aI
# M A G A Z I N E
reportage:
PORTFOLIO & interview:
rencontres d’arles
Frieze London
balla-magnani rocca
art basel-basel
joya-barcelona
Giovanni Gastel
Massimo vitali
Paolo Simonazzi
Alberto Andreis
marco onofri
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a photography & CONTEMPORARY cultures’ mag.
No_ 71 / fall 2015
ISSN 2037-0490
9 772037 049000
50071
About ART:
“ART isn’t everything. It’s just about everything”.”
―
Gertrude Stein
-
Ai
magazine
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a
photography
&
CONTEMPORARY
cultures’
mag
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Giudecca 10
30133 Venezia, Italy
Tel: +39 041 240 801
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No.71 FALL 2015
aI
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AI/contents
FALL
13
the resulting state
Editor’s letter by
ANDREA TINTERRI
15
17
to have the blue devils
Editor’s letter by
Christina Magnanelli weitensfelder
Blue Blood
Editor’s letter by
simone d. casadei bernardi
34
Andrea tinterri
art basel
mIAMI BEACH
about by
Luca magnanelli
39
about by
bianca maria zonta
20
INTERVIEW + Portfolio
Giovanni Gastel
>
Above:
Myster Cernobbio, 1991
Kristen Mc Menamy, (detail)
Arles and faith in photography
about by ERIC MC GRATH
43
45
67
Editor’s
letter by
Sergio
Signorini
interview by
Art in the Park
51
19
Velvet Blue
women, men and spectres
37
40
2015
Freedom of Panorama
photography and law
by CRISTINA MANASSE
The
nuances of a character,
the identity of a photographer
interview
by gaia conti
Emilian
provinces
interview by
andrea tinterri
55
Portfolio
Paolo
Simonazzi
landscape of memory
interview
by andrea tinterri
75
Balla,
the futurist
abstractionist
> Above:
Giacomo Balla, Sorge
l’idea, (detail), 1920,
oil on canvas
-5-
Bologna ARTE FIERA 2016 photography section
Blackplaces, a methapyshical dream
giovanni marinelli
No.71 FALL 2015
aI
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AI/contents
FALL
70
72
75
2015
a library of fascinating journeys
interview by
cecile gallet
the line is her language
profile by giacomo belloni
Balla, the futurist
abstractionist
profile
by Andrea
tinterri
81
about by
benedetta alessi
78
new york why and how
interview
by sergio signorini
86
45
The nuances of
a character,the
identity of a
photographer
> Above:
Marco Onofri, from the
project Il rumore di uno
sguardo, (detail)
The world of Tim Burton
profile
by Brian Midnight
88
91
expo blues
The art of
Corrado Giuspino
profile
by michael sÄgerbrecht
Joya Barcelona
Art Jewellery
Fair 2015
by michael
sÄgerbrecht
94
Portfolio
92
must-see
aGENDA
by Stefania
Dottori
massimo vitali
86
The world
of Tim Burton
> Above:
Tim Burton, Blue Girl
with Wine, (detail),
1997 ca,
oil on canvas,
71,1 x 55,9 cm,
Private Collection
© 2015 Tim Burton
-7-
AI MAGAZINE
a photography and CONTEMPORARY cultures’ mag.
No.
71
/ fall 2015
This issue is dedicated to the colour VELVET BLUE and
to the methaphorical meaning of ‘The Resulting State’.
MASTHEAD
This Magazine was founded in 2007 by Greta Edizioni
and is published quarterly in collaboration with
BAG Photo Art Gallery and Zeitgeist Association.
Distributed in 28 countries around the world, AI Magazine (Paper
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editor at large:
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Editor in chief & creative director:
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editorial staff:
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Cover: Giovanni Gastel, Donna, (detail), 1992
Flyleafs: Anna Sutor, What, 2015, mixed technique
Cecile Gallet Contemporary
Galerie d’art | Fine art gallery
Photos by Caroline Gavazzi
Cecile Gallet Contemporary
Fine Art Gallery
Marseille - France
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No.71 FALL 2015
aI
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AI | contributing editors
Gaia Conti We first met at the Guggenheim, with Dalì,
Calder and Picasso; we then got to know each other better at
the Pompidou Centre with Man Ray and Beuys, but it became
true love at the Moma immersed in Blake, Woodman and Calle.
We have been together ever since, Art and I. Art is the fascinating lagoon that I have decided to dive into, like that of my city,
Venice, which Thomas Mann described as “[..] the flattering and
suspect beauty – this city, half fairy tale and half tourist trap,
in whose insalubrious air the arts once rankly and voluptuously
blossomed, where composers have been inspired to lulling tones
of somniferous eroticism”.
Sergio Signorini Born in Codogno (Italy) in 1952,
he attended the Liceo Classico Gioia in Piacenza to then graduate in enginieering in Pavia in 1976. He worked as a full-time
architect from 1977 to 2000, a year which was marked by a profound existential crisis. Since the early 1980s he has been working in the field of bioclimatic architecture. Over the last 15 years
he has studied psychoanalysis and psychology for the configuration of living spaces adapted to a harmonious sharing of habitats. He is a higher education teacher for the University of Pavia’s
Literature faculty and Department of Art History, as well as in
many other faculties of Architecture and Engineering. He writes
for magazines and newspapers, L’architecture, Cronache e
storia – directed by Bruno Zevi, Spazio & Spazio – directed
by Giancarlo De Carlo, Costruire in Laterizio – for which he
has also written the book review column, and AI magazine. He
writes in the role of curator for art and photography, and is an
inquisitive and tireless seeker of truth and the meaning of life.
Cristina Manasse Lawyer, more than 20 years of
experience in art/photography law, copyright, also digitally.
Represents artists/collectors/galleries, museums/institutions,
start ups/platforms, editing companies. Advises clients on art
law/IP issues, ie. drafting art-related agreements, also for organization/management of art fairs/cultural events. Member
of the Advisory Board of the Italian fair of photography. Associate Researcher at Ask Centre, Bocconi University, for art law
and copyright. Former Chairman, Art, Cultural Institution &
Heritage Law Committee of International Bar Association.
Author of articles, speaker at conferences, lecturer in university courses, also abroad, on art law/copyright. Worked also
abroad with major law firms.
Giacomo Belloni Born in Rome in 1964. He grad-
uated summa cum laude in Art History at the University “La
Sapienza” in Rome. Currently he is a gallery owner, art curator,
auctioneer, writer and art journalist. He organises events and
exhibitions of Italian and international artists all over Italy,
in public and private locations. He works with the publishing
house Greta Edizioni and the quarterly AI Magazine; he’s a
writer of art-books and catalogues. Expert in art marketing, he
collaborates with several galleries on the new tendencies of Contemporary Art. He currently lives in Abu Dhabi, in the United
Arab Emirates, where he continues to with Greta Edizioni on
the launching of a new project in the Persian Gulf.
Simone D. Casadei Bernardi. Born in Urbino
Andrea Tinterri Independent critic and curator, he
works in the field of photography, reflecting on possible contaminations with other forms of narration. He is one of the members of TØ Studio (Parma, Italy), a pluridisciplinary studio
which combines visual arts, urban planning with theoretical
research, writing, photography and economics. Since 2010 he
has formed part of the editorial team of the literary magazine
La Luna di Traverso and since 2013 has collaborated with the
Italian quarterly D’Ars, the international quarterly AI magazine and the publishing house Greta Edizioni.
(Italy) in 1976, is a business developer, expert in management control and internationalisation processes. He manages
three business consulting enterprises and a business continuing
education company across Europe and lives among the United
Kingdom, Ireland and Latvia. He occasionally returns to Italy.
He also collaborates with Bildung Inc. as supervisor of the UK
Team. He loves every expression of art, photography and architecture among all. He considers them a way to communicate
effectively, even when words cannot be of aid. He deeply believes
that art is the best means to recover the lost art of introspection.
Bianca Maria Zonta
Art writer and qualified
English teacher with diverse experience in publishing, archaeology and English studies. After being awarded a First Class
Honours degree in Near Eastern art and archaeology from
Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, followed by PhD studies in
Mesopotamian archaeology at UCL London, she took her
Cambridge ESOL CELTA in London. There she worked as an
editorial assistant and contributing writer at Minerva, a British magazine of ancient art and archaeology, and at Rooms,
a visual arts magazine. She has newly joined AI Magazine,
while teaching and pursuing a Master’s Degree (MA) in English Literature.
Anna Sutor
Architect, designer and illustrator. Following her Master at the Architectural Association in London,
she worked for Rem Koolhaas in Rotterdam, and then for the
architect Norman Foster. She lives and works in Milan as an
illustrator, dedicating particular attention to drawing the many
aspects of the city. Her drawings have been published in Europe,
the United States and Brazil. Her work has been awarded by
the American Society of Illustrators and the Italian Association
of Illustrators.
Daniel Clarke Free-lance translator. Born in Kent,
England, he passed his childhood and early adult life in London before deciding at the age of 22 to move out to Italy. He
initially lived in Mantova, and then Milan, where he worked
for the British Council for 8 years. In 2005 he began translating
for the Piccolo Teatro di Milano – Teatro d’Europa, a collaboration which continues today. Daniel currently lives in Olbia,
Sardinia, and, as well as the Piccolo and AI magazine, collaborates with a number of organisations including the Pinacoteca
di Brera in Milan.
-11-
No.71 FALL 2015
the resulting state
Resistance can have many forms. One can shout, fight, brandish a sword or a gun, kick, spit,
hold an ambush, or wait behind a hedge to watch the movements of others and take note of their daily routine. Or one can go on
working on content without renouncing one’s own story, in the conviction that something is happening around them, but that
it has no bearing: we know how to write, we know how to choose, we know how to build a narrative. Those who work for a magazine like
ours, a quarterly magazine printed with care, as though every page were necessary for a single long story, those who
work like this every day (strange as it may seem, working for a quarterly magazine is a daily activity) know very well the state of things,
what is happing around them, the problems of the publishing industry and the advancement of on-line publications, the ever tighter
deadlines and the news which goes out of date after three minutes and twenty-five seconds. But we go on, we resist in the knowledge
of the usefulness of a steady pace, pondered thought, and a product to be consumed but not thrown away after reading. Because the
necessary violence is in thought, in the continuation of a good published product, in writing, and – above all – in the act
of reading and contemplating. I love the implicit antifascism of Eugenio Montale, not shouted, but simply filtered by a culture which the
powers that be can only distain, for the simple fact that the height of thought is by nature liberal, libertarian and free. We resist on paper,
seeking external prosthesis, collaborations such as that which is forming in London with the The Gallery on the Corner, where we will
present the latest edition of the magazine proposing a performance by the artist Erjon Nazeraj, a young writer of Albanian origins who
made his home in Italy over ten years ago. A reflection on emigration as a universal phenomenon, not only a contemporary emergency,
but a historical experience, in which Nazarej proposes a topical, everyday shroud, much less holy and without bodies ready for resurrection. And so our thanks to those who will follow our future story both within and beyond the confines of paper, to those
who will read the following pages, to those who will calmly leaf through the images, to those who will place the magazine on their side
table and will gladly pick it up to hold once again. Yours will be a political act; it will have a consequence, perhaps a result: it will be
an act of resistance, of elegance, perhaps the only true luxury which we can still allow ourselves.
La resistenza può essere esercitata in molti modi diversi. Gridare, lottare, sfoderare un’arma bianca o
polvere da sparo, calciare, sputare, tendere un’imboscata, aspettare dietro una siepe spiando le mosse altrui calcolando gli spostamenti
giornalieri. Oppure si può continuare a lavorare sui contenuti senza rinnegare la propria storia, nella convinzione che qualcosa
intorno sta succedendo, ma procedere come se tutto questo potesse non influire: scrivere è quello che sappiamo fare,
scegliere è quello che sappiamo fare, costruire una narrazione è quello che sappiamo fare. Chi lavora per una rivista come la nostra, una
rivista cartacea con uscita trimestrale, stampata con attenzione come se ogni pagina fosse necessaria ad un unico lungo
racconto, chi lavoro in questo senso quotidianamente (sembra strano ma anche per un trimestrale il lavoro è giornaliero) conosce benissimo lo stato dei fatti, cosa succede intorno, i problemi dell’editoria e la cavalcata dei giornali on line, le tempistiche accelerate e le notizie che scadono dopo tre minuti e venticinque secondi. Ma si continua, si resiste nella consapevolezza dell’utilità del tempo lungo, della
sedimentazione del pensiero, di un prodotto da consumare, ma non gettare dopo la lettura. Perchè la violenza necessaria sta
nel pensiero, nel portare avanti un buon prodotto editoriale, nello scrivere e, soprattutto nell’atto della lettura e della contemplazione.
Amo l’antifascismo implicito di Eugenio Montale, non gridato, ma solo filtrato da una cultura che la gerarchia di potere poteva solo disprezzare, per il semplice fatto che l’altezza del pensiero per sua natura è liberale, liber­
taria e libera. Resistiamo sulla carta cercando protesi esterne, collaborazioni come quella che si concretizzerà a Londra con
The Gallery on the Corner dove presenteremo il nuovo numero della rivista proponendo una performance dell’artista Erjon Nazeraj. Un
giovane autore di origini albanesi, ma ormai da più di dieci anni stabile in Italia. Una riflessione sull’emigrazione come fenomeno universale, non solo emergenza contemporanea, ma esperienza della Storia. Nazarej proporrà un sudario attualizzato, una Sindone quotidiana,
molto poco celeste e senza corpi pronti alla resurrezione. E quindi grazie a chi seguirà la nostra futura storia dentro e fuori le mura di
carta, a chi leggerà le pagine che seguono, a chi sfoglierà le immagini senza avere fretta, a chi appoggerà la rivista sul comodino e avrà la
voglia di riprenderla in mano e ripassarla tra le dita. Il vostro sarà un atto politico, avrà una conseguenza, forse un risultato: sarà un gesto
di resistenza, d’eleganza, forse l’unico vero lusso che ancora ci possiamo concedere.
AI | editor’s letter
AI
deputy
by ANDREA TINTERRI /
director & TØ visual Arts
curator
-13-
aI
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No.71 FALL 2015
to have the blue devils
Blue, like any other colour, has taken on countless meanings over the
course of history. From East to West, every culture influenced by historical events has attributed one meaning or another,
sometimes completely opposing. At the end of the 19th century however, and for the entire 20th century, blue took on a very precise
significance which it has kept ever since. It was a very specific art form which assigned this value: music. Not having visual characteristics, if we exclude album covers – once of generous dimensions, far from the ridiculous digital forms of today, but that’s another story
– or advertising, music has sound as its only form of transmission, and through sound the artist must be able to transmit their
emotions to the listener. I am of course talking about the blues, a genre which all of you will have heard at some time, even perhaps
unwittingly. In that apparently simple musical structure, based on a scale of five notes (plus the sixth, the blue note) rather than the
seven in the majority of musical scales used in Western music, there is much more than you could possibly imagine. To begin with, music
is pure mathematics, and the blues has the incredible characteristic of acting almost as a key to understanding the entire code. The most
extraordinary thing about this musical genre however, in my opinion, regards its origins: in Blues People, Amiri Baraka covers the history of
Afro-American music from its first cries in the American plantations, scenes of unspeakable suffering and injustice. Thousands of years of
Middle-Eastern and African wisdom hybridized to give a voice to the suffering of the cotton pickers, denied their liberty but not their soul.
From there came the Blues, which then lead to Jazz, to Swing, Boogie-woogie, Rhythm and blues, Rock ‘n roll and even Heavy metal.
Everything began there, with those work songs which were essential in relieving the suffering, physical but above all spiritual. It is no coincidence that the blues is not easily played by white artists, with the exception of rare talents like Mr Eric Clapton. Even music, like other
art forms, is nowadays easily falsified: the great “hits” we listen to are more often produced by machines that by the artists themselves.
The result is that the message they transmit is also false and artificial, devoid of substance. It is not, however, a question of technical skill,
but of emotions, feelings. It is still not easy to find a machine capable of suffering, of having the blue devils.
Il blu, come qualsiasi altro colore, ha assunto innumerevoli significati nella Storia.
Dall’oriente all’occidente ogni cultura, influenzata dal momento storico, gli ha attribuito questo o quel significato, anche totalmente
opposti. Sul finire del IX secolo però, e per tutto il XX, il blu si è appropriato di un significato ben preciso, senza più perderlo. Ad assegnare questa valenza ci ha pensato un’arte molto specifica: la musica. Non possedendo caratteristiche visive, se si escludono le copertine
degli album – una volta erano di dimensioni generose, ben lontane dalle ridicole fattezze digitali odierne, ma questa è un’altra storia – o
i manifesti pubblicitari, la musica ha come unico veicolo di propagazione il suono, e con quello l’artista deve essere in grado di
trasmettere le sue emozioni all’ascoltatore. Quello di cui sto parlando è ovviamente il blues, un genere che tutti voi avrete avuto
occasione di ascoltare, magari senza rendervene conto. In quella apparentemente semplice struttura musicale, basata su di una scala musicale di cinque note (più la sesta, la blue-note) e non di sette come la maggior parte delle scale musicali utilizzate nella musica occidentale, c’è molto di più di quanto potreste immaginare. Tanto per cominciare la musica è pura matematica, e il blues ha l’incredibile
caratteristica di fungere quasi da chiave di lettura dell’intero codice. La cosa più straordinaria di questo genere musicale, però, sta a mio
parere nella sua genesi: ne Il popolo del blues. Sociologia degli afroamericani attraverso il Jazz. Amiri Baraka ripercorre il cammino
della musica afroamericana fin dai suoi primi vagiti nelle piantagioni Americane, luoghi di indicibili sofferenze e ingiustizie. Sapienze
millenarie di origine mediorientale e africane si ibridarono per dar vita alla sofferenza dei raccoglitori di cotone, privati della libertà ma
non dell’anima. Da lì viene il Blues, che poi darà vita al Jazz, allo Swing, al Boogie-woogie, il Rhythm and blues, il Rock ‘n roll e perfino
l’Heavy Metal. Nasce tutto da lì, da quei canti di lavoro indispensabili per alleviare la sofferenza, quella spirituale ancor prima di
quella fisica. Non a caso il blues non è facilmente suonabile dai bianchi, ad eccezione di pochi talentuosi come Mr. Eric Clapton. Anche la
musica, come le altre arti, oggi è facilmente falsificabile: le grandi “hit” che ascoltate sono più il frutto delle macchine che non degli artisti.
Il risultato è che anche ciò che trasmettono è falso e artefatto, privo di sostanza. Attenzione, però: non è una questione di tecnica esecutoria, ma proprio di emozioni, di sentimenti. È ancora difficile trovare una macchina capace di soffrire, di avere i diavoli blue.
AI | editor’s letter
by Christina Magnanelli weitensfelder /
AI Editor in chief & BDG art designer
-15-
aI
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OPENING
monday 7th, DEC, 2015 4PM
s
co
nt
ac
t@
bi
ld
k
an
th
un
ginc
.c
om
The Gallery on the Corner
155 Battersea Park Road
SW8 4BU, LONDON
to
ud
PR
ES
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cr
rra
Te
a
inf
o/
pr
es
s
of
fic
ny
pa
m
e:
Co
BD
ine
G
W
ERJON NAZERAJ’S PERFORMANCE WORK
curated by Andrea Tinterri
ca
18
ta
log
ue
G
re
ta
Ed
izi
on
i
SINDONE,
CONTEMPORARY
SHROUD
te
ica
rtif
ce
in collaboration with
BAG GALLERY
+39 366 1977 633
www.bildungartgallery.com
t ZERO
ART EXHIBIT GROUP
+39 338 1404626
[email protected]
No.71 FALL 2015
blue blood
According to the popular saying, noble blood is blue. And there is no place in the world which brings
nobility to mind quite like the United Kingdom. A country which is not only the home of the House of Windsor but also a place
where the Royal and noble ranks are shown, through daily life and social interaction, to be as important in substance as they are in
reputation. It would seem that the expression “blue blood” originates from medieval times, when members of the lower classes, most
of whom worked the land or tended animals, were consequently almost always tanned. On the contrary, the nobility – and along with
them the middle and clerical classes – were proud of the candour of their skin, a distinctive sign of their status and an undisputed aspect
of beauty. In marked contrast with the delicate hue of their skin, the blood vessels closest to the surface appeared almost blue in colour.
Thus was born the association between “blue blood” and the aristocracy. Blue is also one of the colours of the Union Jack, the flag of the
United Kingdom, in which the red cross of Saint George, the patron saint of England, bordered in white, is superimposed over
the cross of Saint Patrick of Ireland, which is counterchanged with the cross of Saint Andrew, since the second half of the 10th century
the patron saint of Scotland. It is because the blue of the British flag recalls the apostle and the northern part of Great Britain that,
in the period shortly before last year’s referendum on the independence of Scotland, there was much discussion throughout the United
Kingdom on the possibility of needing a new flag. But the risk of having to redesign one of the symbols of England - a risk considered by
most, in any case, as not particularly high – was avoided with the result of the referendum. If the hypothetical new flag had been designed
without the colour blue, it would however have been a real pity. Not only because blue is the colour which “expresses
truth”, according to Benjamin Jonson, but also because it has been for some time associated – and once again we return to Medieval
times – with wealth and we. This is, perhaps, because before chemistry was able to offer alternatives, the colour blue used in paintings
could only be obtained by mixing flax oil with powdered lapis lazuli, considered the most precious of stones at the time. Such was the demand and the limited supply from a few mines in Afghanistan that the cost of Lapis Lazuli was only slightly below that of gold. The land
of Albion was, and in a certain sense still remains today, at the centre of the world. And it is interesting to discover that the Mayas, in all of
their languages, identified blue with the same word they used for green, and in their mysticism associated blue (and therefore also green)
with the centre of the universe. Thus blue, associated with the United Kingdom, inevitably becomes more than a simple colour: it
holds a wealth of meaning, a permanent link to the past and the future of this
nation, a distinctive trait of its entire, great, culture.
Secondo un diffuso modo di dire, è blu il sangue dei nobili. E non c’è luogo al mondo che possa mentalmente richiamare alla nobiltà come il Regno Unito. Che non è solo il Paese della House of Windsor ma è anche quello nel quale, nella
ferialità dei rapporti sociali, i Royal and noble ranks rilevano, nella sostanza, almeno tanto quanto sono reputati importanti nella forma.
Pare che l’espressione “sangue blu” derivi dall’epoca medioevale, quando gli appartenenti alle classi sociali più deboli, per lo più
intenti a coltivare la terra o a pascolare animali, erano quasi sempre abbronzati. Al contrario, i nobili – ma, in effetti, con essi anche la borghesia e il clero – erano orgogliosi del candore della loro pelle, segno distintivo del loro rango e canone indiscusso di bellezza. In contrasto col tenue colore della cute, i vasi sanguigni più superficiali apparivano quasi bluastri. Di qui l’associazione tra il “sangue blu” e l’aristocrazia. È blu anche uno dei tre colori della Union Jack, la bandiera del Regno Unito, nella quale la croce rossa di san Giorgio, che
secondo la tradizione protegge l’Inghilterra, bordata di bianco, è sovrimpressa alla croce di san Patrizio d’Irlanda ed entrambe
le croci sono sovrapposte alla decusse di sant’Andrea, dalla metà del X secolo patrono della Scozia. Proprio perché il blu della bandiera
britannica richiama l’apostolo e dunque la regione settentrionale della Gran Bretagna, con l’avvicinarsi del referendum dell’anno
scorso sull’indipendenza della Scozia, si è a lungo discusso in tutto il Regno circa la possibilità di introdurre una nuova bandiera. Ma
il rischio di dover ridisegnare uno dei simboli inglesi – considerato dai più, comunque, tutt’altro che elevato – è venuto meno con la proclamazione del risultato della consultazione popolare. Se con l’ipotetica nuova bandiera fosse venuto meno anche il blu, peraltro, sarebbe
stato un vero peccato. Non solo perché il blu è il colore che «esprime la verità», per dirla con Benjamin Jonson,
ma anche perché il blu è associato da tempo – anche qui dovremmo ritornare col pensiero al Medioevo – alla ricchezza, all’agio. Forse a
ragione del fatto che, prima dell’avvento della chimica, le tinte blu per i dipinti potevano realizzarsi solo mescolando l’olio di lino con la
polvere di lapislazzuli, la pietra preziosa al tempo considerata di maggior pregio. Tanta la domanda ma l’offerta limitata a qualche miniera
in Afghanistan, tanto che il costo del lapislazzuli era appena inferiore a quello dell’oro. La terra di Albione è stata, e per certi versi è ancora
oggi, al centro del mondo. Ed è curioso rilevare come i Maya, in tutte le loro lingue, identificano il blu con la stessa parola usata per definire il colore verde e, nella loro mistica, associano al blu (e dunque anche al verde) il centro dell’universo. Il blu, quindi, associato al Regno
Unito, non può che andare oltre una semplice tinta: è un vaso di significati e significanti, un permanente richiamo alla storia e al
futuro di questa nazione, un tratto distintivo di tutta la sua grande cultura.
by
AI | editor’s letter
simone d. casadei bernardi
BDG uk team supervisor
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aI
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OPENING
sunday 13th, DEC, 2015 6PM
sun 13 december, 2015 to wed 13 january, 2016
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BAG GALLERY
photo&contemporary
PESARO, via degli Abeti 102
+39 366 1977 633
www.bildungartgallery.com
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in collaboration with
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ART EXHIBIT GROUP
+39 338 1404626
[email protected]
No.71 FALL 2015
velvet blue
Life is made up of alternating states of being, between the extremes of flowing and staying. We flow
when we trust ourselves to that which ‘is’, without judgement, accepting that which existence gives us to an end which is yet to be revealed. We stay when the flow is interrupted, when faith – both in ourselves and in others – is lacking; when we feel the need to retreat
into our secret garden, be it for the simple pleasure of profound contact with ourselves or for self defence, to tend to wounds which have
suddenly reopened simply because they were not completely healed. Between the two extremes: an infinite range of intermediate states,
split between differing parts of our being, or complete, but in diverse grades. The “resulting state” is revealed when we sum up our past;
it is presented as the simple momentary effect of an unexpected event; recalling from mechanics the conditions of balance of suspended
bodies: unstable when, exercising even the slightest of forces the body moves irreversibly towards a different configuration of stable
balance; stable when the body, moved from a condition of balance, returns to the same with a pendular movement; indifferent when an
exercised force is unable to change the current condition. Language favours the same meaning both in mechanics and life. We move:
unstable is the state of being so shallowly rooted in ourselves as to risk being overwhelmed without hope of return, as thrilling as falling in love – Francesco Alberoni defines this as “a revolutionary movement for two” – or as gloomy as the fall into a deep depression.
Stable is any process bound to habits, rituals, rigid and slightly obsessive behavioural schemes; it coincides with the state of immobility, of little vitality, compensated by the secondary advantage of an illusionary sense of security. Stability is more survival
than life. It is easy to grasp momentary external stimulation, but we tend to quickly flow back to our consolidated schemes. Indifferent would seem to suggest an undesirable meaning, an idea of sloth, but no! As in mechanics, indifferent means so well centred – like a
wheel on its axis – as to be unaffected by external events, and it is the only truly desirable state: that of the observer who accepts
everything without judgement, in the knowledge that the world is fine as it is, that there is nothing to change; and at the most the only
possible change would be within ourselves, and that changing ourselves changes the world. Metamorphoses, in
the indifferent state, are continuous – because everything flows, turns – and they are born from creation through donation, even simply
to ourselves, and from the wish to sow beauty and a richness of meaning. The colour of creation is velvet blue, the wish to sow beauty and
meaning is the irrepressible desire of this magazine.
Nella vita si alternano stati dell’essere fra gli estremi del fluire e dello stare. Fluiamo, quando ci lasciamo
andare con fiducia a ciò che è, senza giudizio, accogliendo quanto l’esistenza ci invia per un fine che si svelerà nel tempo. Stiamo, quando
il fluire si interrompe, la fiducia – in se stessi e negli altri – viene meno; quando sentiamo la necessità di ritirarci nel giardino segreto,
per semplice piacere di contatto profondo con sé o per difenderci, per sanare ferite riapertesi all’improvviso, solo perché non erano
completamente risanate. Fra gli estremi: un’infinita gamma di stati intermedi, scissi fra parti diverse del nostro essere o integri, ma in
gradi diversi. Lo “stato risultante” risuona nei bilanci, quando tiriamo le somme del nostro passato; si presenta come semplice
effetto momentaneo di un evento imprevisto; richiama dalla meccanica le condizioni di equilibrio dei corpi sospesi: instabile, quando,
imprimendo una pur piccola forza, il corpo si muove irreversibilmente verso una diversa configurazione di equilibrio stabile; stabile,
quando il corpo, spostato dalla condizione di equilibrio, torna allo stesso con un moto a pendolo; indifferente, quando una qualunque
forza impressa non riesce a mutare la condizione di partenza. La lingua asseconda lo stesso significato in meccanica e nella vita. Trasliamo: instabile coincide con l’essere così poco radicati in sé da rischiare travolgimenti senza ritorno, esaltanti come un innamoramento
– Francesco Alberoni lo definisce “movimento rivoluzionario a due” – o cupi come il cedere a una profonda depressione. Stabile è ogni
processo ancorato ad abitudini, rituali, schemi di comportamento rigido e un po’ ossessivo; coincide con l’essere immobili, con poca
vitalità, compensata dal tornaconto secondario di un illusorio senso di sicurezza. La stabilità è sopravvivenza, più che
vita. È facile accogliere momentanee sollecitazioni dall’esterno, ma si tende a rifluire rapidamente negli schemi consolidati. Indifferente
sembra suggerire un’accezione poco auspicabile, sconfinante nell’accidia. Invece no! Come in meccanica, indifferente significa talmente
ben centrato – come una ruota al suo perno – da non subire effetti dagli eventi esterni ed è l’unico stato risultante davvero desiderabile:
quello dell’osservatore che coglie tutto senza giudizio, consapevole che il mondo è giusto com’è, che non c’è alcunché da cambiare; e
che, semmai, l’unico cambiamento possibile si attiva all’interno di sé e che cambiando sé si cambia il mondo. Le metamorfosi, nello
stato risultante indifferente, sono continue – perché tutto scorre, ruota – e prendono avvio dalla creazione attraverso il dono, anche semplicemente di sé, e dalla volontà di seminare bellezza e ricchezza di senso. Il colore della creazione è il blu velluto, la volontà di
seminare bellezza e senso il desiderio irrefrenabile di questa rivista.
AI | editor’s letter
by sergio signorini /
architectural & art writer
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aI
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aI
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No.71 FALL 2015
giovanni gastel
portfolio
Italian photographer. His first contact with photography
takes place in the 1970s. From that moment, a long period of apprenticeship began, during which he shoots pictures at weddings,
and makes portraits, small still-lives and occasional kids’ fashion
photo sessions, while an important opportunity is offered to him in
1975-76, when he starts working for the auction house Christie’s.
The turning point takes place in 1981 when he meets
Carla Ghiglieri who becomes his agent and introduces him
to the world of fashion. From this moment on, his
professional activity becomes more intense and he starts collaborating with the most prestigious fashion magazines both
in Italy and abroad, most of all in Paris. During these years
of intense professional commitment he elaborates his unique style,
characterized by a poetic irony, while his passion for art leads him to
introduce in his pictures the taste for a well-balanced composition.
His active commitment in the world of photography brings him
closer also to the Associazione Fotografi Italiani Professionisti, of
which he was President from 1996 to 1998. His professional success consolidates in the following decade, up to the point
in which his name appears on specialized magazines together with
those of Italian photographers such as Oliviero Toscani, Giampaolo
Barbieri, Ferdinando Scianna, or next to those of Helmut Newton,
Richard Avedon, Annie Leibovitz, Mario Testino and Jurgen Teller.
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