PIANO
ISSUE #2
M ?
E R N I S
M O D -
PIANO
pag. 1
pag. 7
Special Project/ Antonio Grulli
Liam Gillick
pag. 10
Specail Project/ Jacopo Miliani
pag.13
pag.17
INDICE
INDEX
Progetto a cura di/ Project by
FEDERICA BUETI/JACOPO CANDOTTI
[email protected]
CONTRIBUTORS
Antonio Grulli
Liam Gillick
Jacopo Miliani
Luciana Lamothe
Philippe Rahm
Ettore Favini
Paola Pivi
Italo Zuffi
Allsopp&Wier
Zimmerfrei/ Sound room
pag.22
pag.23
pag.34
pag.42
pag.60
Special Project/ Luciana Lamothe
Philippe Rahm
Special Project/ Ettore Favini
Special Project/ Paola Pivi
Special Project/ Italo Zuffi
Special Project/ Allsopp&Wier
MICRO
PRINCIPAL HOPE
THE REST OF NOW
as part of Manifesta7/
Lorenzo Pezzani
Denis Isaia
PIANO
MODERNISM or DUST
Lontano da definizioni di genere lo sguardo che riesce ad andare al di là guarda il moderno definirsi e compiersi sotto i propri
occhi, in multiple formazioni di pensiero e azione, in pratiche che non si definiscono tali, ma che nella loro essenza sono necessariamente anche quello. Parlare ancora del moderno vuole essere un modo per riflettere ed analizzare il contesto contemporaneo, non per mettere in evidenza possibili affinità e contraddizioni, ma per visualizzare quella forma di continuità che
potremmo chiamare “fluidità del reale”. Ci siamo posti come obiettivo quello di andare al di là di luoghi comuni nel tentativo
di far emergere un'immagine più articolata e complessa, restituire l'evidenza di un processo ancora in atto, che si è trasformato
assumendo nuove e più radicali forme. L’interrogativo che ci siamo posti vuole mettere in questione, dubitare che una definizione
di moderno così come la conosciamo sia ancora valida o se al contrario guardando più attentamente in molte pratiche contemporanee riusciamo a rintracciare quel segno profondo lasciato da utopie e possibili ridefinizioni. Nel suo saggio introduttivo
alla mostra "The Moderns" Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev afferma che "il mondo digitale accorda grande importanza ai network e
alle comunità, rivelando un'attrazione rinnovata per i modelli visionari delle utopie moderniste". In questa prospettiva ogni lettura deve essere necessariamente capovolta e ogni discorso sul moderno rintracciato in quella costellazione di linee sottili che
continuano incessantemente ad intrecciarsi anche oggi che il moderno sembra ormai essere un concetto obsoleto.
Ancora mi sfugge il senso di tanti luoghi comuni, delle tante generalizzazioni che a volte ne tralasciano il potenziale ingabbiandolo in una griglia. Noi abbiamo preferito proseguire per salti, con interessata superficialità abbiamo fatto scorrere davanti
ai nostri occhi immagini, parole e suoni, paesaggi affollati e atmosfere desolate per articolare un discorso che rendesse il senso
del processo di alterazione e rottura alla radice del concetto stesso di modernità.
Funzionalità e rigore geometrico non sono le uniche categorie di riferimento semmai rappresentano un punto di partenza dal
quale di volta in volta allontanarsi ed avvicinarsi, un punto di demarcazione tra esperienze diverse che nella loro apparente opposizione sono parte di uno stesso fenomeno, di una stessa volontà di ridefinizione del reale. Esperienze che nella loro essenza
e nella loro radicalità sono accomunate dalla capacità di spingere i confini altrove, di sperimentare nuove modalità di confronto
ed azione. Il senso del Moderno vive in un’analisi critica del mondo e in una visione fatta di potenzialità e volontà di migliorare le condizioni di vita, “for a better lifeworld”(per citare le parole di Buckminster Fuller) e crediamo che nelle pratiche contemporanee questo senso del possibile si rifletta in modo critico, spesso ironico sempre e comunque analitico e costruttivo.
Ciò che sembra essere cambiato è più semplicemente il modo in cui se ne parla o con cui ci si riferisce a questa idea e ci piace
la possibilità di poterlo definire con altre parole ed immagini perché solo attraverso un ripensamento del linguaggio diventa realizzabile ogni concreta possibilità di pensare il contemporaneo.
Le suggestioni e gli spunti sono presenti in questo numero accanto ai progetti realizzati dagli artisti e costituiscono in un certo
senso il background dal quale siamo ripartiti per ripensare l’idea di modernità, tracce quasi invisibili, come polvere al vento.
Far from genre definitions the vision which is able to go beyond sees the modern define and establish itself before one’s eyes,
in multiple forms of thought and action, with uses that are not defined as such, but in essence are necessarily exactly that. Once
again talking about modern should be a way of reflecting and analyzing the contemporary context, not to point out possible affinities or contradictions, but to visualize that form of continuity that we could call “real fluidity”.
We have set as our objective to go beyond common place clichés in the attempts to allow a more complex and articulated image
to emerge, giving back the evidence of a process still in motion, which has transformed itself assuming new and more radical
forms. The question that we’ve asked ourselves want to inquire, doubt that a definition of modern as we know it is still valid or
if on the contrary looking closer at many contemporary uses we are not able to find a deeper mark left by utopias and possible
redefinitions. In her introductive piece to the show “The Moderns” Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev affirms that “the digital world
attributes great importance to the network and to the community, revealing e renewed attraction to the visionary models of modernist utopias”. Using this perspective every reading must be turned around and every speech on the modern discovered among
those constellations of fine lines that incessantly continue to intertwine that the modern seems even today to have become an
obsolete concept.
The meaning of so many clichés still escapes me, and the many generalizations which at times leave out its potential thus caging
it behind a grid. We prefer to proceed by leaps, with an interested superficiality we have run by our eyes images, words and
sounds, crowded landscapes and desolate atmospheres to articulate a speech which gives sense to this process of alteration and
to the ripping out of the roots of the concept itself of modernity.
Functionality and geometric rigor are not the only categories for reference if anything they represent a point of departure from
which, from time to time, we must distance ourselves or close in, a demarcation point between different experiences that in their
apparent opposition are part of the same phenomenon , of the same desire for a redefinition of real. Experiences which in their
essence and in their roots are associated with the capacity to push confines beyond, to experiment with new forms of confrontation and action. The sense of Modern lives in a critical analysis of the world and in a vision made of a potentiality and a
will to better the conditions of life, “for a better lifeworld” (to quote the words of Buckminster Fuller) and we believe in the contemporary use this sense of the possible reflects in a critical, often ironic but always and in any case an analytical and constructive way.
That which seems to have changed is more simply the way in which the idea is referred to or spoken about and we like the possibility of being able to define it with other words and images because only through a reconsideration of the language used can
we achieve every concrete possibility of contemporary thinking.
The suggestions and ideas in this edition along side the projects created by the artists are in a sense the background from which
we’ve set off to rethink the idea of modernity, almost invisible traces, like dust in the wind.
Jacopo Candotti & Federica Bueti
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The World Game - How to make the World Work tor of World Resources Human Trends and Needs. It is also
To start with, here I san educational bombshell: take from all
of today’s industrial nations all their industrial machinery
and all their energy-distributing networks, and leave them all
their ideologies, all their political leaders, and all their political organizations and I can tell you that within six months
two billion people will die of starvation, having gone through
great pain and deprivation along the way.
However, if we leave the industrial machinery and their energy-distribution networks and leave them also all the people
who have routine job operating the industrial machinery and
distributing its products, and we take away from all the industrial countries all their ideologies and all the politicians
and political machine workers, people would keep right on
eating. Possibly getting on a little better than before.
The fact is that now- for the first time in the history of man for
the last ten years, all the political theories and all the concepts of political functions- in any other than second are roles
as housekeeping organizations- are completely obsolete. All
of them were developed on the you-or-me basis. This whole
realization that mankind can and may be comprehensively
successful is startling.
In pursuance of this theme and under auspice to be announced later we are going to undertake at Southern Illinois
University, in the next five years, a very extraordinary computerized program to be known as “How to make the World
Work”.
Here on Southern Illinois’ campus we are going to set up a
great computer program. We are going to introduce the many
variables now known to be operative in economics. We will
store all the basic data in the machine’s memory bank; where
are the people, what are the trending- all kinds of trending of
world man? Next we are going to set up a computer feeling
game, called “How to make the World Work?” We will start
playing relatively soon. We will bring people from all over
the world to play it. There will be competitive teams from all
round the earth to test their theories on how to make the
world work. If a team resorts to political press are to accelerate their advantages and is not able to wait for the going
gestation rate to validate their theory they are apt to be in
trouble. When you get into politics you are very liable to get
into war. War is the ultimate tool of politics. If war develops
the side inducing it loses the game.
Essence of the world’s working will be make every man able
to become a world citizen and able to enjoy the whole earth,
going wherever he wants at any time, able to take care of all
the needs of all his forward days without any interference
with any other man and never at the cost of another man’s
equal freedom and advantage. I think that the communication problem-of “how to make the world work”- will become
extremely popular the world around.
The game will be played competing individuals and teams.
The comprehensive logistical information upon which it is
based is your Southern Illinois University-supported Inven-
based upon the data and grand world strategies already
evolved in the Design Science Decade being conducted,
under our leadership here at Southern Illinois University , by
world-around university student who, forsaking the political
expedient of attempting to reform man, are committed to reforming the environment in such a manner aps to “up” the
performance per each unit of invested world resources until
so much more is accomplished with so much less that an
even higher standard of living will be effected for 100% of
humanity than is now realized by the 40% of humanity who
may now be classified as economically and physically successful.
The “game” will be hooked up with the now swiftly increasing major universities information network. This network ‘s
information bank will soon be augmented by the worldaround satellite –scanner live inventorying of visual data. Spy
satellites are now inadvertently telephotoing the whereabouts
and number of beef cattle around the surface of the entire
earth. The exact condition of all the world’s crops is now simultaneously and totally scanner and inventoried. The interrelationship of the comprehensively scanner weather and the
growing food supply of the entire earth are becoming manifest.
In playing “the game” the computer will remember all the
plays made by previous players and will be able to remind
each successive player of the ill fate of any poor move he might
contemplate making. But the ever-changing inventor might make
possible today that which would not work yesterday. Therefore
the successful stratagems of the live game will vary from day to
day. The game will not become stereotyped.
If a player resorts to political means for the realization of his strategy, he may be forced ultimately to use the war-wagging equipment with such all national political systems maintain their
sovereign power. If a player fires a gun- that is, if he resorts to
warfare, large o small- he loses and must fall out of the game.
The general-systems-theory controls of the game will be predicated upon employing within a closet system the world’s continually updated total resource information in closely specified
network complexes designed to facilitate attainment, at the earliest possible date, by every human being of complete enjoyment
of the total placed earth, through the individual’s optional travelling, tarrying, or dwelling here and there.
This world-around freedom of living, work, study, and enjoyment
must be accomplished without any one individual interfering with
another advantaged at the cost of another.
Whichever player or team first attains total success for humanity
wins the first round of the gaming. There are alternate ways of attaining success. The one who attains in the shortest time wins the
second round. Those who better the record at a later date win
rounds 3, 4 and so on.
All the foregoing objectives must be accomplished not only for
those who now live but for all coming generations of humanity.
How to make humanity a continuing success at the earliest possible moment will be the objective. The game will also be dynamic. The players will be forced to improve the program- failure
to improve also results in retrogression of conditions.
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Conditions cannot be pegged to accomplishment. They must
also grow either worse or better. This puts time at a premium
in playing the game.
Major world individuals and teams will be asked to play the
game. The game cannot help but become major world news.
As i twill be played from a high balcony overlooking a football field-size Dymaxion Air ocean World Map with electrically illumined data transformations, the game will be visibly
developed and may be live-televised the world over by a
multi-Telstra relay system.
The world’s increasing confidence in electronic instrumentation in general- due to the demonstrated reliability of its gyrocompasses, and its “blind” instrument landings of airplanes
at night in thick fog, and confidence in opinion-proof computers in particular, will make the “world game” playing of
fundamental and spontaneous interest to all of humanity.
Ultimately its most successful winning techniques will become well known around the world and as the game’s solutions gain world favour they will be spontaneously resorted
to as political emergencies accelerate.
Nothing in the game can solve the problem of two men
falling in love with the same girl, or falling in love with the
same shade under one specific tree. Some are going to have
to take the shade of another equally inviting tree. Same may
end up bachelors. Some may punch each other’s noses. For
every problem solved a plurality of new problem arise to take
their place. But the problem need not be those of physical
and economic survival. They can be perplexing and absorbing in entirely metaphysical directions such as those which
confront the philosophers, the artists, poets, and scientists.
The game must, however, find ways in which to provide
many beautiful shade trees for each – that is to say a physical and economic abundance adequate for all. Their will, of
course, have to be matching of times and desires, requiring
many initial wait-listings. As time goes on, however, and
world-around information becomes available, the peaks and
valleys of men’s total time can be ever-improvedly smoothed
out. Comprehensive coordination of bookings, resource, and
accommodation information will soon bring about a 24hour, world-around viewpoint of society which will operate
and think transcendentally to local “seasons” and weathers
of rooted botanical life. Humanity will become emancipated
from its mental fixation on the seven-day-week frame of reference. I myself now have many winters and summers per
year as I cross the equator from northern to southern hemisphere and back several times annually. I have now circled
the earth so many times that I think of it and literally sense it
in my sight as a sphere. I often jump in eight-and nine-hour
time zone air strides. As a consequence my metabolic coordination has become independent of local time fixations.
It is my intention to initiate on several occasions in a number
of placed anticipatory discussion of the necessary and
desiderable parameters to establish for playing the world
game. I intend to nominate as participants both in these preliminary discussions and in formal play only those who are
outstandingly capable discussing these parameters. The par-
ticipants must also be those will known for their lack of bias
as well as for their forward-looking competence and practical experience.
(From a lecture of R. Buckminster Fuller and included in the
book “Utopia or Oblivion”. The prospects for Humanity”, R.
Buckminster Fuller, Lars Müller Publisher)
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CINQUE MODI PER SPORCARE UNA SCARPA DI DONNA”
“C
by Antonio Grulli
Il 20 Novembre 2008 inaugurerà presso l’Istituto Italiano di Cultura “C.M. Lerici” di Stoccolma
(www.iicstoccolma.esteri.it) la mostra collettiva intitolata Una scarpa da donna persa sull’erba. L’occasione saranno i cinquant’anni dall’inaugurazione della struttura stessa progettata da Gio Ponti. Il titolo
è rubato dalla definizione dell’edificio data da uno dei più importanti critici di architettura svedesi dell’epoca, Torbjorn Olsson. In quegli anni l’Istituto, uno dei più grandi capolavori del modernismo italiano,
atterrava in un contesto, quello svedese, in cui imperava il più freddo e austero funzionalismo sociale.
L’architetto italiano invece dedicava una grande attenzione agli aspetti psicologici, sensuali (quasi feticistici), lussuosi, vernacolari e ironici dell’architettura. Un modernismo “sporco” ma al tempo stesso orgogliosamente mediterraneo, caldo ed elegante, senza nessun senso di colpa, che a distanza di anni si
rivela sempre più per la sua lungimiranza. Flavio Favelli, Christian Frosi, Riccardo Previdi, Luca Trevisani, Patrick Tuttofuoco, Italo Zuffi, sono gli artisti chiamati a lavorare su queste caratteristiche dell’edificio pontiano. Di seguito presentiamo un progetto visivo pensato appositamente per la rivista Piano,
per cui gli artisti hanno realizzato una serie di immagini, legate ai lavori che verranno presentati in mostra, ma al tempo stesso dotate di forte autonomia. Una sorta di ulteriore sezione della mostra stessa,
in cui si continua il processo di ricerca volto ad una maggiore conoscenza dell’edificio e di ciò che ha
lasciato.
20 November 2008 the Istituto Italiano di Cultura “C.M. Lerici” di Stoccolma (www.iicstoccolma.esteri.it) will inaugurate the collective exhibition entitled A Woman’s Shoe Lost on the Grass. The occasion will also be the fiftieth year anniversary of the structure itself designed by Gio Ponti. The title was
stolen from the definition of the building given by one of the most important critics of Swedish Architecture of the period, Torbjorn Olsson. In those years the Institute, one of the greatest masterpieces of
Italian Modernism, landed in a Swedish context, where the coldest and most austere social functionalism reigned. The Italian architect however paid very close attention to the psychological, sensual (almost fetishistic), luxurious, vernacular and ironic aspects of architecture. A “dirty” Modernism but at
the same time proudly Mediterranean, warm and elegant, with no guilty feelings, which over the years
has revealed itself increasingly for its far-sighted vision. Flavio Favelli, Christian Frosi, Riccardo Previdi,
Luca Trevisani, Patrick Tuttofuoco, Italo Zuffi, are the artists called on to work on these characteristics
of this Ponti building?? We will then present a visual project designed specifically for PIANO magazine,
for which the artists have created a series of images related to the work that will be presented within the
exhibition, but at the same time with a strong sense of autonomy. A sort of further section of the exhibition itself, which continues the process of research aimed at a better understanding of the building and
that which is has left us.
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Flavio Favelli, courtesy by the artist
2
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Italo Zuffi, courtesy by the artist
3
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Riccardo Previdi, courtesy by the artist
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Luca Trevisani, courtesy by the artist
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Patric Tuttofuoco, courtesy by the artist
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“EVERYTHING GOOD GOES”
by Liam Gillick
No credits
fade from black
Camera pans across desk.
A person is building a 3D digital model on a computer.
The model is the Salumi Factory from the film “Tout va bien”
by Jean-Luc Godard and Pierre Gorin, constructed from
memory.
Voiceover, leaving a long message on the telephone.
This text is derived from the improvised spoken version.
It is a message to those shooting the film indicating the questions that need to be considered.
“We are suspended, like we’re trying catch a moment, maybe
an earlier moment, maybe it’s that Volvo moment, 17th of
June, 1974, where the view from the factory is of the trees
and we are thinking hard about the way to work together as
a team, and working on a way to know that the future is
going to work out just fine and everything is a trajectory.
That’s one choice, trying to catch that moment – or a repression of it – the idea of creating the conditions for the experimental, but with no experiments.
“Maybe it’s redundancy following the lure of infinite flexibility, remember we’re redundant at this point in the story,
we have got lots of time. The factory, the wholesale transferal
of activity has already taken place, remember? Past, present
and future have been passed on. Now, we still have to address the idea – and this is still a phantom in the framing of
the discursive project – we have to address the fact of this
loss, the reduction of leisure as a promise and a marker. And
the question now of course is always how do you know how
much leisure you are having?
“Languages of production development, the notion of selfimprovement and continual learning as a contested site. We
need to examine the idea of a discursive framework to make
it relevant and valuable and worth bothering with, or not
bothering with or what have you – to examine the fact that
the notion of continual learning, as it were, the notion of selfimprovement, is ideologically specific, it comes with a specific philosophy, it connects to certain power structures that
rely on the notion of continual and permanent education.
The way it’s used for example in different cultures, in order
to resolve, what are actually much more bald and peculiar
and difficult clear political differences to do with class, and
situations and power. The fact that we are in this kind of fundamental paradox, there is a man talking to a group of people, and we will having a beer in a minute, and it’s all
reasonable and we are all caught in this lure of the idea of
self-improvement, continual learning, and it’s perfectly reasonable, so like a lot of these things I am talking about, there
is a good side and a bad side. The bad side is that in order to
make it worth bothering with discursive projects we have to
examine them much more closely.
“The notion of the permanent part-time worker. This is not
my idea. The idea that the danger for the artist, certain artists
now, and certain structures now is that they have become a
perfect mirror of the ideal kind of Sarkoziastic vision of the
day after tomorrow in France. The post 35 hour week, infinitely flexible, very adaptable, very able to turn ourselves to
certain things. We have to question how closely a discursive
structure comes close to that seminarized, flexiblized, hotdesked, kind of zombie discourse. Not pure zombie maybe,
but zombies with agency.
“Suspension and repression as a dominant model: the notion
that the team-worked, flexibilized environment is a way to
induce people to create predictive models that are resistant
to true projections of future circumstances. They are conditional and contingent. So this is a really crucial idea, the idea
that this kind of discursive flexibilized environment, is purely
about creating predictive models that don’t actually create a
true projection of future circumstances, that’s the trap. So
what are the dangers, what are we to do? The discursive
model in its current form always creates this kind of day after
potential. In this environment, what we are doing in fact is
merely putting something just out of reach, all we are doing
is working towards the idea of creating a predictive model,
that doesn’t actually work as a functional projection because
it always becomes a promise just out of reach.
“Redundancy following the lure of infinite flexibility – the
idea of reoccupation, recuperation and aimless renovation.
A group of phenomena that are very common within the idea
of the discursive context. These are the things that are often
a result of the suspension that is an essential component of
the discursive. But it can become the most reassuring, the
most circling, the most self-referential, and it has a certain
attraction, but it also has this feeling of being a kind of trap,
as in the idea that you can have the stinking factory. And
thank you, maybe we can turn it into a flexible space.
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“And this sense of no surprise is something that is very complicated because it’s very connected to the territory between
the trajectory of modernity and the trajectory of modernism.
You could say that effectively the discursive frame works most
profoundly in the gap between the trajectory of modernity
as a flow of technologies, developments and consolidation.
But operates ideologically and intellectually in opposition to
the now closed post-war period of modernist analysis. If you
can somehow occupy the gap between the trajectory of
modernity and the somewhat melancholic imploded selfconscious trajectory of modernism and its post versions, the
idea of no surprise, the idea of a sudden return, the idea of a
critical series of gains and losses within previous ideological
formations, becomes very problematic, very difficult and
needed to be replaced by a completely new methodology.
“The consensus model as a phantom parallel. A new coalescence of relationships that we thought were over and that
need not be considered. Punctuated by forms of postmodern
architectural symbolism by certain architects and so on.
Then, suddenly this European neurosis and the fact that we
have to suddenly think about this idea of the edge, which is
to do with this idea of the federated and the federated as an
idea is something that tends to be ignored, but within this
idea of the discursive framework, which can often function
like a federated series of organizations – once it goes beyond
the collective, or goes beyond the communal, or beyond the
suspended – becomes essentially a series of federations or, it’s
a federated model, it’s not truly a republican model, it’s not
truly a super-subjective model, it often feels like a federation
of relationships, it’s not even truly collaborative, this becomes
a real potential when the idea of the edge of the federation
becomes a key political marker. How can you sustain a discursive framework without realizing its political echo in this
federated structure?
“The factory and the wholesale transferal of activity. One of
the key reasons why reoccupation, renovation, aimless renovation and recuperation become a dominant feature of the
discursive framework is due to the legacy of the occupation
of space rather than time. This is a really key marker for people of my generation, we were told about the moment when
the building was occupied, the moment when the University
was occupied, the moment when the factory was occupied,
and it became quite clear during the right wing backlash that
was planned in the mid 70’s and came into effect in the
Anglo-Saxon context, in 79-80, with the appearance of
Thatcher-Reagan, that there was a very careful attempt made
to ensure that this idea of occupation of space could never
any longer produce truly traumatic moments and one of the
generational problems, meaning true 20 years generation
problems, in my generation with the 68’ generation – that 20
years difference – is that they couldn’t understand why we
didn’t want to occupy the spaces that were left for us and
merely make a documentary account of everything but we
could not understand why they were not trying harder to occupying time instead of creating spaces for an archive of what
they had known and experienced. This kind of misunderstanding becomes a clear issue. The idea of us and them, this
is the clear model that had to be transcended. They used to
be able to talk about being on the same side of the barricade.
And our argument is that to sustain a chaotic opportunistic
capitalist globalization it has been necessary to retain a notional singular barricade, but actually the barricades have
shifted and more layers of distance have been added. People
have ended up occupying spaces that are displaced from the
actual site of crisis. The barricade and what it blocks has becomes less clear, more distant and has grown and multiplied.
So, these contingent qualities of the discursive, the reoccupation, recuperation and aimless renovation qualities of the
discursive field are perfectly fine, because they usually occupy parallel zones, they echo this constant displacement,
they are also operating well away from the symbolic singular barricade that remains, because it’s necessary to find out
where the true barricade is located instead.
“The day before and the day after: the notion of reoccupation
being a good potential phrase for an act that is over for the
first time once it has been achieved. So maybe one answer,
maybe one way of dealing with this, is the idea of reoccupying critical zones that were never occupied in the first place.
The trajectory of reoccupation, the classical flow of the idea
of reoccupying becoming activated again and the idea of taking over new zones for the first time is a key to the discursive
even when people cannot see this. It’s not actually a reoccupation to take something over for the first time and stop.
“Immaterial labor – where prior to be manufactured, a product must be sold. And I think one of the key things here is
analogous mapping: Not just a series of aims, an aim has got
the implication of an end point, like a target, as it were, it’s
different from a direction. Analogous mapping: the extent to
which we still see strong political determinism within cultural structures. Now, this is one of the reasons why the commitment to an idea of a discursive framework that is not
merely erased by technically correct, yet actually quite incorrect applications of the critique of immaterial labor when
applied to it, is an issue. Because we still see a strong element
of political determinism and instrumentalization within cultural structures.
“The lure of a practice that opens the opportunity to be an
un-examined and free agent in a collective project – the idea
that a discursive frame, strangely enough, while it appears to
be open way to generate things among equally expressed
voices, actually allows the possibility of hiding within the
collective, it allows a voice or development of set of arguments and individual positions to grow, without the necessity
to embody a quality of art practice that forces autonomous
and instant identification, so you can have incomplete projects, you can have partial contributions, you can have these
aspects, which are crucial in order to make an effective progressive, critical environment.
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“Consensus models as phantom parallels, this question of
where is the actual edge in Europe. It is a reasonable question. The idea that a discursive structure becomes an internationalized border-free methodology is crucial to its
potential failings and collapses, it becomes easily absorbed,
because it has this borderless quality and maybe because of
its potential misuse of architectural metaphors, leads towards
a kind of a borderless quality. This occupation of time starts
to erase new problems of edge.
“The anxiety about who controls the reshaping of the story of
the recent past and the near future, this question of anxiety
about the recent past, is a crucial component. The discursive
framework has been predicated upon one form of postmodern understanding, the idea of a dominant voice was itself
an authored voice, or clear-cut authored content that is now
impossible politically and socially and ideologically. However, there is still the feeling that stories get told, the past is
getting reconfigured, the recent past and near future gets
shaped. And so there is a constant anxiety within the discursive frame about who is doing this, who is marking time in a
postmodern environment and whether they are all doing it
under the same terms.
“So the first idea of finding content was to use the model of
the factory, as an analogy, the wholesale transferal of activity. Now, one of the reasons why this factory thing is interesting is that as a system it allows you to look at production
relationships in order to create a continual map of productive
potential. And of course one of the great struggles of the 20th
century has been between speculation and planning and if
we can say that speculation won, which it probably did and
planning has become something we do for the people we
don’t know what to do with – we plan for them but everyone
else can speculate – then this idea of the factory model, does
become a potential for use, structural use. In spite of the fact
that the factory is always emblematic of speculation, it’s what
speculation produces, speculation lures production, it lures
industry, it lures investment, psychologically and philosophically there is a dilemma, that in order to effectively activate
speculation, you have to plan. Suddenly this thing seems to
be a model to analyze, this idea of viewing the discursive as
a production cycle, a production thing, instead of a permanent association of free time or a site of traces.
“Suspension and repression as a dynamic model: the location
of projected problem is always out of reach or far too close.
A lot of this presumes that an art context provides a useful
parallel to other functions, and this is one of the key things
that requires increased examination. The idea that it’s the key
marker that creates the tension between progressive generations, generations of progressive cultural practitioners. Because, there are doubts about how an art context in itself,
just occupying an art context actually create useful parallels
to other functions and moments…”
Loop
Liam Gillick has played a central role in the contemporary art scene through
numerous collaborations with other artists, writers, architects and designers. Gillick studied at Goldsmiths College and has exhibited widely across
continental Europe and the United States. His practice encompasses many
activities including writing, curating, designing and teaching which all overlap to form a complex and multi-layered body of work. His shows included:"Three Perspectives and a Short Scenario. Work 1988-2008",
Kunstverein München, "Sydney Biennale", Sydney (2008).
"The State/Commune Itself as a Super State/Commune....", Galerie Micheline
Szwajcer, Antwerp (2007); "Edgar Schmitz", Institute of Contemporary Arts,
London
November, "Texte Court sur la Possibilite de Creer Une Economie de L'Equivalence", Site se Création Contempraine, Palais de Tokyo, Paris (2005)
“Projects 79 Liam Gillick: Literally” The Museum of Modern Art, New York
(2003).
Selected Group Exhibitions included:
100 Years 100 Artists 100 Works of Art", Art on the Underground, A Foundation Gallery, London; "The ICA Auction Exhibition", ICA, London
(2008);"Collateral: When Art Looks at Cinema", Hangar Bicocca, Milan
(2007) "If I can't dance, I don't want to be part of your revolution", de Appel,
Amsterdam; "Manifesta 6", Cyprus (2006)
March "Singular Forms (Sometimes Repeated): Art from 1951 to the Present", Guggenheim Museum, New York (2004)
9
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Special Project by
JACOPO MILIANI
“ Don’t Say
10
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I didn’t
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Say So”
12
Special Project by
LUCIANA LAMOTHE
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Forma y función, forma herramienta y función: un mundo mejor.
VERSUS
Fuerza y herramienta.
Un X-man
con el peor de los poderes,
cualquier cosa que toca inmediatamente la desintegra.
0
UN BANDIDO ESCONDIDO QUE QUIERE VIVIR ESCONDIDO, merodeando los rincones
de cualquier ciudad,
un bandido escondido que quiere vivir escondido.
CORTAR LA MADERA PARA CONSTRUIR UNA FORMA
VERSUS
CORTAR LA MADERA PARA DESTRUIR EL MATERIAL.
Si no hay un proyecto que trascienda los cortes que se le hace al material para generar
una forma, toda la tensión recae sobre esos cortes, sobre la destrucción .
Pero el constructor de formas e ideas, el optimista visionario, no ha perdido sus cualidades, aunque por razones que exceden su imaginario esas cualidades se han vuelto hoy
contra sí mismo, y sabe que aunque su misión es continuar preguntando a los materiales
acerca de su verdad, hoy el constructor solo destruya. Con el mismo gesto que usaba para
generar una forma, hoy el material se esfuma antes que llegue a transformarse.
Destruir los materiales es la misión que hoy se le impone.
LA MISION ES UNA PREGUNTA:
Hasta dónde es posible la vulnerabilización de los materiales?
Después de que el material termine de llorar, en que se va a transformar?
DESPARRAMAR UN CARTUCHO DE TINTA EN UN PAPEL SECANTE
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“METODOLOGICAL TYPOLOGIES”
by Philippe Rahm
In his letter to Pope Leo X at the beginning of the 16th cen-
tury (1519), the painter Raphael explains the distinctive nature of the architect’s representational techniques by
comparing them to those of the painter, the plan being most
important for the architect, in the same way that the perspective was the most essential mode of representation for
the painter: “The drawn plan, belonging within the realm of
the architect, is different from the painter’s drawing.”
Raphael essentially adopts the distinction between architecture and painting made by Leon Battista Alberti, which
claimed for the architect the drawn plan and prohibited the
use of the perspective drawing, to be used exclusively by the
painter.
It seems vital that we return to this fundamental distinction,
to the plan and its creation, as the essential starting point of
our work, preceding all other types of representation: this is
an exploration within the very matrix of architectural form
and its spatial organization, at the heart of its most fundamental tenets and terminology. The history of architecture is
marked by this sort of foundational moment, which can be
misunderstood as being merely a return to the plan as the
basis for architectural representation; but they are crucial in
terms of how they allow for a fundamental reevaluation of
architectural language and principles, as well as providing a
necessary platform from which to periodically rearticulate its
implications. This renewed focus on the plan drawing and
resulting reinvigoration of the discourse around architectural
language appears to be a necessary process during periods of
time when the rhetoric of the theoretical realm eclipses and
clouds the more relevant issues of the moment. This academicism results in a certain stagnation, where its multitude
of ideas and perspectives are in reality outcomes of a very
singular type of plan; coming forth from the same mold, from
the same specific frame of mind which we inevitably begin
to take for granted.
The plan drawing is thus the original form of representation
of the architect; and the development of a new sort of plan
is his objective. This is why the concept of the “architectural
project” can be a trap because it fails to question the fundamental substance of the plan drawing and of architectural
form itself; it leans too heavily on a predetermined language,
all the while seducing us with a certain richness of expression
and form, merely a consequence of contextual multiplicity.
The methodology behind the ‘architectural project” is essentially one of a singular rhetoric applied in different contexts,
which is what gives it a false impression of multiplicity and
adaptability. Infinitely more than the concept of the ‘architectural project”, we prefer the idea of the “project of the architectural project” or—even more so—the concept of the
“architecture of the project”, which examines architecture itself as a sort of language, rethinking the role of the architectural plan drawing in the creative design process.
Architecture is the creator of typologies, the creator of plans.
When she becomes the “architecture of the project”, “invention of a language”, “drawing of a plan”, she is elevated
above art. Perhaps, then, perspective will follow.
Our current work is doing precisely this: attempting to define new typologies, to invent new sorts of plans and sections
which span across the issues and the actual technical methods—and therefore, the field of a broader reality as a function
of our contemporary knowledge base. Advancements in the
fields of the life sciences, molecular and genetic biology on
one side and the increased interest in atmospheric issues arising from global warming on the other provide a shift--or
more specifically, an expansion of the spectrum of what constitutes reality, which today is perceived as a shift from the
visible towards the invisible, from the macroscopic to the microscopic and the climatic, from the inorganic to the organic,
from the biological to the meteorological. Our task is to invent a new sort of plan, to formulate new sorts of typologies
between within the realms of meteorology and physics, articulating the movements or air, the transformation of water
into vapor, the rates of renewal of a mass of air, sound pressures, temperature and respiration, perspiration, and metabolism. After decades devoted to the visible, in which a
subjective approach and “storytelling” shamelessly replaced
the progressive and moral programs of modernity, we are
now in a new and extremely interesting period. A slippage of
the real from the visible toward the invisible is taking place,
and a shift of architecture toward the microscopic and the
atmospheric, the biological and the meteorological.
The following proposals are of this genre, creations stemming
from the search for a new sort of plan as a literal, unexpected,
and jubilant result of the design process.
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1-Airscape
In this project, the architectural design is the articulation of
the movement of air as an inhabitable airflow: an architecture as a drawing of wind, where its qualities express themselves in terms of velocity, volume, movement, propulsion,
and extraction are transformed, both poetically and spatially,
into an issue of ventilation. From the start, the plan is composed according to the requirements of the management of
air flow, all the while prioritizing the matter (issue) of the
hourly rate of air renewal. Our project is developed according to the requirements of airflow management (automatic ventilation of fresh air with heat recovery / Minergie,
Switzerland) so as to reduce, by a factor of 8, the building’s
energy consumption. Thus it embodies the subject of the
hourly rate of air renewal / recirculation (calculated in m_ of
air per hour). The recirculation of interior air is then determined by a particular rate that is a function of its usage, of the
number of occupants, the duration of their stay within the
space, and of their level of physical activity: a sparse or physically inactive occupation will require a lower rate of air renewal than a more densely occupied space or one where
more vigorous physical activity will demand a higher hourly
rate. Air renewal is essential to the metabolic process because it brings in fresh oxygen, which is consumed 500 times
faster than its usual rate during periods of strenuous physical
exercise; it functions to flush out metabolic wastes such as
hydrogen, carbon dioxide, and lactates. From 7.5 liters during times or rest, the output of the ventilation process is raised
to over 120 liters per minute during physical activity.
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This increase is made possible by a parallel increase in
breathing rate, which necessitates a more rapid exchange between fresh and stale air. There exists therefore a very precise relationship between the geometry of the space and the
quantity of air that needs to be recycled and renewed, reinitiating the issue of a building’s ventilation as being a decisive factor in its architectural form. Architecture here is
designed as the continuous movement of air, whose streams
join together to shape the mass of air moving through space.
The plan is thus developed incrementally, flowing between
the areas of low renewal rates (less occupied, and/or housing
less minimal muscular activity) towards those of a much
greater rate of hourly renewal (indicating strenuous activity
levels or dense occupation) according to a design based on
the accumulation of airflows, resulting in these rates:
Foyer:
Stores:
Restrooms:
Locker rooms:
Sport halls:
Showers:
4 times/hr
10 times/hr
15 times/hr
20 times/hr
25 times/hr
30 times/hr
The architecture is formed in the manner of a gust of wind,
sculpting itself not unlike a stream of air whose flow gradually increases as a result of the respiration of its occupants,
the rate of respiration itself being a function of their activity
level and the quantity of water vapor they produce. Finally,
the air of the building is collected in the showers so it may
pass through a dual heat exchange system which extracts
heat from expelled air in order to warm the incoming fresh
air. In this Zephyrean landscape, the program of a sports facility is laid out and establishes itself in space according to
the amount of air that would be the most beneficial to the
proposed programmatic activity.
Atmosphère d’air
Constructions sur l’eau
Les Docks, Quai Rambaud, Lyon 2008
Maître d'ouvrage : Rhône-Saône Développement
Assistant maître d'ouvrage : Art Entreprise Georges Verney-Carron
Maîtrise d’oeuvre: Philippe Rahm architectes (collaborateurs : Jérôme
Jacqmin, Andrej Bernik, Caroline Spielvogel, Jeanne Guerin)
2-humidityscape
The project for the Mollier houses reveals and characterizes
an invisible, yet essential, connection between interior space
and humidity. It aims to transform a problem of building
physics into an architectural question, to the point that this
question becomes the efficient cause of the form. It introduces new sensual and physiological relations between the
inhabitant and the space directly into the constraints of the
technical equipment of the building. It engages closer ties
with the lake landscape of Vassivière in Limousin, physical
and chemical ties, as it is situated in the material character of
the territory itself, in its humidity. An occupant of an indoor
space produces water vapor, not in a constant manner, but
according to the primary activity to which each room is dedicated. The presence of water vapor in the air originates naturally from respiration and hot water usage, leading to risks
of condensation and damage to the construction. While
today, the only solution to excess interior water vapor is the
common use of technical ventilation systems, we propose in
this project to shape the space in relation to the water vapor,
in order to inaugurate a profound and complex relation between the inhabitants, their bodies, and the space according
to its physical and chemical characteristics. Consequently,
our architecture is designed, and the living spaces are given
form, according to the variation of the relative humidity level,
from the driest to the most humid, from 20% to 100% relative humidity. By means of the water vapor content, the quality of the architecture takes shape as the real and physical
immersion of the inhabitants’ bodies in the humid and variable body of the space. Our project establishes a stratification
of the levels of humidity within the space. A sleeping person
emits around 40 grams of water vapor per hour (bedroom)
while he produces up to 150 grams per hour when active
(living room). The use of a bathroom gives off up to 800
grams in 20 minutes and use of a kitchen, 1500 grams per
hour. Like a set of Russian nesting dolls, the living areas are
designed according to the route of air renewal through the
house, from the driest to the most humid, from the freshest to
the stalest, from the bedroom to the bathroom. But our project refuses to program the space functionally according to
specific activities. It creates spaces that are more or less dry,
more or less humid, to be occupied freely, to be appropriated according to the weather and the seasons.
The plan of the house is a spatial representation of the Mollier diagram, creating new programmatic correspondences,
in which one space can receive several functions that are assumed to be separated. The driest room, between 0% and
30% RH (relative humidity) could be a drying room or a
sauna. The next room, between 30% and 60% RH, could be
a bedroom, an office, or a living room. The third room, still
more humid, between 60% and 90% RH, could be used as
a bathroom, a living room, or a kitchen. The last room, the
most humid, between 90% and 100% RH, could be used as
a living room or a pool. But here, none of the rooms are
specifically determined by a function. They remain freely appropriable according to the level of humidity sought.
The project also amplifies the hydrometric layering of the
landscape, integrating both the physical presence of the lake
water and the natural exterior humidity as if it were a room
in the house with a humidity level of 100%. The buildings
are arranged linearly, positioned along a preexisting incline
of natural terrain, engulfed by the waters of the artificial lake.
Room 1: 0% to 30% relative humidity drying room, sauna
Room 2: 30% to 60% relative humidity
bedroom, home office
Room 3: 60% to 90% relative humidity bathroom, living
room, kitchen
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Room 4:
90% to 100% relative humidity
living room, swimming pool
Résidences Mollier
Programme : Résidences de vacances, Vassivière dans le Limousin, France,
2005
Maîtrise d’ouvrage : SYMIVA (Syndicat mixte interdépartemental et régional
de Vassivière)
Maîtrise d’œuvre : Philippe Rahm architectes (Philippe Rahm, Jérôme
Jacqmin. Collaborateurs : Cyrille Berger, Irène D’Agostino, Alexandra Cammas)
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3-Insulatedscape
This project for a museum in Poland is literally an increase of
the thickness of the small spacing of some millimetres between the glasses of a window with double or triple glazing,
until making a liveable space, of some meters. Living in the
interval of the double-glazing glass. Precisely like the construction manner of the contemporary windows which adds
the layers with glasses (simple glass/glass doubles/glass
tripe) to improve the insulation by decreasing the coefficient
of the thermal transmission K (W/m2.K) (simple glass: K
=5,6/glass double: K = 3 glass tripe: K = 2), our project adds
the layers, to improve the thermal coefficient gradually, one
layer after one layer, offering a variety of temperatures and
luminosities. Against the homogeneity of the modern climate, we propose a diversity of atmospheres, light and tem
peratures open to transhumance. According to the type of
activity, according to the season, we will rather choose one
layer than another, hotter or more in north, more constant in
its temperature or more luminous. Architecture finds here, in
its own language and in the energy needs related to the sustainable development, the means to create interpretable
spaces, extraordinary, freely opened to the future behaviours
and functions.
Concours pour un musée Tadeusz Kantor à Cracovie, Pologne, 2006
Mention d’honneur
© Philippe Rahm architectes, 2006
(Philippe Rahm, Jérôme Jacqmin)
Collaborateurs : Slah Ben Chaabane, Irene D’Agostino, Konrad Chmielewski
21
ON MODERNISM
by Italo Zuffi
Modernism – a silk-screened setting in which the memories of our childhood, as well
as a certain gluey nostalgia, serenely slumber.
Modernism overwhelmed itself with cubical buildings of white travertine; squared
libraries; and museums shaped as corporations’ headquarters. By scattering
shopping-centres all over the place, post-modernist architecture aimed at beating back
travertine.
Modernism was the architects’ obsession with concrete and large glass panes.
Post-modernism was our obsession with Ray-Ban mirror glasses.
Modernism saw the birth and rise of plastic production. Post-modernism developed its
manufacturing in sick factories and delivered its poisonous fumes into the air.
The first footprints on the moon’s surface were modernist; our first steps on a disco
dancefloor, post-modernist.
The bombs flattening cities, splatting civilians instead of armies, were modernist; the
bomb turning bodies into dust or into nothing, and the fears that such potential
annihilation generated in us, post-modernist.
Modernism was a time during which everything flowed, uninterrupted; an age of fast
and uncontrolled progress. Post-modernism let loose excitement and delirium. But
how to name our present age of uncertainty, our current lack of both exactitude and
perspective? How to frame demographic growth and pollution, record-breaking art
auctions and the return to regional nationalism?
Lucio Fontana titled some of his works La fine di Dio (‘The end of God’), meaning that
divinities no longer had quiet room to live in – not after the idea of pursuing gods across
the whole universe possessed man to hurl satellites in all directions. Fontana’s view was
a modernist one. Fox hunting (a game consisting of a crowd of agitated dogs, horses and
riders all chasing a scared-to-death fox) is post-modernist – despite its early institution.
Modernism was the use of colour film in the moving image, whilst the introduction of
videotape recording, and the easy access it provided, a post-modernist compromise.
And, yet, how to evaluate the attempt to resume and restore Modernism in art by
displaying freshly produced, elaborate,16 mm film projections, within art venues, or by
assembling metal-and-glass structures to offer the audience a temporary, geometric
habitat? Artists passively adjust their work, to insert it in sceneries created by others. In
old-fashioned manners, they still repeat exempla they were instructed with. All right;
they understood the lesson and, no doubt, memorised it.
The images in these pages are from a recent performance in São Paulo, Brasil, by
Sabina Grasso and Massimo Grimaldi. A performance consisting of a bodybuilder they
invited to display herself in front of the audience. The public which surrounded her,
did not watch a sports challenge, for the performer was alone, not competing against
other bodies. She was there only to show herself to herself. On the floor a miniaturized, oval stage detached her from the rest of the world. She posed and projected
invisible margins, to create an all-vertical space – the more she stretched upwards, the
more she conquered that space. Her unremitting gestures materialized an ethereal,
round windscreen behind which to simulate the need for some protection (a somehow
girlish mood). Spinning flesh, hands rotating, body rotating. The body converted into a
slowed-down vortex. Incalculable amounts of time invested in stretching skin and
perfecting muscles, or whatever lies between skin and the hidden skeleton. To design a
fluid geometry by throwing movements around – her playful half-‘goodbyes’
continuously sprayed in the air above her head. It was pride. It was self-esteem. It was
confidence. A portrait of desire and life – the life that can be found in a jungle or in a
cage. A manifesto of vitality, of fighting back any nostalgia for an exhausted, worn-out
past.
Let’s go beyond the Cartesian approach and a vision just made of parallel mirrors. Modernism is
no longer breathing. I can only talk about the present.
PIANO
Micro è lo spazio dedicato ad importanti appuntamenti
nel calendario della cultura contemporanea
raccontati dai nostri inviati speciali.
MICRO
“The sense of place”. Il luogo come stratificazione di significati e memorie, come territorio della contraddizione e del conflitto: in
questi termini il Trentino Alto-Adige rappresenta un terreno fertile di indagine per riflettere sui concetti di territorio e di identità, di
locale e globale. Da Rovereto a Trento, da
Bolzano a Fortezza, Manifesta ha cercato di offrire uno sguardo sul territorio connettendo aspetti di un passato ormai conclusosi e di un
presente in costruzione. Abbiamo chiesto a
Lorenzo Pezzati e Denis Isaia di raccontarci
Manifesta attraverso il filtro della propria esperienza come assistenti curatori delle mostre
“Principle Hope”, curata da Adam Budak e di
“The Rest of Now”, curata dai Raqs Media Collective. Lo sguardo è parziale, ma crediamo
possa comunque restituire l’idea di specificità
storico-culturale alla base del progetto di Manifesta.
by Lorenzo Pezzani
Il concetto di regione sta guadagnando, nella letteratura
scientifica di varie discipline, sempre maggiore visibilità.
Sarà perchè fluida, non definita e definitiva, l’idea di regione
sembra essere più vicina al nostro tempo e la sua fortuna critica, a dire il vero, non ci stupisce affatto, soprattutto se considerata in parallelo alla progressiva erosione di quella di
stato-nazione. Non a caso, dunque, per la prima volta Manifesta non sceglie come propria sede un nucleo urbano ma
decide invece di operare su un’intera regione, il TrentinoAlto Adige, scommettendo coraggiosamente su una mostra
che si snoda in una vallata lunga diverse decine di chilometri e dove si parlano, ufficialmente, tre lingue.
Questo fatto diventa, per il curatore Adam Budak, l’occasione ideale per parlarci del locale, del vernacolare e, appunto, del regionale nel contesto europeo per cercare di
“mappare ed analizzare l’ecologia culturale e politica dello
spazio e della sua dimensione pubblica” in tutte le sue possibili declinazioni. A Rovereto, la città più piccola ad aver
mai ospitato un’edizione di Manifesta, la narrativa della mo-
stra si sviluppa in tre sedi (le due sedi post-industriali della
Manifattura Tabacchi e dell’ex-Peterlini e la stazione dei
treni), spandendosi idealmente nel tessuto urbano e iniziando idealmente appena scesi dal treno. La città stessa,
dove diversi fra gli artisti hanno trascorso un periodo di ricerca, diventa oggetto con le sue vicende storiche e socioeconomiche di alcune opere. Libia Castro e Ólafur Ólafsson,
per esempio, colpiti dalla forte presenza di badanti straniere,
hanno realizzato un video in cui al registro “alto” del pezzo
musicale composto come colonna sonora del video stesso fa
da contrappunto il tono quotidiano dell’articolo di giornale
usato come testo di tale brano. Le travagliate vicende che
hanno visto protagonista l’ ex-Peterlini, che dopo molti anni
di abbandono è stato occupato ripetutamente da un gruppo
di anarchici, sono state d’ispirazione invece per Daniel Knorr
per parlarci in maniera radicale del luogo ideale in cui una
comunità si mostra e si rappresenta: lo spazio pubblico. L’artista infatti, dopo aver rimosso le porte dell’edificio, l’ha dichiarato spazio pubblico per tutta la durata della mostra,
restituendolo in un certo modo alla città. La materializzazione dell’opera è e sarà data da tutti gli interventi, raccolti
in una pubblicazione, che i vari soggetti coinvolti (comune,
polizia municipale, organizzazione di Manifesta, team curatoriale e, naturalmente, tutta la popolazione di Rovereto)
adotteranno in relazione a questa nuova situazione. In
“Carro largo”, Christian Philipp Muller collega la vicenda
storica dell’incontro spaziale di USA e URSS alla riproposizione di un carro allegorico ispirato a quello che Depero,
l’artista futurista di origini roveretane, realizzò proprio per la
Manifattura Tabacchi negli anni trenta: il mito della velocità
verticale sfila lento per le strade della città durante i giorni
dell’inaugurazione.
Ma come è possibile dunque delineare criticamente l’identità di un luogo specifico, i suoi ritmi, i suoi suoni e i suoi riti
d’appartenenza senza rendere quel luogo un feticcio e cadere in formule scontate? Come parlare di un’identità che,
per sua natura, non può essere colta nella sua interezza perché fluida, instabile, sfuggente?
Forse, parafrasando il filosofo Ernst Bloch che con il suo
“Principio speranza” da’ il titolo al capitolo roveretano di
Manifesta, si può solo cercare di immaginarla sognandola ad
occhi aperti, cercando di anticiparne le forme, avventurandosi in territori inesplorati. Joao Maria Gusmao e Pedro Paiva,
per esempio, con alcuni brevi video muti appartenenti alla
loro serie Abissology ci conducono attraverso misteriose cerimonie dove inspiegabili eventi paranormali segnano e sottolineano l’appartenenza di un gruppo ad una comunità.
Una camera oscura che proietta su una parete l’inesauribile
scoccare di una scintilla e una scultura raffigurante la
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“testa di Eraclito” completano questa sinistra ma affascinante
camera delle meraviglie. Guido Van der Werve, invece, ci
porta fino al polo Nord dove, per un'intera giornata, ruota in
senso contrario rispetto alla Terra che ruota sotto i suoi piedi,
portando al parossismo il suo essere “fuori luogo”.
O forse, tornando al nostro quesito, come suggeriva il critico
d'architettura Kenneth Frampton con il concetto di “regionalismo critico”, si può provare a prendere solo alcuni elementi caratterizzanti una realtà specifica per astrarli da essa,
perché è proprio questo slittamento, questo cambiamento di
contesto a volte repentino e spiazzante che ci permette di
cogliere tali elementi sotto un'altra luce. Una “strategia” che
si definirebbe oggi, con un termine bruttino e un po’ abusato,
glocale. Il video degli artisti ungheresi Miklos Erhard e Little
Warsaw si inspira anch'esso alla storia recente dell' ex-Peterlini: gli artisti, dopo aver raccolto in loco molto materiale
documentario sulla storia delle occupazioni, hanno
trasportano la vicenda a Budapest e, attraverso un meccanismo brechtiano di defamiliarizzazione, lo hanno rimesso in
scena in un contesto altro. Miks Mitrevics, invece, nella sua
“Collection of persons” popola due container sovrapposti
con piccole figure umane ritagliate da istantanee: un mucchietto di sabbia, alcune cannucce, dei fili d'erba, un venti-
Bernd Ribbeck, Untitled, 2007 and 2008
photo Wolfgang Träger
latore e pochi altri oggetti bastano per restituire con lirismo
momenti di vita vissuta (o immaginata?) e per cogliere l'attimo in cui una biografia diventa comune a molti e il suo significato assoluto. Il lightbox di Claire Fontaine riproduce
invece un piccolo disegno a matita anonimo trovato sulle
pareti della Manifattura Tabacchi e anche la performance “infernale” di Ragnar Kjartannson si ispira alle atmosfere decadenti dello scenario post-industriale.
All’interno di questo orizzonte di “futuri sostenibili” si
muovono le opere: esposte in spazi di natura diversa, eseguite con tecniche differenti (un importante capitolo è dedicato a performance e ad opere di carattere “performativo”
dove spicca il video di Renzo Martens), realizzate da giovani
artisti e da nomi affermati (Gianni Pettena, Stephen Willats,
Michelangelo Antonioni ed Ewa Partum) che con le loro
ricerche hanno influenzato in maniera determinante la discussione sui temi fondamentali della mostra: il tutto parte di
una narrazione che si sviluppa con un ritmo accurato, o, per
lo meno, curato...
by Denis Isaia
Quanto segue è un tentativo per vedere l'edificio come un
connettore sociale, storico, topologico, politico e ambientale rispetto a ciò che lo circonda. Altro sarà aggiunto in futuro.
La mia esperienza con Manifesta 7 inizia nel migliore dei
modi con una ricerca in cui mi oriento con difficoltà. Cosa
cercano i curatori? Quali aspetti dell'Alumix (l'edificio che
ospita Manifesta 7 a Bolzano) interessano loro e a che pro?
Dove guidare la ricerca nei due mesi che ho a disposizione?
mappa dettagliata dell'area
mappa dell'edificio con l'orientamento geografico
chi governa il territorio e attraverso quali strumenti?
Come è stato regolato il territorio negli ultimi 30 anni?
E ancora....
c'è un archivio? Perché una parte dell'edificio è stata distrutta? Cosa c'era prima? Qual'è la composizione chimica
del terreno? Le acque di scarico? Quali alberi ci sono? Qual'è
la loro età? ....
visito i posti migliori della città che non conoscevo: l'archivio
provinciale, quello comune, il quartier generale del sindacato, le loro carte, il bar dove si ritrovano alcuni ex, piccole
aziende che producono consulenze specializzate su chimica, flora e quant'altro. La ricerca cresce, si allarga come
un'erbaccia infestante che non riesco a controllare. Mentre
mi perdo lancio ai Raqs un report settimanale con qualche
sorpresa in allegato. Una volta tocca all'arco della Vittoria e
a come lo si veda sempre dal lato sbagliato, anzi come lo si
veda molto e lo si senta poco , un'altra a www.gelateriaavalon.com il sito di un gelataio bolzanino la cui abilità a
fare i gelati è quella di un artista che ha coltivato il proprio
talento con il lavoro.
Il lavoro è una delle variabili della mostra bolzanina. The Rest
of Now predica oltre il valore generativo del residuo e il
“Rest”, il riposo. In realtà di fatica in campo ce n'è parecchia. Nessun onore a priori alla logica del sudore, allo stesso
tempo però bisogna considerarla come un ingrediente della
mostra e degli artisti che la disegnano. Harold De Bree ha
-Per chi volesse approfondire: quando si arriva in Piazza della Vittoria dal
Ponte Talvera (dal centro città) se si guarda al monumento questo appare in
tutta la sua retorica fascista di miti rielaborati secondo auspici futuri. Gli
stessi auspici se ci si mette invece dietro al monumento come ad essere
sotto l'arco diventano un coro di incoraggiamento. Fronte a noi le fantastiche
Dolomiti a nord si aprono come in uno schermo cinematografico. Sembra
a quel punto di sentire le voci romantiche urlare “vai a prenderle”, “si può
fare”, “si può esplorare”.
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Nikolaus Hirsch & Michel Muller, Cybermohalla, 2007
photo Wolfgang Träger
preso la fotografia di un baily bridge, ha ordinato il legno, se
l'è tagliato in studio. Quando è arrivato abbiamo scaricato in
tre tre tonnellate di legno. Poi Harold ha montato il ponte. A
mezzogiorno grigliava delle sardine,la sera le costine, fra le
prime e le seconde incastrava i pezzi, li riverniciava, li imbullonava. Poco più in là c'è la torre di Marius Vairas. Venti
metri per tre per quattro facciate più dieci metri di diametro
per quattro d'altezza. Quando Mr. M-City mi ha detto che ci
avrebbe messo quattro giorni inclusa la ridipintura integrale
della torre gli ho chiesto se non fossero pochi.... in una notte
dipingo un vagone dei treni.... mi ha risposto. Marius saliva
la mattina sopra il suo granchio giallo che con quattro ruote
motrici lo portava su è giù per la torre. A me quel granchio
meccanico sembrava il più fantastico animale mai visto. Si
muoveva piano e ovunque ed era capace di stare ore immobile fino al tocco di frusta successivo. Altro che cavalli,
camion o ruspe. Quei granchi forse li batte solo la talpa che
scava le gallerie con prepotenza, ma in quanto ad eleganza
non c'è mitologia che tenga. Due metri di altezza in stato di
stasi che diventano facilmente oltre venti. A quello si affiancava ogni tanto un ragnetto più piccolo, elettrico e senza le
ruote dentate, sopra ci stava un assistente improvvisato di
Marius, già perché malgrado Bolzano sia un posto freddo e
malgrado la peggiore estate di cui io abbia memoria, Marius
accusava il colpo. Forse nel rassicurarmi sui giorni necessari
non aveva considerato che fra l'Italia a mezzogiorno a luglio
e la Polonia, la notte a maggio c'è un po' di differenza. Alla
fine la valutazione mal calibrata porta ad un giorno in più di
lavoro rispetto al previsto.
Ebbene sia. Io alle due mi riposo sotto l'albero, Marius scen-
deva dal mostro alle tre, non diceva una parola e dopo una
sosta nel giardino a sgolare bottiglie d'acqua risaliva sul
mostro giallo a pitturare. Anche Harold mica ha rotto le
palle. Quelli che lavorano non scocciano, gli altri spesso si.
Prendi Kristina Braein o la brava ragazza che ha tenuto inchiodato un assistente perché non sapeva se le tre mattonelle
verdi sette per sette centimetri andassero nell'angolo a sinistra sotto la rampa o ad una trenta di centimetri più in là vicino a quelle beige. Si finisce per aggiungere pezzi a caso e
toglierli altrettanto a caso, senza lasciare al caso stesso lo
spazio che merita.
Finita la ricerca mi prendo un bel plauso, scopro che l'interessato si chiama Graham Harwood e che è un ironico
tivista inglese che sembra non sapere cosa vuole, invece lo
sa bene e produce dei lavori d'arte stratosferici di cui ha in
effetti scarsa coscienza di quanto belli sono. L'avete visto il
video sull'alluminio? E il libro? Sono due gioielli. Il loro inventore non lo sa e si diverte e fa divertire come un matto.
Durante tutta l'installazione l'uomo dal pizzo rosso e dalle
mail catastrofiche mi ha chiesto con gentile, lieve e costante
insistenza cosa gli serviva per finire il suo lavoro. Io gli sorridevo. Mi faceva correre come un pazzo ed io gli rispondevo credendolo il mio salvatore, quello che in quel
momento fatto centinaia Denis Denis Denis che provenivano
da ogni distanza capiva la situazione in cui mi trovavo.
Graham dalla ricerca non l'ho più sentito per un po' di mesi,
sino al libro e al recupero del centralino telefonico. Per tirare
su quella bestia che riposava nelle cantine dagli anni '30 ci
siamo messi in undici. Mister Cattoi, il vecchio manutentore
che ora coltiva un orto nel mantovano l'ha sistemato con
qualche ora di lavoro.
Il vicino di mostra di Graham è Jorge Otore Pailos. Gli hanno
messi vicini perché entrambi con le buone maniere riescono
ad ottenere qualsiasi cosa. Jorge è il medico dell'Alumix, per
tre settimane è stato arrampicato sulla scaffalatura con i suoi
tre assistenti in camice bianco ad attaccare e staccare pasta
di lattex. Ritornerà a Bolzano per staccare tutti i fogli che ha
metodicamente ordinato nella griglia. A1, B5, D 12 e tutti i
loro colleghi finiranno ognuno fra due fogli di plexiglass in
una grande scatola di legno. Se qualcuno lo vorrà fra dieci
anni potrà aprire la scatola e verificare i segreti che la polvere dell'Alumix contiene. Un esperimento di conservazione che apre domande intriganti sulla trasversalità delle
discipline, sul primato della vista e sulle ragioni stesse della
conservazione.
Finita la ricerca ho incominciato il lavoro di assistenza. Fra
i molti compiti c'era anche quello di fare le veci dei Raqs in
sede di riunioni di cantiere durate la ristrutturazione dell'edificio. La poesia e la differenza sono valori da salvaguardare
perché l'incoscienza è vigile nonché efficiente. Non è andata male, soprattutto a chi si troverà all'Alumix due capolavori nascosti come la finestra sul retro e la finta piscina:
due amplificatori di immaginazione che sfidano la nostra capacità di sentire la mente mentre esce da noi stessi e vederla
mentre tenta di esplorare gli altri spazi tocca i muri, spinge
sul perimetro o si dipana nel tempo come aggrappata per
qualche attimo al gioco di una vite senza fine. Improvvisamente l'edificio si è messo a parlare, sputare e celebrare se
stesso nostro malgrado. Dalla Norvegia è arrivato un camion
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con nascosto nel ventre un robot che ha inciso sul muro la
storie delle muffe e della loro vita nello spazio. Un atlante
storico in scala inversa qualche milione ad uno dei microrganismi dell'Alumix. Sul tetto è cresciuta un'antenna che
manda messaggi misteriosi sul canale UHF 19 dei quartieri
lì attorno. Dai muri esce l'acqua dei morti mentre i fantasmi
provano a passare le pareti o si nascondono come bambini
fra le tende che cadono dal lucernaio. La gente, gli ospiti,
vanno al cinema. Non hanno un telecomando, ma possono
vedere i vecchi film polacchi amatoriali e quindi non controllati dalla censura del regime, oppure informarsi sulle
badanti russe in Italia o festeggiare con i pirati l'avvento della
tecnologia e dell'agonia del diritto d'autore. Che il cd sia un
oggetto da mercatino delle pulci d'altronde si capisce
quando gli unici pezzi che lo ricordano sono in un archivio
della passione della memoria. Non è colpa dei fannulloni
che vogliono avere la cultura a gratis e godere la vita, piuttosto si tratta di un processo connaturato alla tecnologia. Così
dicono gli amici dei pirati nel laboratorio e per un attimo
bene e buono mi appaiono come concetti naturali che si impongono ontologicamente. È la sfida di Tabula Rasa, la stessa
di molti che provano ad allargare i confini. Diavoli razionali, poveri diavoli razionali e appassionati, poveri diavoli
razionali appassionati e resistenti.
Alle sette la porta si chiude, qualcuno non soddisfatto entra
nel giardino, forza il container degli Etoy e si porta via uno
schermo piatto. Poco dopo probabilmente faceva bella
mostra di se appiccicato al muro come un'opera d'arte, mentre in mostra rulla al buio la batteria di Nico Dockx .
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Antonio Grulli, ( Born in La Spezia, 1979.Lives and work in Bologna)
He is art critic and curator. The focus of his research is the relation between visual arts and the concepts of history, individual and collective memory;
he has recentely partecipated in Monument to Transformation (www.monumenttotransformation.org), an international project creating a platform for observation and reflection on the transformation processes of society over the last thirty years. In Carrara he also works at the FUCINA project, which
started in 2004, for an analyses of the most recent developments in the art of sculpture.
Special Project from page 1 to 6
Cinque modi per sporcare una scarpa di donna
Pictures, courtesy by the artists.
Liam Gillick (
Born in Aylesbury, 1964. Lives in London and New York)
from page 7 to 9,
Everything good goes, 2008
Courtesy by the artist
Jacopo Miliani Born in Florence (1979), he lives in Milan.
Graduated from DAMS, he continued his studies in Visual Art at Central Saint Martins College in London. He attended the Advanced Course of Visual
Art at Fondazione Antonio Ratti under the tutoring of Joan Jonas. He has participated at several group shows, festivals, screenings in private galleries,
museum and art institutions at an International level (Careof, Milan; La Casa Encendida, Madrid; Galleria Civica, Trento; Via Nuova, Florence; Serpentine Gallery, London; BAC, London; Les Recontres Internationalles, Paris; Loop Fair, Barcelona; Museo de la Ciencia, Valencia; Galleria Montevergini,
Siracusa; Victoria and Albert Museum, London).
He recently had his solo show at BROWN space in Milan. He is participating at Italian Wave, special session of Artissima Fair, with a new project. He
has been selected for a residency program at Platform Garanti, Istanbul in 2008-2009 (DE.MO.- Movin’up GAI/ Residenze 2008)
Special Project from page 10 to 12,
Courtesy by the artist
Luciana Lamothe born in Mercedes, Argentina (1975), she lives and works in Buenos Aires.
Luciana Lamothe’s works revolve around the dialectic of construction and destruction, a dialectic that she articulates between the poles of architecture
and public space. Architecture for Lamothe is an indicator of and a means for the structuring of society. Directed at the transformations and fissures in
such structures, her sometimes sculptural, sometimes performative interventions can also always be read as statements about social order formation and
the precariousness thereof. She has exhibited 5º bienal de Berlin, Criminal. Galeria Ruth Benzacar. Buenos Aires. (Muestra individual.), From panic to
power. Ángstrom Gallery, Los Angeles, Mounstruos divinos. Espacio Fabro, Buenos Aires (2008).
Special Project from page 13 to 16,
Courtesy by the artist
Philippe Rahm (born in 1967, he works currently in Paris and Lausanne)
Philippe Rahm, studied at the Federal Polytechnic Schools of Lausanne and Zurich. He obtained his architectural degree in 1993. He was the principal
of the firm “Décosterd & Rahm, associés”. until 2004. In 2002, he was chosen to represent Switzerland at the 8th Architecture Biennale in Venice and is
one of the 20 chapters of the Aaron Betsky’s 2008 Architectural Venice Biennale. In 2007, he had a personal exhibition at the Canadian Centre for Architecture in Montreal. He has participated in a number of exhibitions worldwide (Archilab 2000, SF-MoMA 2001, Valencia Biennial 2003, Graz Biennale
2003; CCA Kitakyushu 2004, Mori Art Museum, Tokyo 2005, Frac Centre, Orléans, Centre Pompidou, Beaubourg 2003-2006 and 2007, Manifesta 7,
2008). Philippe Rahm was a resident at the Villa Medici in Rome (2000). He was Head-Master of Diploma Unit 13 at the AA School in London in 20052006, Visiting professor at the Ecole Nationale Supérieure de Beaux-Arts of Paris in 2003, Mendrisio Academy of Architecture in Switzerland in 2005
and 2006 and at the ETH Lausanne in 2006 and 2007. He is Professor at the ECAL Lausanne and teaches at the School of Architecture of ParisMalaquais in Paris. He is currently working on several private and public projects in France, Poland, England, Italy and Austria. He has lectured widely,
including at Cooper Union NY, Harvard School of Design, UCLA and Princeton.
from page 17 to 21,
Metodological typologies, July 2008
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Ettore Favini (Cremona, 1974)
Through sculpture created on both a monumental and intimate scale, Ettore Favini's work explores the poetics of time. Using diverse media, such as perforated paper and photographic images of places forsaken by human beings, Favini attempts through artificial means to represent the natural passage of
time - in the artists words "the same time that is necessary for a tree to grow".
Favini has exhibited at: La Ville, la Memoire le Jardin (Rome 1998, Academie de France, Villa Medici), Rough End (Milan 2005, Alessandro de March
Gallery), Il mio Papà (Rome 2006, Adriano Olivetti Foundation), Ettore Favini (Milan, Alessandro de March Gallery), Greenwashing (Turin 2008, Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebudengo / Laurino, Palazzo Ducale).
Permanent Installation "Verdecuratoda" in Turin and "Private View" in New York City.
Special Progect at page 22
Courtesy by the artist
Paola Pivi (Milan, 1971)
She lives and works in Anchorage, Alaska
The last personal shows are- It’s a cocktail party alla Galleria Massimo De Carlo, Milano e a Portikus, Francoforte, nel 2008;
You gotta be kidding me, a La Criée Centre d’Art Contemporain, Rennes, e It just keeps getting better alla Kunsthalle di Basilea nel 2007;
My religion is kindness. Thank you, see you in the future alla Fondazione Nicola Trussardi, Milano, nel 2006.
Special Project from page 23 to 33,
It’s a cocktail party, 2008
steel, alluminium, motor, power pump, whater, wine, express coffee, oliv oil, milk, glycerine, black ink, asperula, toner.
Photo concept: Attilio Maranzano
Courtesy Portikus, Frankfurt, Galerie Emmanuel Perrotin, Paris-Miami, Galleria Massimo De Carlo, Milano.
Italo Zuffi
(Imola, 1969)
He lives and works in Milan.
In 1993, he received a Diploma at the Academy of Fine Arts of Bologna and in 1997, he was awarded a Master of Arts at the Saint Martin’s College of
Art & Design in London. In 2001, he was assigned the Wheatley Bequest Fellowship in Sculpture at the Institute of Art & Design, School of Art, Birmingham (GB). He works with sculpture, performance and video. His practice “explores subtle states of vulnerability, and expresses the prudence of a person in a hostile environment who turns his or her gaze like a window on the world, resorting to inner experience as in a change of state, collapse, or
combustion.” (Chiara Chelotti). His work has been included in the publication Espresso - art now in Italy, published by Electa in 2000. The monograph
The mystery boy, with critical essays by Pier Luigi Tazzi, Luca Cerizza, and Nicolas Bourriaud was published in 2003 by Galleria Continua, San Gimignano, Italy. (www.italozuffi.com)
Special Project form page 34 to 41,
ON MODERNISM
The images accompanying the text are from Andréa, a performance by Sabina Grasso and Massimo Grimaldi
Bodybuilder, acrylic base, variable dimensions.
Photos of the performance by Ding Musa
The text of Italo Zuffi has been edited by John Hammersley
Allsopp&Wier
London-based duo allsopp&weir have been working together since 2003, producing videos, sound installations, drawings and performances that explore an ongoing fascination with ritualistic procedure and the production of subjectivity.
allsopp&weir are currently showing in The Krautcho Club/In and Out Place at 176, London; in Behind at Monitor, Rome; and New Contemporaries,
Liverpool
Special Project from page 42 to 59,
"More Home Than Hotel", pen on paper, A4 format.
Courtesy the artists
Zimmerfrei
ZimmerFrei (Anna de Manincor, Anna Rispoli and Massimo Carozzi) is a group of artists founded in 2000 and based in Bologna, Italy.
The group works on the crossing of performance and visual arts investigating conceptual possibilities and estethical options between public spaces and
private territories, using a range of media and formats including video and sound installation, short movie, photography, performance.
Sound room. Special Project,
Vallo Atlantico (death always calls on the very best architects)
Edited and mixed by Massimo Carozzi at ZimmerFrei Studio october 2008
Sound sources: "Save Private Ryan"
Mixed in Binaural stereo. Listening with Headphones strictly recomended
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