UnEdited - Barcelona and slow head (e-mail 17/02/07)

Hello from Barcelona

BCN gave me the best welcome, 20 degrees, the jacket was useless!!!!lot's of hugs and kisses, both cousins look great, we went out forTapas and ¨cañas¨ a lot to say and update, news from them, from me etc...

ok, too much wine and a long night, i ended up singing with Juana ¨vallenatos¨until 5 a.m!!!!

The usual boring me, woke up at 9 am I'm too much a morning person, can't do anything about it, obviosuly i woke up and then my slow big huge amazingly heavy head woke up 2 minutes later and followed me to the kitchen, water please!!!!!!

Sunny outside.... it took me 6 hours to finally get the metro to the MACBA, got there, they already have my name and press folder is waiting for me, yes my cousin is the Spain representative (she got infree) .... go up, go up, Janett Cardiff and Georges B. Miller, hmmmm i think i might know them (slow head thinking, definetely art history knowledge dissapeared from my mind that day)

I'll wait, you go first in… ok, ok… walked into a room full of shipping boxes, slow head is behind me, open a door (kleeench!!!! – so that's the noise of the door) get into an abbandonded laboratory of anything, art, experimentation, really dark, while you walked in you don'treally know if the people in there is real, for a second I thought that there was a performance happening in there and I didn't really know if to keep walking through it… sound is activated as you walk and Janett Cardiff is the greatest genius on ¨how to make you loose perception of the space¨, sat on the desire machine, draw an image and put it into two cooperplates, yes it is supposed to make your wish happen, I did it you never know….

Finally out of the dark room and my art history re-appeared suddenly: oh yes I know I saw their work at Venice Biennale 2005, God I'm glad now I know where I am and what is it that I'm actually visiting.Theathers in small and big size, those voices that make you feel like
with them, yes, I have actually met Cardiff and Miller… I remember their voices and their tonalities and their signature is that, I could be in a room with 400 people walking and listening to every voice and I could recognize them, is such a powerful perception and differentwhen is not linked to a visual image but to a sound… it activates adifferent part of your brain, your memory works different that way….

Great slow head got speed up a bit, just a bit, body reacted in apositive sense to the exhibition, it felt I was a bit more human…. Capella MACBA is a real church, and there was a concert inside you walked into the center and all the sounds, every note of the music would enter into the thousands of ears you think you have when you get into there, me and my thousands of ears could breath music as it was really getting into my blood to be part of me forever…

I need a coca cola, some sugar and hidration for not too pretty body today….

Guys I felt so ugly that day – anyway… I thought that feeding your mind helps a lot your self estime. I also saw other two shows, beautifully curated, actually one of the best ¨curators work¨ I''ve ever seen, even took pictures of it, good ideas for future succesfull shows…

Today we are in preparation for a little party to celebrate both my birthday and my cousin's birthday so most probably the slow head will be back tomorrow!!!!!!

kisses to both
s

Unedited: Sculpture rules and Risaliti (e-mail 13/02/07)

Chapter I: "How to be a succesfull artist"

I found the rules G&G wrotte for sculptures:

1. Essere sempre eleganti, ben azzimati, rilassati amichevoli, cortesi e pienamente padroni di sè
2. Fare in modo che tutti credamo in te e paghino caro questo privilegio
3. Non giudicare, discuttere o criticare mai, ma restare sempre impertubabili, rispettosi e sereni.

Specially love the second one...

Chapter II: "Approaching Risaliti in the bookshop"

Risaliti e Bonami sono seduti l'uno accanto all'altro, entrambi con giacca e maglione nero a collo alto, Risaliti sfoggia un paio di calzini verdi, tipo Cadmiun Green.... ogni tanto mi guardava e io lo guardavo fisso negli occhi senza esprimere nessun sentimento.... così ho colto un po' la sua attenzione....
Si sono ampliamente elogiati sul fatto che sono i grandi curatori italiani... hanno parlato della pigrizia delle persone, nessuno vuole più pensare, a volte facciamo le cose troppo facili per gli altri (a total good comment on the MAP) hanno detto che Firenze è una città poco contemporanea, che hanno cercato di fare molte cose per ravvivarla e che qualche volta si vedono delle accelerazioni interessanti tipo Quarter, ecc... ec....
Applausi e un paio di domande non interessanti....

S: Io le rubbo solo un paio di minuti
R: si certo mi dica
S: Noi siamo parte (con pink issue in mano) di quelle accelerazioni delle quali Lei parlava
R: Ah grazie bene
S: Siamo tutti artisti, stranieri la nostra redazionie è qui, condivido il suo pensiero, proprio perchè non c'è una grande scena contemporanea ci sono opportunità, sfide....
R: si, si può vedere cosi
S: sede legale a Londra, bilingue, in vendita anche negli USA....
R: ma ci sono i vostri contatti qui?
S: si guardi alla fine ci sono i nostri e-mail, io sono Sandra Miranda
R: ma quale è l'e-.mail?
S: qui, proprio qui guardi...
R: ah bene. molto bene
(in tanto R, sfogliava la rivista ed io ero contenta perchè qualche minuto prima nel reading aveva parlato di Vito Acconci, e si è trovato Acconci tra le mani, in più si è soffermato sulla pagina di Ai Wei Wei... )
S: Avevo provato ad incontrarla un paio di volte, mentre lei era al Quarter ma non era stato possibile, finalmente allora la conosco e beh così posso darle una copia della nostra pubblicazione...
R: Grazie mille veramente
S: Grazie a lei, è stato un piacere, molto piacevole anche la presentazione.
R: C'è ne una anche per Bonami?
S: si infatti ora vado a dargliela ma è un po' impegnato
R: si va bene ma gliela dia lo stesso.
S: ok grazie.
B:......
S: posso dargli questa?
B: bla bla bla bla con altre persone

S va via, Bonami ha la rivista in amno, io non posso stare li a fare la fila dietro alcuni ragazzi che vorrebbero darle il CD o catlaoghgi vari del loro lavoro, no,
Io merito un minuto almeno così lui capirà da se che cosa è la nostra bellissima rivista....
Kisses
s

UnEdited Rome (e-mail 4/02/07)

Hello Dears

Rome was very interesting... i got there at 11 am went to Colosseo, walked to go to my first gallery in the list, AJ i missed you not only for the day also because you know me and directions, I'm terribly disorientated but i got there anyways, asked a few romans, (don't you think they are simply more gentle than florentines?) the gallery is closed on saturdays, shit, i thought is stupid to close a gallery on saturdays but any way i keep walking and see this tiny beautiful white space with three big photographs on the three walls, after looking at it for a second I realized it's a gallery!!!!
I went in, talked to the girl, Emmanuela, very nice, gentle person, smily girl, she was very impressed with the magazine so we had a long talk about it, the gallery has only 2 years and it seems to be doing well, is interesting because it's literally a very tiny little space but well curated.. It's called next door... so gave the spiel, got the card, bla, bla bla.... good, lunch time, went to Campo di fiori and sat on a panino place got myself a cold Corona, Rome was hot!!!!! a singer had writen on his guitar http://www.ergringo.it/ check the website the guy is funny, he sings in perfect english and speaks like the most puritan roman in the world....

I got my guida of galleries in Rome (i'll show it to you) made my plan, decide to go to Il Ponte, there is a show curated by Achille Bonito Oliva.... got in, the show is nice, the artist is interesting but I didn't really loved him, the guys in the gallery are two bitches, they hardly said good morning or hi, i decided to give the mag anyways and he didin't even said oh thanks, nice, anything , just ok.... i was about to tell him: ma tutta questa gentilezza da dove deriva??????????... but ok i calmed myself and left.....

I decided to breath and liberate myself from the bitches energy... kept walking and went to Giacomo Guidi, AJ gave me the invite, so get into the little street, there is a nice guy and I asked him, is this via del cancello? yes it is, I'm coming into the gallery, so i said oh I' coming here too, but i think is still closed, so we chatted a lot, very interesting guy, well educated, works in comunications and marketing, very intelligent, we talked bla bla bla, then someone else comes into the gallery, oh yes it was open, so this guy, Alessandro is friends with the gallerist (good) we walked in, the gallerist : Ciao Alessandro, ma che bello vederti, ciao piacere" he thinks we are together but then we explained him we met outside, the show is really nice, really nice, (solo show of Vittoria Mesina) the gallery is beautiful, i saw the whole thing and then talked to the gallerist, so basically he is in the same tone as Ugolini, he likes someone that follows his shows, wants a mezzo di diffusione, he made clear that advertising is not the way, he plays safe, he only exhibits big artists, he made a long speach on the art market and how everyone was wrong opening galleries in Beijing so he is a bit arrogant: Sai Continua ha aperto una galleria là, conosci Continua? ... (oh bello, che te credi, siamo intimi ) ok I didn't say that but thought of it... in any case, i told him he is playing safe, that it is a choice but it could also be the impossibility of seeing beyond in a young talent, he was impressed and accepted, he doesn't believe in young artists, fuck him,...... any way he said the magazine is beautiful he says he felt identifyied with it, so i made my batuta, is all run by young artists, funny hey!!!!!


I wanted to stay more on the conversation because i was interested on meeting further the other guy, and the other guy was interested in meeting me further but Giacomo (the gallerist) men he can talk......... ha attacato un bottone..... mamma mia... so i had to leave, left the mag and the card and bla bla bla...

so that was was definetely interesting...

Went to Magazzini d'Arte moderna e contemporanea, G you would like this work I got the little catalogue for you, is an artwork that will be eventually distroyed one day, a bit like the bittersweet, the girl again is fantastic, her name is Cecilia, she showed me the whole thing, loved the mag, talked to me about the place, really nice, very welcomed.

The artist had also a video there that i enojoyed very much too.

Went to Galleria Traghetto, they have expressed interest in the plus, very nice show, Nanni Moretti was there, the woman was very gentle, gave me the catalogue, etc... she was too busy to talk further about the plus, it was the opening.... but i think is a good contact.

These are the highlights of Rome, i took the train back at 6:30 i was about to die, i walked so much, my feet are still hurting... but it was nice.

Ok kids these are the news for now, AJ hope the trip to Perugia was good too, talk to you soon,

love to both,
s

First ImpressiONs

"Little Bo Peep" Xu Bing

First ImpressiONs

by Clara Galeazzi

OK... where to start - seeing we’re talking about impressions, why not start with them?!?
It seems almost pointless to say, that as "human beings" every one of us creates an idea of their own, in an almost spontaneous way, a priori, often without really having full knowledge of that what we’re going to "judge." All this is inevitable, even though in most cases, afterwards we change our opinions.. Fortunately!
One thing that fascinates me is how ten people can have ten different opinions, sensations, emotions in regard to the same thing: whether in front of a work of art, a performance, a book, or even a plate of spaghetti.
This reflection was born as I was revising some of the Chinese characters, and I read "jian" which signifies "point of view." What I find funny is that the character jian, in a stylised way, symbolises and represents an eye with two legs, a sort of eye that can walk. As if to say: go out a bit, walk, walk, look, and then form an opinion. This is why the creative process and interpretation is infinite: because everybody had two eyes and a pair of legs that "differ" from anybody else’s. We go in different directions, but it’s still important to share what we see.

An example to help understand how first impressions can betray is a work entitled „Little Bo Peep“ by Xu Bing, a Chinese calligraphy painter, innovating since the mid 1980’s. He uses writing in a transgressive way, a false Chinese. (copy link below for PDF!)

http://www.asiaeducation.edu.au/promotion_site/inspirations/
pdf/inspsamp.pdf



Ok..come iniziare, visto che si parla di impressioni..perchè non
cominciare proprio da quelle?!?
Inutile dire che, in quanto "esseri umani" ognuno si crea una propria
idea,in maniera quasi spontanea, a priori, spesso senza conoscere a
fondo ciò che si va in un certo senso a "giudicare". Tutto ciò è
inevitabile, anche se nella maggior parte dei casi, successivamente si
finisce per cambiare idea...fortunatamente!
Una cosa che mi affascina è come dieci persone possano avere dieci
diverse opinioni, sensazioni, emozioni riguardo alla stessa cosa: che
ci si trovi davanti ad un'opera d'arte, una performance, un libro o
addirittura a un piatto di spaghetti.
Questa riflessione è nata mentre stavo ripassando qualche carattere
cinese, e ho letto "jiàn" che significa punto di vista. Ciò che trovo
divertente è che il carattere jiàn simboleggia e rappresenta in modo
stilizzato un occhio con sotto due gambe, una sorta di occhio che
cammina. Come dire: esci un po' lì fuori, cammina,cammina, guarda
e...fatti un'idea!! Ecco perchè il processo di creazione e
interpretazione è infinito: perchè ognuno ha due occhi e un paio di
gambe "differenti" da chiunque altro. Si va in direzioni diverse, ma
l'importante resta comunque condividere ciò che si vede.


Un esempio giusto giusto per capire quanto la prima impressione possa
tradire è un'opera intitolata "Little Bo Peep" di Xu Bing, un pittore
calligrafo cinese, innovatore dalla seconda metà degli anni '80. Usa
la scrittura in maniera trasgressiva, un finto cinese. Potete vederla
alla pagina web:

http://www.asiaeducation.edu.au/promotion_site/inspirations/
pdf/inspsamp.pdf

Flu in Zürich

a smile from the Far Side...

Hello, from the world of those who finally succumb to the flu.

The flu is a very interesting space to be in: it stops you from your usual activities, as it holds you firmly in it’s grasp, forcing you to be in the moment, count all the pains in your body, and observe the wall. You realise you have a head, because it is heavy, and you also realise that it’s not the best time to use your head: because it’s full of cement at the moment.
Somehow, it makes sense that everything is in German, because you don’t understand it any way.
Thankfully, your medication comes with explanations in four official languages, one of which is Italian, which you diligently read, and find out that it contains Paracetamol. Didn’t they ban that while you were still at boarding school, back in 1990? Luckily, doesn’t seem so, that stuff was good – tickles aspirin pink.

That’s what the flu does, then, makes you forget why you’re writing in the first place. Ah yes:

The Editor and the Editorial Team of ArtSEEN journal wish to announce the opening of a specific dedicated space within the ArtSEEN journal Blog: "First Impressions".

First Impressions is dedicated to all those who wish to write a short article to be published on our blog. It is thought as a platform for the people who contact us as potential collaborators with ArtSEEN – a space where to make your words public. And for us, it’s a ground where we can observe the budding writers, which may lead to publishing in ArtSEEN journal.

For anyone wishing to contribute to First Impressions, please e-mail me: gordana@artseenjournal.com

The instructions are simple: the theme is open, the word count is a max of 500.

We’ll be contacting the authors of the articles we find most idoneus for ArtSEEN in regards further collaboration with the publication.

Thank you for your kind attention. The wall is inviting me to observation. Until the wheel is back in motion... :)