Monday, November 16, 2009

Toni Bruna live at La Jazera, Trieste • part III



Go here to learn more about La Jazera radio station: http://www.lajazera.net/

Toni Bruna live at La Jazera, Trieste • part II




Toni Bruna live at La Jazera, Trieste • Italy





Today my job was to document the live performance of Toni Bruna at La Jazera, a tiny independent radio station in Trieste, Italy. The public was invited to come and listen live on headphones set up outside the radio station on the sidewalk. Photographing live music is always a pleasure. Well, unless it's music I don't like, but this is not the case here.

Toni Bruna has a lovely sound, which can be heard on their website: http://www.tonibruna.com

Friday, November 6, 2009

Artissima 2009 • Torino, Italy

Wolfgang Tillmans

Susan Norrie, still from film entitled Havoc

http://www.susannorrie.com/

For more information on this year's Artissima, go to:
http://www.artissima.it/

Artissima 2009 • Torino, Italy

Miroslav Tichy

Santiago Sierra

Santiago Sierra

Artissima 2009 • Torino, Italy

Ottonella Mochellin & Nicola Pellegrini

Galeria Pianissimo

Boris Mikhailov

Artissima 2009 • Torino, Italy

Michel François • The Speaker Corner

Ivan Moldov • Already Made

Alfredo Jaar • Angel

As I have been told, Artissima is the largest art faire in Italy and one of the largest in the world. Here, thousands of people congregate every year to be around "art" I suppose. It's known to be a very exclusive event, where gallerists have booths in which their represented artists' work is displayed in the hopes of finding a new home.

I noticed a few different types of people while browsing around. There were, as before mentioned, the people working for the galleries (eager to sell art in a moment of deep economic crisis), the "aspiring artists" (hoping to one day be "discovered" and therefore represented by a gallery), the possible buyers (part of which were probably undercover, underdressed not to be hovered over like the overdressed ones were), and a whole bunch of browsers like me, people who don't really know why they are there, just that they are.

Overall, there was a sense of despair in the air, with a slight hint of decay, probably coming from the rot of it all. Yes, I have a very strong opinion of this so called "art world," and it is not a positive one. I have always been uncorfortable with the stereotypical art openings, where people hang onto their glasses of wine while pretending to look deeply to try and understand the art hanging on the walls. Often times the art hanging on the walls happens to be images of not-so-fortunate people in so-called "underdeveloped" parts of the world. Am I the only one to whom this whole thing seems discusting?

There is, of course, the other aspect of this "art world." Who, really dictates what is "art," what is worth looking at and spending thousands on? Who, I ask, who? Who has the authority to comb through the objects resulting from the unsilent minds of people society categorizes as "artists"? My disgust with the art world has less to do with art then with the system in which it exists.

To be completely honest, of all the "high art" on display at Artissima, about 99% was meaningless. To me, completely meaningless. "Art" that says nothing, that is just there for aesthetics and nothing more. "Art" produced because it will sell. "Art" the market is thirsting for.

So much energy, time and resources are spent on events like this, when there are so many more meaninful and emergent questions to be addressed in our complicated modernity. It sickens me, really.

Thursday, November 5, 2009

Claudia Virginia Vitari at Le Nuove • Torino, Italy



Claudia Virginia Vitari • Torino, Italy




Claudia Virginia Vitari • Torino, Italy



Claudia Virginia Vitari's latest exhibit is what brought me to Torino. The artist asked that I photograph the project Percorso Galera, now on exhibit at the former penitentiary Le Nuove. For this project, the artist collaborated with inmates from another penitentiary, who shared their stories and drawings.

For more information, visit Claudia's website: http://www.claudiavitari.com