Hotel Baikonur
Podcast
Podcast
Esseri Reciproci pt.2
(28/08/22)
(28/08/22)
For the second event of "Esseri Reciproci", representing Spazio Hydro once more, Annalisa Zegna and I were invited to talk about "How can cultural organizations lead towards sustainable coexistence?" at a talk for TOLAB, the educational side of Todays Festival in Turin.
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A talk that involved various realities from Italy and Europe developing cultural initiatives in public spaces in close contact with natural ecosystems and with the aim of stimulating a common reflection on the issues of sustainability and the reduction of the environmental impact resulting from the organization of events, festivals, and cultural initiatives. A practical and cultural confrontation between sustainable organizational models that aim to transform urban natural areas into places of encounter, participation, and artistic experimentation.
Esseri Reciproci combines art, science, and activism to investigate the link between urban and natural space and the relationship between community and environment. A path open to different disciplines to rethink new ways of taking care of spaces, living them, and bringing them to life by offering new places of expression in dialogue and respect for the environment.
Guests: Spazio Hydro (Biella), Imbarchino (Turin), Opera Festival (Milo, Sicily), Slow Fest (France)
A talk that involved various realities from Italy and Europe developing cultural initiatives in public spaces in close contact with natural ecosystems and with the aim of stimulating a common reflection on the issues of sustainability and the reduction of the environmental impact resulting from the organization of events, festivals, and cultural initiatives. A practical and cultural confrontation between sustainable organizational models that aim to transform urban natural areas into places of encounter, participation, and artistic experimentation.
Esseri Reciproci combines art, science, and activism to investigate the link between urban and natural space and the relationship between community and environment. A path open to different disciplines to rethink new ways of taking care of spaces, living them, and bringing them to life by offering new places of expression in dialogue and respect for the environment.
Guests: Spazio Hydro (Biella), Imbarchino (Turin), Opera Festival (Milo, Sicily), Slow Fest (France)
Casa Walser Tutoring
(27/07/22)
(27/07/22)
Me and Annalisa Zegna as visual artist and co-founder of Spazio Hydro spent a wonderful day in the mountain of Aosta Valley guest of Casa Walser artistic residency.
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Remixing our approach on the field-work in visual art, we guided the residents in a series of activities aimed to discover the sorroundings, question the relationship between human and the otherness and expand the reflection on what is to be considered home beyond the walls of our buildings.
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Remixing our approach on the field-work in visual art, we guided the residents in a series of activities aimed to discover the sorroundings, question the relationship between human and the otherness and expand the reflection on what is to be considered home beyond the walls of our buildings.
I was invited along with Annalisa Zegna and on behalf of Spazio Hydro to participate in Esseri Reciproci, a series of events, meetings and workshops curated by Imbarchino del Valentino in collaboration with PAV - Parco Arte Vivente and Spazio Hydro, combining art, science and architecture to investigate the link between urban and natural space and the relationship between community and environment. The theme of environmental disclosure was the focus of this first event, investigated through various approaches: artistic practices, scientific disclosure and grassroots activism.
During the event our work Luria was exhibited and we participated also as lectures in the talk.
Simposio
(07-10/07/22)
(07-10/07/22)
Simposio is a great collective residency that take place on the Dolomiti Mountains:
“Simposio is a collective exercise of imagination and dialogue, a ritual of reconnection and cultural activism to exorcise common fears, meet, re-acquaint ourselves, and learn from each other, from one to the others.“
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We had four days of talks and workshop and some walk around the mountains too.
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For this time, I was invited among the speakers to present my work and the Spazio Hydro and Osservatorio sul Torrente connection. This was my presentation:
“Simposio is a collective exercise of imagination and dialogue, a ritual of reconnection and cultural activism to exorcise common fears, meet, re-acquaint ourselves, and learn from each other, from one to the others.“
We had four days of talks and workshop and some walk around the mountains too.
For this time, I was invited among the speakers to present my work and the Spazio Hydro and Osservatorio sul Torrente connection. This was my presentation:
Celidonia screening
(03/07/22)
(03/07/22)
SAARV has been aired during the Celidonia exhibition in Marano Vicentino.
“On the first weekend of July, the indoor and outdoor spaces of the train station in Marano Vicentino (VI) will become the setting for exhibitions, concerts, screenings and video performances with Celidonia, a contemporary art, cinema and music festival, conceived and curated by Casa Capra, Cinema Campana and Ife Collective and included within the LoVe! Land of Venice, with the collaboration of Cescot Veneto.
Celidonia is a three-day multidisciplinary review that aims to field themes related to landscapes, starting with the one in which it takes up residence. The review, in fact, takes its name from a wild plant with yellow inflorescences that stands among the ruins of uncultivated places, thickets and rubble.”
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“On the first weekend of July, the indoor and outdoor spaces of the train station in Marano Vicentino (VI) will become the setting for exhibitions, concerts, screenings and video performances with Celidonia, a contemporary art, cinema and music festival, conceived and curated by Casa Capra, Cinema Campana and Ife Collective and included within the LoVe! Land of Venice, with the collaboration of Cescot Veneto.
Celidonia is a three-day multidisciplinary review that aims to field themes related to landscapes, starting with the one in which it takes up residence. The review, in fact, takes its name from a wild plant with yellow inflorescences that stands among the ruins of uncultivated places, thickets and rubble.”
Novara jazz Festival Vj
(08-12/06/22)
(08-12/06/22)
Summer started with live visuals for Novara Jazz Festival, working for artist as Shingai, Theon Cross, Lisbon Underground Music Orchestra and Orchestre Tout Puissant Marcel Duchamp. Here a cople of flicks...
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Vj spring (2022)
(03-04-05/22)
(03-04-05/22)
Vj side, the spring season was an interesting start for the year, playing live visuals for the like of Ricardo Villalobos, Bob Sinclair, Sven Vath and Black Coffee.
Here some report of what I did for Mr. Jon Hopkins...
Here some report of what I did for Mr. Jon Hopkins...
Fluviale 2022
(26-27/03 - 09-10/04/ - 29/05/22)
(26-27/03 - 09-10/04/ - 29/05/22)
The Fluviale public program co-curated with Annalisa Zegna and the Spazio Hydro team had a second season in the spring 2022, supported by the Italian Cultural Ministry with the Creative Living Lab III prize.
Fluviale is a series of events established in 2021, which through talks, workshops and spectacular moments of visual and performing arts, investigates the relationship with the river and the relationship between human and other entities. In 2022, three new thematic weekends aim to deepen awareness of the river and its environment.
River as a common
For the first event of 2022 we expanded the theme river as a common, focusing precisely on the rights of water bodies. In this new two-day event dedicated to the river as a commons and rights-deserving entity we hosted between Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning: a workshop on the exploration and study of aquatic environments, a talk and panel discussion open to the public with various guests of national relevance, and finally we explored the urban stretch of the Cervo Torrent hiking on the banks. In addition to the workshop activities, there we had the usual spectacular side: a performance and a DJ set dedicated on the topic.
River and the feminine
For the second event of 2022, we sought the connection between the river and the feminine sphere with two workshops and a party, in collaboration with Le Parole Fucsia - Feminist Collective and il Groviglio - LGBT+ association in Biella. In this weekend we were accompanied by some experiences and research that deepen the relationship between the element of water and the feminine dimension in its complexity and beauty, through Water Info Transmission, a practice of movement, sound and hydro-feminist research with Francesca Mariano, and Irresistibile Rinascita, a meeting of deepening and sharing with Silvia Ricetti starting from the experience of menstruation and bodily fluidity. In addition to the workshop activities, Saturday evening hosted the Queer party.
River as a wild environment
For the third event of 2022, we explored the world of plants and microorganisms that inhabit the environment near the river with a wild herb collection walk and a bacterial fermentation lab together with Nicolò Pagnanelli (Spontaneus lab) and Pietro Ganni (EDGA Association). After the walk and lab, we celebrated with a wild tasting time open to the public accompanied by Malamacabre's djset.
Fluviale is a series of events established in 2021, which through talks, workshops and spectacular moments of visual and performing arts, investigates the relationship with the river and the relationship between human and other entities. In 2022, three new thematic weekends aim to deepen awareness of the river and its environment.
River as a common
For the first event of 2022 we expanded the theme river as a common, focusing precisely on the rights of water bodies. In this new two-day event dedicated to the river as a commons and rights-deserving entity we hosted between Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning: a workshop on the exploration and study of aquatic environments, a talk and panel discussion open to the public with various guests of national relevance, and finally we explored the urban stretch of the Cervo Torrent hiking on the banks. In addition to the workshop activities, there we had the usual spectacular side: a performance and a DJ set dedicated on the topic.
River and the feminine
For the second event of 2022, we sought the connection between the river and the feminine sphere with two workshops and a party, in collaboration with Le Parole Fucsia - Feminist Collective and il Groviglio - LGBT+ association in Biella. In this weekend we were accompanied by some experiences and research that deepen the relationship between the element of water and the feminine dimension in its complexity and beauty, through Water Info Transmission, a practice of movement, sound and hydro-feminist research with Francesca Mariano, and Irresistibile Rinascita, a meeting of deepening and sharing with Silvia Ricetti starting from the experience of menstruation and bodily fluidity. In addition to the workshop activities, Saturday evening hosted the Queer party.
River as a wild environment
For the third event of 2022, we explored the world of plants and microorganisms that inhabit the environment near the river with a wild herb collection walk and a bacterial fermentation lab together with Nicolò Pagnanelli (Spontaneus lab) and Pietro Ganni (EDGA Association). After the walk and lab, we celebrated with a wild tasting time open to the public accompanied by Malamacabre's djset.
Unidee Tools for the common + Artwork as toolkit residency
(20/03 - 03/04/22)
(20/03 - 03/04/22)
Here a little report of the two weeks spent in Cittadellarte - Fondazione Pistoletto for the Unidee winter residency.
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First round was on the topic Art as toolkit, following the ‘embedded practice’ trail set by visiting curator Andy Abbott:
“The ‘Artwork as Toolkit’ lab will begin with the question ‘What are our tools?’ This lab stems from the intersection of two online platforms such as www.arte-util.org and www.dpe.tools presented by Alessandra Saviotti in collaboration with Gemma Medina and Owen Griffiths. Starting from the recent usological turn we will look into a set of tools and exercises developed as part of both platforms - such as the ‘Coefficient of Art’ and ‘A Capitalist Reading of our Usual Breakfast’ - that place art at the outset of the development of a set of tactics to achieve societal change. Analysing the idea of 'the-artwork-as-toolkit' the mentors will propose to look at how socially engaged art can be understood as an expanded technology that manifests itself as practices on a 1:1 scale. From our diverse and often specific practices and projects what surplus can we share, preserve, ferment and take forward for the future?”
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Second week, in the same wake, was exploring tool for commoning:
“In the ‘Tools for the Commons’ lab we hope to bring together the experiences of artists and activists creating spaces for the growth of the commons; from the micro level of the individual, personal or subjective, through to the reclaiming or occupation of urban space, and the influencing of planning and policy. Mentors Emanuele Braga and Gabriella Riccio will draw upon their experiences in occupied art and cultural spaces MACAO (Milan) and L’Asilo (Naples) as well as the postcapitalist think-tank the Institute of Radical Imagination. Long-term comrades and collaborators Keir Milburn and Gareth Brown will bring a UK perspective on creative activism including the use of political strategy games, utopian consciousness raising sessions, and the establishment of Public-Common-Partnerships. What tools (or toys) for establishing and developing the commons can we identify, adapt or invent? Which of these are we able and willing to share, and under what terms?”
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As a result of the workshops we produced a fair amount of post-it clusters and wall graphs, and a handmade comic about love dispair of a mole in a distopic future... (all pictures are by Nicole Sanchez)
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First round was on the topic Art as toolkit, following the ‘embedded practice’ trail set by visiting curator Andy Abbott:
“The ‘Artwork as Toolkit’ lab will begin with the question ‘What are our tools?’ This lab stems from the intersection of two online platforms such as www.arte-util.org and www.dpe.tools presented by Alessandra Saviotti in collaboration with Gemma Medina and Owen Griffiths. Starting from the recent usological turn we will look into a set of tools and exercises developed as part of both platforms - such as the ‘Coefficient of Art’ and ‘A Capitalist Reading of our Usual Breakfast’ - that place art at the outset of the development of a set of tactics to achieve societal change. Analysing the idea of 'the-artwork-as-toolkit' the mentors will propose to look at how socially engaged art can be understood as an expanded technology that manifests itself as practices on a 1:1 scale. From our diverse and often specific practices and projects what surplus can we share, preserve, ferment and take forward for the future?”
Second week, in the same wake, was exploring tool for commoning:
“In the ‘Tools for the Commons’ lab we hope to bring together the experiences of artists and activists creating spaces for the growth of the commons; from the micro level of the individual, personal or subjective, through to the reclaiming or occupation of urban space, and the influencing of planning and policy. Mentors Emanuele Braga and Gabriella Riccio will draw upon their experiences in occupied art and cultural spaces MACAO (Milan) and L’Asilo (Naples) as well as the postcapitalist think-tank the Institute of Radical Imagination. Long-term comrades and collaborators Keir Milburn and Gareth Brown will bring a UK perspective on creative activism including the use of political strategy games, utopian consciousness raising sessions, and the establishment of Public-Common-Partnerships. What tools (or toys) for establishing and developing the commons can we identify, adapt or invent? Which of these are we able and willing to share, and under what terms?”
As a result of the workshops we produced a fair amount of post-it clusters and wall graphs, and a handmade comic about love dispair of a mole in a distopic future... (all pictures are by Nicole Sanchez)
String lights
Videoclip
Videoclip
“This is the album's second track, String Lights, written by Sergio Sorrentino for 15 electric guitars and performed entirely by the Vercelli youth of the Suoni Possibili E-Guitar Ensemble. The track is a psychedelic journey through downtown Vercelli, following the strings of city lights by video artist Aaron Inker.“
Bear x Fondazione Pistoletto
Tutoring
(17-20/01/22)
Tutoring
(17-20/01/22)
Some pictures of the outdoor activities I held as a visiting tutor for BEAR -ArtEz University students in their residency period at Cittadellarte - Fondazione Pistoletto.
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The subject of the workshop was the river as a common, as a material and as an entity.
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In particular the process was held around the topic “Decolonising the gaze to re-enchant reality”: a path from situationist’s derive, trough magic, wander to wonder, storytelling and iperstition.
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Getting lost in a place to suspend ourconstruction of reality, find new perspectives and implement devices or narratives to care about the otherness.
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The subject of the workshop was the river as a common, as a material and as an entity.
In particular the process was held around the topic “Decolonising the gaze to re-enchant reality”: a path from situationist’s derive, trough magic, wander to wonder, storytelling and iperstition.
Getting lost in a place to suspend ourconstruction of reality, find new perspectives and implement devices or narratives to care about the otherness.
Cervo project room Exhibition
(01/01/22)
(01/01/22)
The Cervo project room presents a series of researches carried out over the last year by the artists Annalisa Zegna and aaron inker on the Cervo torrent as a central element of the Biella territory, through a reflection on ecology, environment and the relationship between human and non-human.It comprises two parts, an archive and installation space.
The exhibition took place in Cittadellarte - Fondazione Pistoletto from 30th October to 31st December.
The first part represents an archive in the making and the initial phase of the Osservatorio sul Torrente project, an interdisciplinary research platform that focuses on the river as a common and a central element in the social, political, cultural and economic development of the Biella area. The Observatory aims to collect and promote interdisciplinary research and in-depth studies that question the relationship between the inhabitants and the river, stimulate new participatory experiences that highlight the less considered or forgotten aspects of the territory, with the aim of triggering the creation of other imaginaries and build a new collective narrative of the relationship with the river.
The installation space includes Luria and Unæntrhopic devices works that reflect on the human-otherness relation, works that try to suspend reality and reconsider it, works that try to convey the sense of vertigo of being in front of concepts and matters (even materials) that transcend the human scale, that are perhaps imaginable, but not fully understandable, that can provide a new dimension, perspective or horizon to our being human in a context so complex, chaotic and constantly changing.
Fluviale recap & mailing list
(30/12/21)
(30/12/21)
cheFare released on their website an essay on what happened this summer at Profondo workshop, including a mailing list to keep up to date with the next step of the program.
Vj fall
(09-10-11/21)
(09-10-11/21)
A couple of pics from Vj set for Brich and Modvlar Parties
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Summer recap pt.5
Jazz:Re:Found
(02-05/09/21)
Jazz:Re:Found
(02-05/09/21)
Jazz:Re:Found is a second family, a wonderful festival, and a great place to work. This year I was also invited to a roundtable discussion about the future development of the area in which it takes place.
Summer recap pt.4
Fiuminarso
(11-14/08/21)
Fiuminarso
(11-14/08/21)
Representing Hydro I went to Mandatoriccio, on the Ionian coast of Calabria where the Castello dell'Arso stands. I was invited there by Fiuminarso to attend to Contropendenze Festival and particularly to participate in a round table with various associations and cultural centers to talk about co-design, cultural activity and development of peripheral territories.
Summer recap pt.3
UFOria
(2-10/08/21)
UFOria
(2-10/08/21)
For the second year in a row I participated in UFOria, a visual and performing art residency held between Mastronauta cultural center in Omegna and Fluviale Festival in Biella. The purpose of the residency is to (re)discover the spaces of everyday life, reconnecting the less known or forgotten specificities of a territory with the people who inhabit it. At the heart of the 2021 residency lies the exchange between the collectives Migma and Parini Secondo. The work has been developed from the use of sampling, a practice shared by both collectives, as a tool for research and creation.
Summer recap pt.2
Orbite
(25-31/07/21)
Orbite
(25-31/07/21)
I spent a week in Ancona with Scuola Open Source for their workshop XYZ Orbite. The goal was to co-design a network of regenerated spaces for cultural purposes. Here you can find the story of the project, the recap of the week and the final outputs. And also some photos/videos that tell the mood of the experience. Summer recap pt.1
Profondo
(10-11/07/21)
Profondo
(10-11/07/21)
Together with Hydro, we organised a workshop to explore the relationship between the citizens of Biella and the Cervo river, which flows through it. We asked cheFare -a cultural association from Milan- to help us, and so Profondo was born, a workshop to try to reflect on the meaning of some words related to ecology and climate change. Together with Federico Nejrotti we took the participants to put their feet into the water and reflect on their relationship with the environment, nature and “the otherness”.
The day before, in order to prepare ourselves better, we hosted the presentation of two books: "La rivolta del verde" by Lucilla Barchetta, and the italian translation of "The Mushroom at the End of the World" by Anna Tsing, with a commentary by Dario Bassani.
Back to VJ!
(19/06 - 09/07/21)
(19/06 - 09/07/21)
I made a couple of vj set this summer for Club Nation’s Nuove Forme Events. I played some event specific visuals in the Giardini della Triennale - Milano for Vladimir Ivkovic and John Talabot.
Visual Music
(10/06/21)
(10/06/21)
A special concert held at the Borgogna Museum of Vercelli for an experiment in synaesthesia by an unprecedented trio: me, taking care of the visual side, Luca Sigurtà, electronic composer and Sergio Sorrentino, guitarist. A good way to be back on stage!
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A couple of talks
Re:earth + Kabul
(2-3/06/21)
Re:earth + Kabul
(2-3/06/21)
Together with Annalisa Zegna, we had a couple of days of talks and presentations about our work and our research process on creative ecology approach and more generally about the human vs otherness ralation.
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So we had a presentation on “art as a field research on a territory” and a studio visit for the partecipant of Re:earth, a residential week for musician and visual artist with the aim “to translate the sounds of nature in a musical code capable of making the listeners participate, through an experiential journey within a musical world created by the artists themselves. The project starts from the need to involve the artistic musical world with the concept of common good of the natural world. From here starts the idea of "giving voice" to the Earth taking into account the changes that are taking place“.
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Then we organized a talk with Kabul Magazine:
Redesigning the male: the ecoqueer challenge to the manthropocene. Starting from “The Carrier Bag Theory of Fiction” by Ursula Le Guin (1986), a story in which the author questions the dominant narrative that would see the weapon as the most important artifact produced by humans and crucial to their evolution. In its place, importance is given instead to the carrier bag, the container, an instrument that, literally, contains, preserves, takes care. The relationship between the two symbols thus allows us to reflect on the foundations that have determined the era of the Anthropocene, in this meeting investigated from the point of view of the responsibility of the male subject, summarized in the term "Malehood".
“What do we mean by a re-discussion of hegemonic masculinity? How are "models of masculinity" constructed? How can this re-discussion help in the environmental crisis we are experiencing? What does ecofeminism mean? And, finally, how do male-centric imaginaries act within the world of gaming?”
So we had a presentation on “art as a field research on a territory” and a studio visit for the partecipant of Re:earth, a residential week for musician and visual artist with the aim “to translate the sounds of nature in a musical code capable of making the listeners participate, through an experiential journey within a musical world created by the artists themselves. The project starts from the need to involve the artistic musical world with the concept of common good of the natural world. From here starts the idea of "giving voice" to the Earth taking into account the changes that are taking place“.
Then we organized a talk with Kabul Magazine:
Redesigning the male: the ecoqueer challenge to the manthropocene. Starting from “The Carrier Bag Theory of Fiction” by Ursula Le Guin (1986), a story in which the author questions the dominant narrative that would see the weapon as the most important artifact produced by humans and crucial to their evolution. In its place, importance is given instead to the carrier bag, the container, an instrument that, literally, contains, preserves, takes care. The relationship between the two symbols thus allows us to reflect on the foundations that have determined the era of the Anthropocene, in this meeting investigated from the point of view of the responsibility of the male subject, summarized in the term "Malehood".
“What do we mean by a re-discussion of hegemonic masculinity? How are "models of masculinity" constructed? How can this re-discussion help in the environmental crisis we are experiencing? What does ecofeminism mean? And, finally, how do male-centric imaginaries act within the world of gaming?”