Mese: giugno 2019

Tue. 21. May. 2019
It was very long journey in the end but once you arrived in Venice, everything
was fine. Since only 2 hours left before closing, I visited the closest pavilions.
Portuguese, Bulgarian, Iran and Dominican. It wasn’t my favorite though, the
architecture of Portuguese pavilion was very atmospheric. And I like the
theme of this year.
Wed. 22. May. 2019
First, went to New Zealand pavilion as I like works of the artist Dane Michele.
Then arsenale, the works of Haris Epaminonda, my favorite artist since long
time who won the silver lion was simply amazing. As well as Gabriel Rico,
Apichatpong Weerasethakul. And nice discovery was Tarek Atoui, sound
installation with objects and organic technology. The performance of
Lithuanian pavilion was only on Saturday, but the empty beach was also nice
as an installation.
Thu. 23. May. 2019
It is my tradition to start from Spanish pavilion and it was a very good start. I
liked the way to install the soil at Dutch pavilion, very much in order like the
impression I got from the country. Finnish pavilion was interesting,
combination of organic creatures and nice video. I like nordic pavilion a lot as
an architecture and this year, exhibition was really fitting well together. The
work of Nabbteeri was very inspiring. Australian pavilion shows beautiful video
with a nice way of typing code and music. UK pavilion was about particles but
bit more ghost side. Japanese pavilion was a surprise, very similar sound
installation to my partner’s ( and his instruments are more beautiful ). Of
course concept is different and I liked the story and stones. I think I enjoyed
and stayed at French pavilion the most in the end. They always make very
nice seating place for the audience as a part of installations and this year was
like something from the palace Cheval. I always try not to stay too long for
video works in Biennial but I couldn’t move and wanted to watch again, with a feeling of being involved in the world of which the artist had created. I enjoyed Venice Biennial this year a lot, but the biggest evocation of feeling was the works of Jannis Kounellis at Fondazione Prada. It was stunning and really good with the atmosphere of the building.
Fri. 24. May. 2019
In the town, I came across a very beautiful printing artisan where they use 53 years old machine. As a gift, I bought a set of ‘ EXLIBRIS ‘ with a pattern of printing artisan. Then, it was just very easy and comfortable journey this time to Milan. I had an aperitif with a curator friend and enjoyed urban life after some time.
Sat. 25. May. 2019
Finally went to the Alps, even in France, with Michele and Silvia. At the
lake mont Cenis, since it was with less water, we could see some parts
of ancient village at the bottom. The color of the water was very special
kind of blue and of course I collected some stones in the same blue. I
love mountains in general but the Alps is really special. And this special
couple is extremely sweet. I really had a nice day.
Sun. 26. May. 2019
I feel very happy to be back in Conzano. In the end, living in the nature
is the most luxury. In the afternoon, I have visited Simona’s beautiful
garden with lots of different kind of roses, many herbs and fruits. I saw
trees of hazelnuts for the first time in my life. We had very nice wine and
amazing food which she made, the life is truly beautiful here and I will
suggest my partner to find a house in Conzano. ..
Mon. 27. May. 2019
Maybe because of the election, wifi is not really working since yesterday
and raining all the day, I was working inside. Simona told me that she
sensed something in Villa Vidua, I have been feeling the same, but Mr.
Vidua seems very interesting person, so I’m not scared. Mario and
Bona came to visit me to say bye in person with lovely presents. My
partner said that I have a talent for it, but I think it’s the people here.
Italians and Japanese have many things in common actually and one is
that we both are crazy for presents.

Tue. 28. May. 2019
Yesterday, for the first time during my stay in Italy, I didn’t have any wine at mealtimes. Maybe that was why I felt something was missing in my body and since it was not raining yet in the morning, I went out with the bicycle to fulfill myself. It was really wonderful on the way out from Conzano and on the way back, it took 3 times more time and 100 times more energy.  In the afternoon, in the storm, finally went to the kurumiri shop. ( on my arrival, Renata told me that I should visit there and it was my last day finally I managed to go ). Already on the street, I could feel the flavor of happiness but
when I open the door, it was almost like the heaven. They gave me one to try
even, it was very different from the one I had at a cafe and I understand why
everyone here recommend kurumiri.  

Simona came to say bye in person with a huge gift set. I only met her 2.5  weeks ago but feels like we know each other since long time and I’m dreaming about cooking my serious Japanese food course for her in the near future.
After Casale, Sandro showed me his favorite church in the rock. Very beautiful and special place. Then, Kamy took me to a wonderful organic shop where they sell honey from hazelnut and chestnut. Nowadays it is very difficult to find real honey and since my partner and I are crazy for honey, it was really the best souvenir shop.
They took me to a beautiful dinner place for my last supper to try truffle pasta. It was really amazing. They said it is traditional recipe and I felt that people here have been too gourmet since long history. And they gave me a very special wedding gift which is a sort of hammock for a couple made in
Venezuela. They said that it is even for making love on it but I think it’ll be very acrobatic and need lots of practice. They have been treating me like a queen and I really hope they will visit me in Amsterdam and Japan that I can treat them back as a king and a queen.

 I am very happy to get to know this
wonderful couple with warm hearts and their cute dog.

Wed. 29. May. 2019
In the morning, I had a coffee with my very professional guide Anna. I don’t
know why but I really love talking with her. Next time we should do trekking and cycling all over around Monferrato with her guide book. It was very nice to see Mario again before leaving as well as Emanuele and Sara. People here are truly warm and caring and I am very happy for Conzano to have a very nice and cultural Mayor.

 

 

I was not ready to leave at all though, I also miss my partner and Kamy and Sandro was very responsible to give me a lift to the airport on time.

 

    

 

The Alps were again very beautiful on the way and from the plane, it was really the best view ever in my life. ( I have had more than one hundred of flights already, I guess ).

Staying in Conzano and especially meeting with all the beautiful people was priceless. And this opportunity gave me very important notice for the future. The residency period was too short though, it is just a begging of our project with Artegiro Contemporary Art and I’m very excited to develop further more.

This is the last day of my diary this time but I hope next opportunities will come again and I am very grateful to Renata, our wonderful curator with warm heart and good sense of humor. To get to know her is one of the best thing about this residency and I believe that we both were already and will be inspired by our conversation to be continued.

“The world is very small when you are away and very big in the same city.” Mariko Hori

Uno dei motivi per cui la residenza artistica Artegiro è stata pensata alla sua fondazione nel 2009, è proprio il desiderio di rendere il mondo dell’artista più piccolo, più praticabile, nonchè per ravvicinare, in una sorta di gioco di prestigio, il pubblico alla pratica artistica, oltre che agli artisti stessi.

Gioco di prestigio prima di tutto perchè nel luogo di residenza artistica l’artista ora c’è e dopo poche settimane non c’è più, dato che quando conclude la sua residenza,  parte, ma anche perchè ,davvero, in quei giorni della sua presenza il mondo è più piccolo, più gestibile, le barriere che sembravano essere presenti fino a ieri tra opere d’arte e vita quotidiana cadono davanti a lei o lui che ci racconta quello che fa e ci coinvolge nel suo spazio come per  incanto. Mariko Hori, una delle due artiste in residenza nel 2019, con una generosità straordinaria, ha concesso tempo, ha prestato ascolto, ha condiviso parole, ha raccolto e mostrato immagini e nel contempo è riuscita con pochissimo italiano a disposizione ( per ora) a incontrare persone nuove, a formare amicizie, a stringere rapporti solidi con tanti.

A un certo punto Mariko, in occasione della scoperta di suoi amici che il proprietario di un ristorante monferrino che loro prediligono è di Roma, e che abitava nel quartiere originario dei loro genitori, pur non essendosi mai incontrati, scrive nel suo diario : “The world is very small when you are away and very big in the same city.” Ed è vero, il mondo è davvero piccolo quando sei in giro per il mondo, e può essere invece molto grande quando ti muovi solo all’interno di una zona.

Dal 2010 a oggi, da Montefiascone a Malta, da Venezia a Conzano, l’arrivo dell’artista in residenza Artegiro ha sempre mostrato un annullarsi delle distanze dal canto dell’artista e una scoperta delle dimensioni reali degli spazi culturali nella città ospite.

A parte le considerazioni che questo stato di cose ispira – cioè lo specifico rapporto tra artista e lo spazio, includendo in questo anche gli ambienti tra i quali l’artista si muove, a confronto con il rapporto che coloro che risiedono stabilmente nel centro che ospita le residenze hanno con il loro spazio consueto – il rimpicciolimento ulteriore del “mondo” è per me una garanzia che la residenza ha davvero soddisfatto le aspettative. Quando l’artista lascia una traccia forte e condivisa nella collettività e la residenza lascia nell’artista una traccia altrettanto forte e condivisa, la residenza artistica si fa produttiva, continua in progetti futuri, si sviluppa in modi inaspettati. 

Ma la considerazione più importante non può trascurare la condizione per cui tutto questo accade, cioè il gioco di prestigio: la disponibilità a essere spaesati appunto, a uscire dal proprio mondo per ritrovarsi nel grande mondo che però diventa piccolo. Per questo si chiama Artegiro.

Diario Mariko Hori, Parte 3

Thu. 16. May. 2019
Day 1: Experimenting day in the Oriental room.
I am trying to make works including the special atmosphere in the room. I have made a bigger water cube with a bigger stone but it immediately broke as the stone was too heavy. So made the
cube again with a bit smaller stone. The
atmosphere is changing so much with the light every moment. The room is extremely clean but
hope some particles from Carlo Vidua would be still here.
Fri.17. May. 2019
Day 2: Experimenting day in the Oriental room. It was misty day and the room looks completely different. I did some other experiment and still want to do more though, there are already 500 of photos and I can only choose one or two. So I would stop for now. Villa Vidua has an atmosphere like a castle. It is always cool/ cold and bit wet inside, even when it’s very hot outside. Indeed bit closer to the caves.

Sat. 18. May. 2019
It was very nice to have a beautiful dinner together with Renata and Fatima, whose story inspired me a lot. I am interested in lots of different elements to reproduce an atmosphere but especially in Italy, one’s feeling is very strong which will be left behind at the place in order to make a certain aura for the future. I couldn’t see the Alps today but I know that it’s there.
Sun. 19. May. 2019
It was very nice evening and big surprise that so many people were up for participating in my request. I thought it might be too much to ask someone to sing in front of camera. But people were not shy at all and there were so many nice stories. I really appreciate all the support from everyone who were at Villa Vidua and for the nice atmosphere.
Mon. 20. May. 2019
Kamy and Sandro took me to Casale and while walking on the street, I run into 2 different parson whom I know from last night. It was very nice that I could feel like local here. We had a nice dinner at a cute restaurant which they serve Roman style dishes. It as Sandro’s favorite and even the owner used to live in the neighborhood of his family house. But they never met in Roma. The world is very small when you are away and very big in the same city. Anyway I always eat very good in Italy.