Macao - Stress the Power

Last Thrusday and Friday I went to Macao (Milan) for the late-afternoon public assembly.

"Macao Square - Spontaneous Movement"

Macao (M^C^O) is a movement, a group, an happening, a long-lasting political performance, a …. - I don't know how to define it – born out of about one year of meetings of some Milan-based art workers around cultural politics in Milan (and in Italy).

Galfa Tower, Milan

On 5^th May the core group of Macao “occupied” the Galfa Tower, a skyscraper in the central zone of Milan. This action is linked to the occupation of abandoned and unused cultural spaces in Rome, Naples, Palermo and Venice. On 9th May, at dawn, after only 3 days, police expelled the occupants from the Galfa Tower. Without any sort of violence or aggression, people kindly moved out right outside in the street below and settled there. The traffic had to be stopped – and Lord knows how hysterical the Milanese becomes at even the tiniest distress in the traffic!

Soon a lot of people gathered actively to support Macao and take part to it, especially when public assemblies take place, assemblies where decisions are made together.

If in the other Italian cities the movements occupied public spaces with an overt vocation to culture, the case of Milan is different. In theory the Galfa Tower is not a public space, since it is property of Mr.Ligresti. But Mr. Ligresti, who was condemned for crimes of bribe, is a shady figure that is working a lot for Milan and the Region Lombardia (Milan is its capital), gaining a lot of money with his construction enterprise (not to mention the rest of his businesses). Saying that Mr Ligresti's connection to politics is suspicious is an understatement.

A moment of the public assembly

The Galfa Tower has been left unused for 15 years now.

I heard somebody saying that the bills of the building (and that is why it is still have electricity in it) are still on the charge of the Region Lombardia, which is a Public Agent, that is: it is charging on the citizens who cannot use it, since it is of private property.

In the same condition you can find plenty of buildings of huge dimensions here and there in Milan.

Yesterday, 19th May, Macao moved from the Galfa Tower to Palazzo Citterio, another symbolic spot of the cultural politics of Milan.

People moving from the Galfa Tower to Palazzo Citterio

Macao is not defining these acts as occupation. Macao is freeing spaces that should by public.

Macao is stressing the Power. 

(Macao taking the Subway on the way to Palazzo Citterio)

The Major Pisapia offered Macao to move to the ex-factory Ansaldo by submitting their application to the call for assignment, just like any other cultural association, institution, entity. But Macao is not an association or anything of the kind, nor it wants to become one, and MACAO is not looking for A place. 

Arrival at Palazzo Citterio

Macao is a new way of questioning the Power, an artistic activity to stress the system and modify its rules through an artistic act.

For what I seem to understand – since the over-exposition to media is been confusing concepts and has been vomiting an uncontrollable production material about it – Macao is asking to turn spaces like the Galfa Tower into Public Goods to be on assignment to Culture, if they have been left unused for over 5 years. If this happened, Milan would turn into the most interesting city in the world.

The whole happening of Macao raises political and cultural issues stimulating the debate and asking for participation which is opened to everyone's interventions. Decisions are took altogether. 

I don't mean everything is doing fine. The whole process is facing constant difficulties and negotiation. Enthusistic adherence is counterparted by rough criticisms, especially because of the "occupation" which is quick judged as an illigal act, and difficulty of even conceiving the possibility of having an horizontal and democratic decision-making not aiming to individualistic interests.

Still, a new wind is blowing. Macao is doing something, first of all. Macao is stimulating the debate about what is the border between Private and Public in a country where the Public does mainly Private intereste. MACAO is issuing the role of Art and Culture, their relationship to community, territory and institutions.

I keep my finger crossed for it to keep on this way and free more spaces. 

God knows how Milan (and Italy) needs the whole system of politics to come off its hinges.

THE ONLY WAY TO CHANGE THINGS IS TO ACT.

For those in Italy: JOIN MACAO in any way you can! 

For all the others: PLEASE, SPREAD THE WORD!

"Macao frees

Macao imagines

Macao lives

Macao is at 12, Brera Street (Subway MM2)" - Saturday, 19th May

http://www.macao.mi.it/

https://www.facebook.com/macaopagina 

Pics are taken from Macao's Facebook Page

Other landscapes and beyond

My Inov-Art adventure is finally over.
The closing meeting was last February in Guimarães (Portugal), 2012 European Capital of Culture.

The Inov-Art Program is a one-of-a-kind program that, on its 3rd edition in 2011, provided 150 grants for professional internships in any art field, to be carried out outside Portugal. Internships lasted 3 to 6 months, from July to December 2011.

It was also open to non-Portuguese that have lived in Portugal for at least one year.
I don't know any other country that has such a program and wants to invest so much in providing professional experience for culture-related jobs.

Inov-Art is founded by the Portuguese General Direction of the Arts (DGArtes), part of the former Ministry of Culture. Yes, FORMER, because the new Portuguese prime minister, Mr. Passos Coelho, elected early in 2011 summer, ELIMINATED the MINISTRY OF CULTURE.

Can a country live without culture?

Giulio Tremonti, former Italian Minister of Finance, said "You cannot eat with culture".
Dear Giulio, you are sooo wrong.
It is an important business, as many economic studies prove, and I shouldn't be the one to say it.


Wherever you are from, have you ever been abroad? What do foreigners know about your country? What is the first thing that pop into their heads?


I already described what happens as people find out that I'm Italian (http://landscapesofmajesty.blogspot.it/2011/11/italian-pride-and-foreign-prejudice-1.html).
They think of our "beauties". But they only know the old ones. Why?

1: These beauties have had some centuries to promote themselves and consolidate their fame.
2: There so old that they are remarkable only because of that.
3: More recent art is not promoted (I don't mean at all but not as much as it should be).

But this is Italy. It needs a huge change of conceptual landscapes - a changeover for fresh and new people and thoughts. And it needs to go beyond the comfort of the conviction that our beautiful artistic and naturalist landscapes are a certainty, for if we don't take care of them, they will simply disappear. 

It's been a long time since the Homo Sapiens lived only for responding to his biological needs.

What is your country famous for? What makes it recognizable?

Why do people want to visit it and get to know it better?

An Art labour - Un parto ad arte

(ITALIANO in fondo)

January 2012: I'm in Wales to follow the rehearsals of THE ECHO CHAMBER, a new performance by the Llanarth Group. It premieres in Cardiff, at Chapter Arts Centre, on Friday 27th.

The Echo Chamber
27-28 January; 2-4 February 2012
Chapter Arts Centre, Cardiff





I can't quite explain how honored I feel for having been able to assist to the whole creative process of this piece and how much I have been learning from this experience.

I can't even quite explain to those who are not working in the field of performing arts, how hard it is to create a devised piece in  very little time; and especially one of such complexity and richness like The Echo Chamber, which has been created in four weeks distributed over a 9 months time.

Intensive work is an understatement.

What is almost incomprehensible to those who don't work in performing art is how much work is needed to make a show. I don't mean it is the hardest job in the world, it'd be unfair. But for certain it is among the less economically rewarded and the most mentally, physically, emotionally demanding, just like any other creative work of art.

The Echo Chamber is a complex dramatical architecture about elemental matters of human existence, 'a poetic/spacial meditation on time, science, and our place in the universe'.
The poetry of the texts by playwright/dramaturg Kaite O'Reilly is embodied by performers Phillip Zarrilli and Ian Morgan, under the direction of Peader Kirk.

It is astonishing to see such experienced artists at work. The rapidity of decision making, the openness and generosity of the performers' tries-on-request, the complexity of writing and abdicating from good but nonessential lines, the always-ahead foresight and stimulus for conducting, all united for the sake of the work.
I'm speechless while I admire and watch such a struggle to the final goal, that is to share some deep and artistic reflexion stimulated by the perception of infinity while being limited to a lone life.

Just like knowing what's right and what's wrong, art isn't easy.
Yet when it comes to be and reaches the proper tempo both in time and space, it flows fluid to the audience with easiness.

People that are not working in the area often think that the performance with the public is the big job. But no, it isn't.
What costs the most it's the process. And it starts far before meeting up in some rehearsal space, with a long search for material that support the content, the investigation on the possibilities and the construction of the piece, which has a life as complex as the one of a living organism.

It is frustrating, it is tiring, there are no Sundays or spare time, for energy and mind are constantly engaged and focused on it. Even when you have some time off to spend with family and friends, there is still a part of your brain that cannot be switched off.

I don't have kids but I guess it is a little bit like giving birth to a child. Your expectation are growing and growing while you're carrying it in your womb, in your innards; you suffer through the labour of rehearsals to make it emerge; and in the end, there it is, with its own life, its beating heart.

Think of the satisfaction it can be when you've got it there, outside you, and you recall what a great journey it was to get till there. You watch your creature in wonder, just like you watch a starry sky. Wonder in front of a whole universe that is there, with you but despite you, too.

 It is always a kind of unutterable magic.

---------------
ITALIANO


Gennaio 2012: Eccomi ancora in Galles a seguire le prove di THE ECHO CHAMBER del Llanarth Group.

The Echo Chamber
27-28 January; 2-4 February 2012
Chapter Arts Centre, Cardiff





E' difficile spiegare quanto mi sento onorata di poter assistere e di aver assistito all'intero processo di creazione di questo lavoro teatrale e di quanto sto imparando da quest'esperienza.

E' anche difficile spiegare a chi non lavora nell'ambito quanto sia dura creare uno spettacolo teatrale in pochissimo tempo; e soprattutto quando si tratta di un lavoro di tale complessità e ricchezza, quale è The Echo Chamber, che è stato creato in sole quattro settimane distribuite nell'arco di 9 mesi.

Definirlo un "lavoro intensivo" é un eufemismo.

Ciò che è maggiormente incomprensibile per coloro che non lavorano nell'ambito delle arti performative (quindi teatro incluso) è la quantità di lavoro che ci vuole per fare un'opera teatrale.
Non dico che sia il lavoro più duro al mondo, perchè sarebbe ingiusto. Ma di certo è tra i peggio remunerati ed i più impegnativi dal punto di vista mentale, fisico ed emotivo allo stesso tempo. Come ogni altro ambito di creazione artistica, d'altra parte.

The Echo Chamber (la stanza dell'eco) é una complessa architettura drammatica sulla materia fondamentale dell'esistenza umana, "una meditazione poetica e spaziale su Tempo, scienza, e il nostro posto nell'universo'.
La poesia del testo ad opera della drammaturga Kaite O'Reilly é incarnata dalle voci e dai movimenti dagli attori Phillip Zarrilli e Ian Mogan, sotto la direzione del regista Peader Kirk.

E' straordinario vedere questi artisti esperti al lavoro. La rapidità con cui si prendono le decisioni, la generosità e la disponibilità degli attori alle richieste drammaturgiche, la complessità della scrittura e l'abdicare dalle battute ben riuscite ma di troppo, la preveggenza necessaria e gli stimoli  dello sguardo registico, il tutto per il bene dell'opera finale.
Sono a bocca aperta mentre ammiro questa fatica per raggiungere l'obiettivo finale: la condivisione di una profonda riflessione artistica scaturita dall'esperienza della percezione dell'infinità che ogni essere umano fa a partire dal limite della sua propria unica vita.

L'arte non è cosa facile, così come non lo è sapere cosa è giusto e cosa è sbagliato.
Eppure, quando arriva a realizzarsi e riesce ad avere il giusto ritmo in tempo e spazio, fluisce leggera e senza pesantezza fino allo spettatore (nonostante i temi trattati non siano necessariamente leggeri).

Chi non lavora nell'ambito pensa che il momento in cui si va in scena sia il grosso del lavoro. Ma non é così. Quello che costa di più è il processo. Comincia molto prima delle prove, con una lunga ricerca del materiale che alimenta il contenuto; e poi l'investigazione sulle possibilità di rappresentazione e costruzione del lavoro, che ha una vita complessa come quella di un organismo vivente.

E' frustrante, è stancante. Non ci sono domeniche o tempo libero, perchè l'energia e la mente sono costantemente impegnate nel processo creativo. Anche se sei in relax con la famiglia o gli amici, c'è sempre una parte del tuo cervello che non si spegne mai.

Non ho figli ma credo che il processo creativo sia un po' come dare alla luce un bambino: l'attesa che cresce mentre lo porti in grembo, nelle viscere; la sofferenza delle prove come doglie necessarie per farlo venire alla luce; e alla fine eccolo lì, con una vita propria, un proprio battito.

Pensa che soddisfazione deve essere quando ce l'hai lì davanti e ti viene in mente il grande viaggio che c'è voluto per arrivare fino a lì. Non puoi che guardare la tua creatura con stupore, come si guarda un cielo stellato. Stupore di fronte ad un universo che è lì, con te ma anche senza di te.

E' sempre una specie di ineffabile magia.

Star-doom - Il destino nelle stelle

Do you believe your destiny is written in the stars?
I don't.
But, as they say, you'll never know, hence I read my horoscope.

I started reading it with a friend of mine just for fun.
We found this website which provided a daily, weekly and monthly prevision, along with Chinese, Maya, Celtic and other varied foresights. It also featured 'the frase of the day', a surreal aforism, different for each sign, that made us giggle like teenagers.

Rob Brezsney

I'm the one that always brings horoscopes to the New Year's Eve party. I'm the one that skips all the news in Metro to directly read how my day will be.

Recently I've been introduced to Rob Brezsny's cryptic horoscope, but in the Italian version which is much more fun. (http://www.internazionale.it/oroscopo/)


According to the stars, 2012 is going to be a bit of a hard year.

My horoscope on my hometown newspaper forecast I will be floating in a state of uncertainty and gain weight (?!) until June.
Well, I can easily cope with uncertainty, since it is quite a natural state for me, but this thing of gaining extra-load is really upsetting me.
My only hope is that my horoscope is as wrong as the 2010 one, which predicted that I would most likely get married and for sure got pregnant.
The rest of the year should go better.


Last Monday, 23rd Jan, was the Chinese New Year. We've just entered the Year of the Dragon.

A Korean friend (it is also South Korea's New Year) predicted that it is going to be a good year.
Some other sources partially disagree with this and they say that there's going to be trouble for those who were born in the Year of the Dog. I'm on of those. Lucky me.

Chinese year follows the lunar cycle and God knows how much the Moon affects me both as a woman and as a Scorpio.


So far the year didn't start very well.
The first week was all work and no fun. I had trouble with transports. A few disappointments for work-related matters, annoying (but not serious) health issues, along with a series of harmless events that managed to make me feel down, triggered my grimmest mood.


On 23rd I received a Fortune Cookie with my coffee.

'All good things come to you if you wait' awkwardly sounds like doom, since patience is not one of my main talents. And I can't help thinking that 'good things' might refer to 'diet and working-out'...




Will the stars be right?
What am I supposed to do? Hanging on until June, far from the fridge?

It is indeed an uncertain moment. I don't even know where I'll be in a month.
In the last weeks, though, back in the West Welsh Coast, I've been blessed by some starry nights.
All the endless, expanding, ever-existing universe there, above your poor mortal head, is a bit of a daze.
No wonder we think it can see ahead of us. I just hope it is myopic.

Known Flying Objects in Holy Days

(English below)
In una mattina tra dicembre e gennaio, ogni bambino si sveglia entusiasta per aprire i doni lasciati da una magica visita notturna.

In Italia, il Donatore cambia a seconda di dove sei nato. Ciò in cui credi è una conseguenza, difficilmente è una scelta.
(Questa criterio è applicabile anche ad un'altra serie di convinzioni.)

Le varie figure volanti convivono in un sincretismo non senza contraddizioni, ma i bambini non ci fanno caso.
In percentuali diverse, credono un po' a tutto. Anche perchè in Italia ogni scusa è buona per festeggiare. (E per mangiare.)

Quale che sia il Donatore di riferimento per ogni bambino, il procedimento non cambia.

Fase 1): Inoltrare la propria richiesta:
Sotto forma di lettera (la più usata), preghiera (per gli scrittori pigri) o fioretto (per gli zelanti).
Non valgono le lettere minatorie.

Fase 2): Preparare l'accoglienza per il Donatore:
Personalizzata in base alle sue esigenze: cibo, indumenti, rifornimento per il mezzo di trasporto, etc.
Non vale lasciare il biglietto "Serviti pure" sul frigo.
Fase 3): Attesa:
Si inganna necessariamente dormendo perchè in nessun modo è permesso vedere il Donatore, pena conseguenze indicibili come per esempio non ricevere nulla.

Fase 4): Godersi i propri doni:
Il ringraziamento può essere procrastinato fino al prossimo dicembre, quando sarà necessario stilare le nuove richieste e un po' d'educazione, in quel caso, può essere utile.

Nella lista dei Donatori appassionati di visite notturne, Santa Lucia è la prima, tra il 12 e il 13 dicembre, ma passa solo in alcune città.
Lei è la santa cieca, povera, scalza e giunge con il suo asinello, che è la sua guida, avvolta in un aura di luce.
Non si spiega come riesca a leggere le letterine dei bambini, a meno che l'asino non sia alfabetizzato. Non si può incontrarla perchè se no si diventa ciechi e comunque non è una bella visione perchè gira portando i propri occhi in bella mostra su un piatto. (Più che una santa, uno zombie.)

Il traffico aereo si fa caotico tra il 24 e il 25 dicembre.
Babbo Natale, il cui vero nome è Claudio o Nicola, rifornisce principalmente quelli che parlano inglese. Per questo in Italia non visita molta gente, ma nessun bambino dubita della sua esistenza, perchè è l'unico che si può incontrare, ma bisogna andare in America e fare la fila nei grandi magazzini.



Gulliver Jesus - 2010

In alcune zone del sud, in particolare a Napoli, nella stessa notte arriva Gesù Bambino.
Non ho mai capito come si muovesse. Sappiamo che sapeva camminare sulle acque (dalla Palestina a Napoli si può fare), ma non mi risulta che sapesse anche volare.
Non ho gli ho mai scritto, mi pareva esagerato: appena nato, scaldato dal fiato di un bue e di un asino, in mezzo alla paglia...dai, non è chiedere un po' troppo ad un neonato del terzo mondo?

In cammino coi punti Esselunga - 2011

Gli ultimi ad arrivare sono i Re Magi, il 6 gennaio. A Gesù portarono oro, incenso e mirra, ma nessun bambino normale glieli invidia. Aspetta, invece, i dolci doni di una vecchia strega a cavallo di una scopa, la Befana. Se sei stato cattivo, la Befana ti porta il carbone, ma siccome in Italia non ci sono miniere di carbone, non ci sono neanche bambini cattivi. (Questa stessa logica, nel mondo adulto, é già stata applicata anche in alcune faccende legali.)


Siccome da qualche anno non ricevo nulla nonostante sia stata brava (sarà perchè sono difficile da rintracciare perchè non ho un indirizzo fisso?), comincio a pensare che forse questo team di assi delle consegne notturne sia oberato di lavoro.

Vorrei proporre di introdurre un nuovo Donatore: pure lui é un re, un padre e una stella brillante.
Non é ufficialmente riconosciuto come santo, ma per qualcuno lo é già.

Che possa splendere su di voi il sacro cuore di Elvis e inondarvi di doni bellissimi!

-----------------------
ENGLISH

One morning between December and January, every child wakes up excited for opening the gifts that some magical figure left overnight.

In Italy the Giver changes according to where you were born. What you believe is a consequence, rarely a choice. (Seems like this criteria is applicable to many other beliefs.)

There are various Known Flying Objects that coexist in a syncretism not without contradictions, but kids don't seem to mind. They believe in every on of them, in different percentages. Also because in Italy every reason is good for celebrating. And eating.

Whatever referent Giver a child has, the process doesn't change.

Phase 1): Submit Request:
In the form of a letter (mainly used), prayer (for lazy writers) or "fioretto"/making a resolution (for the eager ones).
No minatory letters.

Phase 2): Prepare welcoming for the Giver:
Customize according to the Giver's needs: food, clothes, fuel for transportation, etc.
No "Help yourself" post-it on the fridge door.
Phase 3): Wake:
It must be in the sleep for it is forbidden to see the Giver or you might get nothing at all.

Phase 4): Enjoy your gifts:
Thanking can be procrastinated until next December: it will be useful when submitting new requests.

In the list of the night-surfer Givers, Saint Lucy is the first, between 12th and 13th Dec, but she visits only some cities.
She is blind, poor, barefoot and is guided by her donkey. She is surrounded by a dazzling aura. It is inexplicable how she can read children's letters, unless her donkey is literate. You can't meet her for you'd turn blind and anyway it is no pleasant view because she wanders about with her own eye on a plate. (Rather a zombie than a saint.)

Air traffic intensifies in the night between 24th and 25th December.
Santa, whose real name is unknown (some call him Claus, some Nicholas; in Italy he is Daddy Christmas) mainly supplies children that speak English. That's way he doesn't visit many kids in Italy. However no one doubts he exists because he is the only one you can actually meet. You just need to go to the US and queue at some shopping mall.



Gulliver Jesus - 2010

On the same night, in some areas in Southern Italy and expecially in Naples, the Giver is Baby Jesus.
I never quite understood how he travelled. We know he could walk on water (from Palestine to Naples it's possible), but I didn't know whether he could fly or not.
I've never written him any letter: asking for toys and sweets to a just-born baby, heated by a bull's and a donkey's breath, in a straw cradle...c'mon, ain't it too much to pretend from a third world child?

On the Road - 2011

On 6th January, the last ones to arrive are the Magi or Three Wise Men. The bring gold, incense and myrrh for Jesus, but no normal kid desire that kind of stuff. They rather wait for candies from and old witch that rides a broomstick: the "Befana". If you've been a bad kid, Befana brings you some coal. But since in Italy there are no coal mines, there are no bad kids too. (Occasionally this very same logic has been applied to some legal matters in the adults' world.)


Since it's been a few years I haven't received anything, although I've been a good girl, (may it be because I have no fixed address?), I've started thinking that these night-surfers might be a bit overloaded with work.

That is why I would like to propose the introduction of a new Giver: he a king, a father, a big belly and a shining star.
He hasn't been canonized yet, although he is already a divinity for many.

May Elvis' Sacred Heart shine on you and cover you with wonderful gifts!