che entrano nell’area a loro adibita. Gli attrezzi dell’area gioco sono dei prefabbricati industriali per niente originali. Stiamo elaborando delle soluzioni creative per quest’area con famiglie e professionisti. 3. Campo sportivo multifunzionale sport recintato. Così come i bambini hanno bisogno di uno spazio ludico all’aperto, anche gli adolescenti necessitano di soddisfare i loro bisogni di movimento e sport all’aperto. Nel quartiere sono presenti poche associazioni sportive. La scuola stessa non possiede un’associazione sportiva in particolare. Sino ad oggi alcune aule e la palestra sono state concesse per attività che andranno ad annullarsi nel momento in cui la scuola media di zona si trasferirà nei locali attualmente occupati dalla scuola elementare. Non esiste nessun’alternativa all’Isola. Non c’e’ la necessita di strutture altamente e lussuosamente attrezzate, sarebbero sufficienti spazi multifunzionali chiusi dove poter trasferire queste attività sportive già avviate da anni affinché non vengano interrotte; inoltre, potendo disporre di spazi esterni, si potrebbe pensare di dedicarli ad altri sport quali calcio, basket, pallavolo. 4. Area ricreativa con tavoli per anziani in zona ombreggiata, e area ludica per adulti. Molti anziani dell’Isola si ritrovano ogni giorno nei giardini perché è l’unico verde di prossimità a disposizione, dove si respira un po’. Per la loro qualità di vita questo è essenziale perché non possono spostarsi molto per stare all’aperto. Fare una piccola passeggiata e fermarsi nei giardini è per molti di loro l’unica possibilità di uscire delle abitazioni ed avere una vita sociale. Per loro serve un posto all’ombra dove fermarsi, incontrare altre persone, fare due chiacchiere, giocare a carte… Finora il Comune di Milano non ha attrezzato i giardini considerandoli “verde provvisorio”. Un minimo di attrezzature servirebbe anche per gli adulti, senza riempire tutto il verde di infrastrutture. Si tratta di trovare un equilibrio che non distrugga il respiro di uno spazio aperto e che permetta anche in futuro delle iniziative aggregative per gli abitanti del quartiere. 5. Fontanelle d’acqua. Nella situazione attuale ogni anno un certo numero di piante muoiono nei giardini per mancanza d’acqua. Per un giardino è fondamentale la presenza di una fonte d’acqua, non soltanto per irrigare le piante. Bisogna potersi lavare le mani e rinfrescarsi nei mesi caldi. 6. Area cani con ingresso autonomo. Uno dei problemi igienici attuali è la presenza di escrementi animali dovunque nei giardini. Questo fatto riduce molto la loro fruibilità, soprattutto per i bambini. L’ accesso dell’area cani dovrebbe essere autonomo e diretto da Via Confalonieri e da Via De Castillia. 7. Messa a dimora di alberi ad alto fusto. Vista la tipologia del terreno una volta bonificato viene suggerita la messa a dimora di alberi ad alto fusto. 8. Interventi di artisti sullo spazio verde. 8.a. Puntiamo soprattutto su interventi ed eventi artistici nel parco, tenendo conto della discussione e della ricerca internazionale in questo campo. Ci offriamo di dare un contributo innovativo di alto livello anche nel campo della Public Art, coinvolgendo artisti ed altri creativi nella progettazione delle attrezzature e degli oggetti da creare per il parco. Il modello del “Giardino di sculture“, che consiste nel posizionare in modo permanente delle sculture o delle installazioni in un parco o nello spazio pubblico è ormai superato. Oggi mostre e progetti artistici a lungo termine stanno sperimentando nuove forme di arte pubblica anche in altre città italiane. B. Il Centro per l’Arte e per il Quartiere, la “Stecca” Il progetto di Isola Art & Community Center si basa su un concetto inedito che combina gli spazi di aggregazione per il quartiere con le attività di un Centro per l’Arte sperimentale. Il titolo in inglese sottolinea l’intenzione del Forum Isola di creare un modello a scala internazionale, che abbia anche un ruolo identitario collegandosi e creando scambi con altri Centri esistenti nel mondo, contribuendo così alla rinascita culturale della Città di Milano. L'importanza di un Centro d'Arte non è innanzitutto una questione di volumetrie, ma di intelligenza e originalità della programmazione e delle proposte (cfr. l’esempio del “Portikus” a Francoforte). Il progetto del Centro si basa sull’esperienza fatta in cinque anni di progetti d’arte contemporanea all’Isola, e per tre anni da Isola Art Center, su anni di iniziative per bambini e famiglie dell’Associazione Genitori F. Confalonieri, sul lavoro di aggregazione degli abitanti svolto dal Comitato I Mille. Stiamo sviluppando i punti di forza di quest’esperienza seguendo una logica “glocal”, globale e locale, lavorando con curatori ed artisti internazionali, e allo stesso tempo legandoci fortemente al quartiere e alla città. Questo lavoro e questo concetto inedito permetteranno a Isola Art & Community Center di diventare lo spazio innovativo d’arte contemporanea e di ricerca che manca oggi nella città di Milano. A questo scopo si sta creando un comitato scientifico/advisory board composto da direttori d’istituzioni d’arte internazionali. Siamo in contatto con Charles Esche, Eindhoven, Hu Hanru, Parigi e San Francisco, Daniel Birnbaum, Francoforte, Victor Misiano, Mosca, Michelangelo Pistoletto, Biella, ed altri.) L’obiettivo così definito del Centro richiede la creazione di una struttura di direzione e di gestione professionale di alto livello, integrando come consulenti esponenti del quartiere e il gruppo di professionisti (curatori, critici, artisti…) che attualmente sta lavorando direttamente sul territorio e per la definizione del Centro per l’arte. Questo gruppo di lavoro si propone strutturato con un dipartimento curatoriale e di ricerca interno al Centro e come punto di riferimento del quartiere. Abbiamo cominciato ad elaborare un piano di finanziamento insieme a partner pubblici e privati. 9. Attività di quartiere. 9.a. Nel quartiere Isola scarseggiano gli spazi di aggregazione e attività per i bisogni delle famiglie, adolescenti, bambini, anziani e adulti. Per le attività sociali le associazioni e i cittadini devono rivolgersi alla scuola e alla parrocchia, chiedendo l’utilizzo di spazi che non sono sempre adatti alle necessità. 9.b. Per un’economia e un utilizzo razionale degli spazi, la loro maggiore qualità deve essere quella di essere funzionali ad attività diverse fra di loro. Così una sala cinema può anche essere una sala teatro, una sala di conferenze e di riunioni. Una sala per attività sportive deve essere concepita in modo da permettere la pratica di diversi sport durante l’inverno, ma anche lezioni di ballo o giochi per bambini. Per facilitare l’accesso a bambini e anziani, e permettere un uso dello spazio dei giardini nella bella stagione, questi spazi sono da prevedere al pianterreno. 9.c. La programmazione di questi spazi sarà ricca e variegata: nello spazio cinema si vedranno video d’artista nel contesto delle mostre, cineforum per i giovani, rassegne di film d’autore, rassegne di film popolari per anziani e bambini… 9.d. Pensiamo come minimo a una tipologia di tre spazi diversi: - uno spazio aggregativo polifunzionale, grande, per feste, assemblee, conferenze e altro - uno spazio di medie dimensioni multiuso legato ad attività ricreative con cucina adiacente - una sala riunioni piccola per le associazioni del quartiere - una palestra 10. Arte contemporanea. 10.a. Per l’arte contemporanea servono spazi autonomi ma intimamente collegati agli spazi per il quartiere, con un ruolo espositivo, progettuale, sperimentale e didattico. Parte del concetto è la “contaminazione” tra arte e vita quotidiana. 10.b. I progetti d’arte contemporanea iniziano all’Isola nel 2001 con Isola Art Project. Le prime mostre nell’edificio della Stecca si svolgono nel 2003 con la nascita di Isola dell’Arte. Nel 2005 Isola Art Center viene inaugurato dall’assessore alla cultura della Provincia di Milano, Daniela Benelli. Dopo una fase di preparazione dal 2003 al 2006 entriamo ora in un nuovo periodo di transizione. La fase di costituzione vera e propria di Isola Art & Community Center seguirà in tempi ancora da definire. Questo momento di passaggio sarà già caratterizzata da un approfondimento delle collaborazioni avvenute (con “millepiani”, Milano, “Città dell’Arte – Fondazione Pistoletto”, Biella, “American Center Foundation”, New York, Istituto Culturale Svizzero, Milano, Provincia di Milano, Musée d’art moderne et contemporain Mamco di Ginevra…), da una maggiore professionalità nell’organizzazione e nella comunicazione degli eventi artistici e da un radicamento ancora più forte del progetto nel quartiere. Continuerà il lavoro della rete dei laboratori e gruppi presenti nel Centro: out, Love Difference, Osservatorio in Opera, Stazione Isola, Sugoe e Undo.net 10.c. Il campo di intervento del Centro non si limita allo spazio interno dell’edificio, ma si estende nello spazio pubblico e nel tessuto del quartiere. Il Centro non vuol essere un museo con una collezione consistente, ma uno spazio espositivo e di ricerca per l’arte e la cultura contemporanea. Questo non esclude la presenza di opere permanenti e semi-permanenti. Il progetto del Centro non prevede studi permanenti per artisti, ma la possibilità di realizzare lavori in situ per gli artisti invitati. Eventuali studi di artisti presenti nella Stecca sono da trattare in un modo simile alle botteghe artigiane. L’immagine del Centro non deve essere quella di un “museo di quartiere”, ma quella di un luogo dove si stratificano le esperienze, dove resta traccia delle sperimentazioni e della collaborazione con artisti e curatori stranieri e italiani di livello. 10.d. Isola Art Center ha finora collaborato nel campo dell’educazione artistica con l’Accademia di Brera di Milano, con L’Accademia Carrara di Bergamo, con la Nuova Accademia di Belle Arti di Milano, NABA e con il Politecnico di Milano. È in corso una presa di contatto con altre accademie e università italiane ed europee. Uno dei nostri concetti di base è quello di legare lo spazio espositivo alla ricerca garantendone l’indipendenza. La collaborazione più fruttuosa è finora avvenuta tra Isola Art Center e la NABA. Si è deciso insieme di approfondire strutturalmente questa partnership, senza che il centro diventi “la galleria dell’accademia”, e senza che questo escluda la collaborazione con altre istituzioni. I primi progetti in jointventure tra Isola Art Center, Forum Isola e la NABA partono in autunno 2006. 10.e. Il ruolo didattico del Centro non si limita al livello accademico ma mira ad una diffusione più ampia dell’arte e della cultura contemporanea nel quartiere Isola e nella Città di Milano organizzando incontri, conferenze, workshop e laboratori aperti al quartiere. Oltre ai progetti artistici già avviati insieme all’associazione genitori si intende creare una collaborazione con le scuole elementari e medie del quartiere. 10.f. I 1.500 metri quadri del secondo piano della Stecca, caratterizzati da grandi spazi aperti, sono il minimo che serve ad una programmazione espositiva credibile. Dovrebbero ospitare spazi espositivi, ma anche un’officina tecnica, un deposito, una caffetteria e una libreria. Spazi per l’amministrazione, spazi per laboratori didattici e workshop e spazi per conferenze e incontri possono essere previsti ad un altro piano. Questa soluzione potrebbe facilitare la concezione del Centro non come un luogo pre-definito, ma come spazio elastico e in continua trasformazione che consenta una totale libertà di progettazione. Lo spazio espositivo attuale ha molte qualità, ma ha almeno due difetti: Il soffitto troppo basso delle stanze e la presenza di colonne ogni quattro metri in tutti gli spazi. Per poter installare alcune opere d’arte, si dovrebbe alzare almeno una parte dello spazio e togliere una serie di colonne. Questo può essere risolto senza troppi problemi tecnici al secondo piano. 10.g. Il Centro non si pensa come un edificio isolato ma integrato in una struttura con altre funzioni, come adesso nella Stecca, o come nel progetto del Centro della Triennale di Canton in Cina disegnato da Rem Koolhaas e Alain Foureaux. 11. Artigianato: spazio per botteghe artigiane di qualità. Il Forum Isola ritiene indispensabile la presenza degli artigiani nella “Stecca” favorendo quegli artigiani che possono svolgere anche il ruolo di “scuola di mestieri”. Con il coinvolgendo delle associazioni artigianali e dell’amministrazione è possibile realizzare un programma di rientro in città dell’artigianato. Questo programma dovrebbe distribuire agli artigiani gli spazi demaniali esistenti nei pressi della “Stecca” e nel quartiere. Così il quartiere riprenderebbe ad essere polo economico attrattivo per l’artigianato, manterrebbe la sua caratteristica destinazione “mista” e vedrebbe ancor più presidiato il suo territorio in termini di sicurezza. Le botteghe artigiane essendo delle attività commerciali, continueranno ad avere una loro forma di gestione autonoma. Il Centro per l’Arte e il Quartiere, per le sue caratteristiche, sarà in grado di coinvolgere gli artigiani di eccellenza in progetti comuni. 12. Associazioni: spazi per associazioni di utilità pubblica. Il nostro obiettivo è che la “Stecca” diventi uno spazio di utilità pubblica al cui interno operino anche delle associazioni sociali e culturali che hanno a cuore le esigenze del quartiere. Dovrebbero avere esperienza e qualità tali da rispondere ai bisogni degli abitanti, soprattutto focalizzando l’attenzione sugli adolescenti e gli anziani. Le associazioni sociali e culturali di dimostrata utilità pubblica dovranno avere garantita una loro forma di gestione autonoma. Il Forum stabilirà delle collaborazioni con le associazioni che condividono i suoi obiettivi e che corrispondono alle sue esigenze di qualità. Forum Isola Milano, Giugno 2006 www.isolartcenter.org forumisola@isolartcenter.org download.pdf >
08 06 2006 June, 10th 2006:Forum Isola Party Forum Isola Party The aim of the party is to support and defend these Confalonieri gardens, that risk to disappear, swallowed by the urban projects promoted by the Milano municipalità. The party is the first event on the way to the creation of a Center for both the art and the community: “Isola Art and Community Center”, promoted by Forum Isola, a collective project on te behalf of the Confalonieri gardens and the Stecca degli Artigiani. Forum Isola has recently been created by the Confalonieri Parents Association, the Isola dell’Arte association and the “I Mille” comitee. The promoted artistic intervention will be concerning children games, initiatives for the elders, caribbean dances, Tai Chi Chuan and watermelon for everybody. -AlekO.: “Summer Karaoke” (video performance) -Gruppo Ma!? (Anja Puntari, Mara Maglione): “Figurati!” (interactive performance for the children) -Jakattak (Steve Piccolo, Xabier Iriondo and others): 7.30pm musical performance: the Jakattak group will be performing environmental specific sounds, in search of a dialogue between the performance and the context. On the occasion, some young artists from Naba will present tha audio guides they created for the exhibition “The people’s choice”, recording sounds and voices in the Isola neighborhoodd. -LoveDifference: “A wood of people, a wood of ideas”, a workshop on the body, on playing to be a tree, on the stoppino time, on our moving times and the times of Isola. Considering the body to reflect on Isola time, both the individual and the collective one. -OsservatorioinOpera: “Questi se la sognano!”, gathering of thoughts, dreams and desires. A workshop that invites you to come and tell what you wish, what you are missing and what sshouldd never be missino in the public space of Isola. OsservatorioinOpera is Piero Almeoni, Paola Sabatti Bassini, Roberta Sisti. For the occasion, Isola Art Center will be opening the exhibition by Wolfgang Trager, “The Art Community/La comunità dell’arte”.
17 05 2006 Wednesday, May 17th 2006: Wolfgang Träger: The Art Community Wolfgang Träger - The Art Community portraits of 500 international artists at Isola Art Center Isola Art Center is the second stop of this encyclopedic exhibition, following the debut at “Tranzit Art Center” of Bratislava, in the Slovak Republic. Over the last 15 years the German photographer Wolfgang Träger has covered - for the most important German art magazine, “Kunstforum” - all the Venice Biennials and editions of Documenta, Manifesta and other major art events. Italian and international artists (and a few curators) are seen during the installation of the various exhibitions. In this show Isola Art Center does not present artworks, but the creators of the artworks themselves, from Mario Merz to Ilya Kabakov and Marjetica Potrc, from Chen Zen to John Armleder, Tobias Rehberger, Jorge Pardo and Olafur Eliasson. A cycle of about 50 b+w photos features portraits of artists from the Fluxus movement, approached by Wolfgang Träger not only as a photographer, but also as a good friend. Special projects: The event also includes three special projects created by young artists from NABA (Nuova Accademia di Belle Arti, Milan), coordinated by Stefano Boccalini, Steve Piccolo and Bert Theis.
28 04 2006 Wednesday, May 3rd, 2006: Isola Forum Giardini e Stecca, le scelte del quartiere Isola forum ospitato nella sala parrocchiale, Via Sebenico 31 mercoledì 3 maggio, ore 21.00 promosso da Associazione Genitori “F. Confalonieri”, Associazione “Isola dell’arte”, Comitato “I Mille” È stato approvato, con un emendamento, il progetto del Comune “Isola-De Castillia”, che prevede l’edificazione di 90.000 metri cubi nell’area dei due giardini di Via Confalonieri e della Stecca degli Artigiani. Perciò ci stiamo preparando per un eventuale ricorso, che come per gli altri ricorsi già presentati, vuole impedire interventi "ingiusti". Ma soprattutto vuole portare l'amministrazione e gli operatori ad un tavolo di confronto reale con il quartiere e fare recepire le esigenze di chi abita l'Isola. Il progetto approvato non è definitivo. Allora noi dobbiamo essere molto precisi e decisi su quello che vogliamo: per questo motivo è stato pensato ed organizzato questo forum in modo che gli abitanti del quartiere possano esprimere i propri desideri, bisogni, sogni... Che cosa vorremmo realizzare in uno spazio come quello della Stecca, ripulita e riqualificata? Come rendere ancora più belli e utili i nostri giardini? Mercoledì 3 maggio venite al forum, perché sarà la più importante occasione per: - informarsi sulle ultime decisioni amministrative e sulle nostre possibilità di azione; - far sentire la propria voce e partecipare alla preparazione di un documento che esprima le reali richieste del quartiere; - ascoltare e discutere le proposte di coloro che si stanno già impegnando nella salvaguardia e nel miglioramento del quartiere Isola (abitanti, giovani, anziani, genitori, artisti ...) - costruire insieme i prossimi eventi ed iniziative per realizzare le nostre idee.
06 04 2006 Sunday, April 9th, 2006: Tiziana Villani's new book presentation Tre incontri In occasione della mostra “La Scelta della Gente/The Peoples’ Choice” curata da Marco Scotini, (27 marzo – 7 maggio 2006 martedì, giovedì, domenica, 17.00 – 20.00) Isola Art Center invita a tre incontri: Domenica 9 aprile, ore 18.00 ufficio out: Presentazione del libro di Tiziana Villani “Il tempo della trasformazione” Corpi territori e tecnologie (Edizioni Manifestolibri) Il tempo della trasformazione è il tempo della città totale. I corpi, al pari degli ambienti in cui viviamo, sono potenziati e modificati da protesi tecnologiche sempre più sofisticate. Il mondo odierno appare come una cartografia variegata che attraversa un momento di profondo cambiamento: quello dell’accelerazione tecnologica. La nostra epoca conosce in questo modo il dispiegarsi di una serie incredibile di rivoluzioni che spesso si trovano in conflitto tra loro. Le biotecnologie, la rivoluzione cibernetica, l’impatto sempre più forte dei nuovi sistemi di comunicazione incidono sulle nostre vite aprendo grandi possibilità e nuove emarginazioni. Corpi levigati, videomostrati nell’immaginario odierno si alternano ai corpi clandestini e ignorati delle nuove patologie di massa. In questo volume si prendono in considerazione i corpi, le esistenze e i territori urbani analizzando scenari materiali e virtuali, prossimi alla Science fiction divenuta ormai il nostro orizzonte quotidiano. Prosegue il laboratorio filosofico interdisciplinare divenire urbano presentato da Tiziana Villani (Millepiani), Bert Theis (out) e Marco Scotini (info: Tiziana Villani: 349 074 53 20): Martedì 11 aprile, ore 18, uffico out La trasformazione delle identità Dalla biopolitica alle società di controllo introduzione Silvano Cacciari e Ubaldo Fadini Martedì 18 aprile, ore 18, ufficio out Territori a venire Dalla catastrofe all’immaginario introduzione Stefano Righetti e Andrea Sartin
28 03 2006 Thursday, March 30th, 2006: Art for the Isola! Art for the Isola! Auction sale for fundraising Thursday 30th of march at 9pm NABA New Academy of Fine Arts via Darwin 20, Milano Isola Art Center together with Naba Futurarium present the second edition of "Art for the Isola!", the sale exhibition of art works. After the one held in december 2004, curated by Giacinto di Pietrantonio and Lino Baldini in Isola Art Center itself, this second edition will be adopting a different format. Held during the time of MiArt, this year's "Art for the Isola! will be hosted by NABA and will be a proper auction sale. The exhibition project will be designed by Isola Dell'Arte association, with the contribution of art critics and curators. All art works on show will be put on sale during the auction, in order to raise as much funds as possible to help with the legal struggle in defense of Stecca degli Artigiani and Confalonieri gardens, brought on by the Isola neighborhood associations. Artworks will be from: Olaf Nicolai, Francesco Vezzoli, gruppo A12, Marcello Maloberti, Massimo Bartolini, vedovamazzei, Maurizio Nannucci, Bert Theis, Stefano Boccalini, Enzo Umbaca, A Constructed World, Adrian Paci, Paola Di Bello, Alessandro Di Giampietro, Gabriele Di Matteo, Alessandro Ceresoli, Luca Pancrazzi, Italo Zuffi, Mario Airò, Andrea Sala, Marco Vaglieri, Luca Vitone, Michelangelo Consani, Patrick Tuttofuoco, Piero Gatto, Eva Marisaldi, Alex Pinna, Pastorello, Paola Sabatti Bassini, Giuseppe Restano, Ciboh, Antonio Rovaldi, Lodola, Gianni Cella, Piero Almeoni, Seamus Farrell, Paololuca Barbieri, Flavio Bonetti. We'd like to thank: Ciocca Arte Contemporanea (Milano), NABA Nuova Accademia (Milano), NO Gallery (Milano), Sonia Campagnola, Studio Guenzani (Milano), White Project (Pescara) and all the artists. RELATED EVENTS: 30th of march at 6pm The Utopian Display Platform: Roundtable "Independent Spaces and Models of Curatorship?" curated by Maurizio Bortolotti and Marco Scotini. With Peter Lewis, Raimundas Malasauskas, Maria Lind. MiArt, fieramilanocity, Milano Until 7th of may: La scelta della gente/The people's choice curated by Marco Scotini, at Isola Art Center, Stecca degli Artigiani, via Confalonieri 10, Milano. Open on tuesdays, wednesdays and sundays from 5pm to 8pm, or on special request.
26 03 2006
Monday, March 27th, 2006: The people's choice Isola Art Center Via Confalonieri 10 (II floor) Milano Info: Alessandra Poggianti 0039 349.8051697; ida@undo.net Opening Monday 27 March 18.00 27 March 2006 - 7 May 2006 Opening hours: Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday 17h – 20h The People’s Choice / La scelta della gente Tools for an Art and Community Center curated by Marco Scotini Conceived more as a kit for use than as an itinerary to look at, the exhibition The People’s Choice, brings together proposals, projects and practical experiences that attempt to define a potential model for a contemporary art space as an integrated part of a neighbourhood. The challenge facing this project is to imagine an arts centre under permanent construction within a community that, day by day, negotiates its own parameters regarding its representation and relation to and in the urban space. Over 40 international artists will compare notes on the proposals of as many curators, economists, politicians and neighbourhood associations. Since the notion of a separate space and a specific function - of an ‘heterotopia’ in the Foucaultian sense - is no longer viable, The People’s Choice contemplates not only an open, flexible space, but one that literally involves the ordinary life of the people. A series of sections (financial, architectural, curatorial etc.) will divide the show into more than one area and into different expositional and functional regimes, each of which will house processes and materials of the most diverse kinds. The project has developed as a mature, advanced phase of the Isola di Milano neighbourhood’s opposition to the Garibaldi-Repubblica building project. Over the course of years of struggle, the neighbourhood’s collective response has validated the maintenance of a public green belt between via Confalonieri and via De Castilla, including the ex-industrial building that crosses it. After Isola Art Centre’s installation inside this building last year, The People’s Choice seeks to define the possible form a contemporary art space should take - a space, moreover, that Milan lacks - through a democratic planning and transformation process. The actual name ‘The People’s Choice’ comes from Group Material’s famous exhibition held in 1980 at the group’s premises in New York’s East End, where the people from the neighbourhood were asked to bring to the gallery objects that meant something to them, their families or their friends. Gruppo A12, Doug Ashford (Group Material), Stefano Boccalini, Gea Casolaro, Josef Dabernig, José Davila, Pablo Leon de la Barra, Paola Di Bello, Etcétera, Alberto Garutti, Bernardo Giorgi, Isabella Inti, Rem Koolhaas and Alain Fouraux, Armando Lulaj, Marcello Maloberti, Alessandro Nassiri Tabibzadeh, Network Nomadic Architecture, OUT, Adrian Paci, Maria Papadimitriou, Steve Piccolo, Cesare Pietroiusti, Post-Programmed City-Territory, Marietjca Potrc, Oda Projesi, Radek Community, Renshi.org, Oliver Ressler, Pedro Reyes, Mariette Schiltz, Chemi Rosado Seijo, Stalker, Bert Theis, Tercerunquinto, Ian Tweedy, Enzo Umbaca, Luca Vitone, What is to be done?.... Events: Forum “The People’s Choice, la scelta della gente” 10 April 2006, 21h Rectory “Sacro Volto”Via Sebenico, Milano Organized by “Isola dell’Arte”, committee “I Mille” and the parents committee of Isola Interdisciplinary Philosophical Lab “Divenire Urbano” Tuesday 7 March, 14 March, 11 April, 18 April,at 18.00 Office out, Via Confalonieri 10 second floor, Milano Presented by Tiziana Villani (Millepiani), Bert Theis (OUT) and Marco Scotini Info: Tiziana Villani 0039 349.074 53 20 Book presentation Sunday 9 April at 18.00 “Il tempo della trasformazione” by Tiziana Villani (manifestolibri) Office out, via Confalonieri 10, second floor, Milano |
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