TheMissingLink Fanzine#0

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THE missing link fanzine #0 About Cecilia Della Longa Contents Curriculum vitae .

Life experiences .

Workshops and events .

This is an unnumbered zine cause it doesn’t show any real work.

This is an Unfinished cause it has to be finished, one day.

this is about me.

This is an unnumbered zine cause it’s like a mag’s special edition.

This is an unfinished zine cause it will never have an end.

this is about me.

It’s very personal book which need your help to be constructed.

If you’re really interested in my project and you would like to follow my evolution you just have to keep reading my fanzines and keep building this #zero one.

Here’s a little tutorial to explain how to do it. www.nãoseiquenãoseiquemais.com

curriculum vitae time-line

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stick here the initial part of the time-line u’ll find in the fanzine #01

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2

How would you describe yourself?

A seahorse. Half aquatic and half terrestrial. Totally free but extremely obedient if well-trained. Not meat nor fish. Maybe both. Even if my favourite animal is still the tortoise from the very first day of my life (as my parents usually tell this story).

1.

portfolio / cecilia della longa

an interview to myself

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Great question cause I usually spend my free time sleeping, so that’s would be a boring answer. Anyway, when I’m full of things to do, I use to read a lot, to go shopping wearing my Rollerblade, to take my camera out for a walk, to discover old albums in my dad’s library, to eat a lot of ice-cream and to eat chocolate choosing a movie for the night-time.

3.

What do you like to do when you have a lot of things to do that you really don’t wanna do?

Naah, I don’t care to find my favourite one.

I believe, instead, on my zodiac signal (most of all cause I adore that symbol).

2.

Your colour, number and that kind of stuff?

A bridge. I love bridges and I really need them. They make me feel more alive. (Roma has a lot, Milan has some little ones, Coimbra has two prettier than the others but Porto has the most wonderful one...)

5.

What do you need to feel safe in the city you’re going to live?

I’m able to learn really fast (from that point everything need practise) and I don’t have good memory at all (I really need my external-disk to be connected).

4.

Something you know to have and something you don’t really have. usual vacation?

Back home. Roma. First of all I pick up my motorbike and I go for a ride hoping to remember my way (I would like to say: my old Vespa from my mom’s teentime, but it’s not). Then, for most of the days I use to go back to my old work: horse-back-riding.

6.

zine #01 / interview

portfolio / cecilia della longa

“B ut, words, I ca n’ t lov e. Th i s i s w hy do ctr in es, for me do n ’ t c o u nt at all: th ey a r e n ot s o li d n o r s o f t, d on’ t h av e c olor , d o n ’ t have tas t e, don’ t h av e edge s n o r s m e ll s , t hey h av e noth ing mo re t han wo rds.”

Siddartha, Hermann Hesse, 1922

Th o m Y o r k e Lo t u s f l o w e r

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zine #01 / interview

7.

actor / movies

Johnny Depp / Cry baby Ewan McGregor / Big fish Ryan Gosling / The place beyond the pines Mia Farrow / The purple rose of Cairo Audrey Hepburn / Funny face Susan Sarandon / Thelma e Louise Julia Roberts / Pretty woman Meryl Streep / Mamma mia!

Audrey Hepburn b y Richard Avedon

last one.

experiences and events that changed your little world...

The Radiohead. Watching La Guernica. MovinMilan.

My first basic typography course. Weimar. Watching Roberto Bolle dancing. Libraries. My first Opera in La Scala di Milano. A sad story. Winning my little equitation prize. The Farewell Waltz by Milan Kundera.

Good photographic errors. Portugal. Something sweet.

Leaving.

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portfolio / cecilia della longa

Bauhaus Summer School in Weimar University. van de velde building.

At the end of the second year I was so interested in Bauhaus principles that I decided to really experience it. I moved to Weimar for three weeks, the city where everything begun and I joined a “2D basic design” course in Weimar Universität. I’ve studied in the Van de Velde building. It was amazing. I’ve spent hours looking at the giant window of the atelier where we’re trying to learn form the big masters.

We started to learn how to create a good composition using just dots and lines and to understand their relationship with the page they supposed to fill. Then we experimented how important is contrast in graphic composition. Then we focused on spacing, trying to look at reality and report it on our white sheet in the easiest way possible, maybe interpreting it. We’ve learn how everything is based on understanding the space around us.

Everything has to be projected thinking about the space it will occupy and the space it needs to look like as we wanted.

Everything has to deal with the air needed to well survive.

weimar, august 2012

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zine #01 / bauhaus

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portfolio / cecilia della longa

U N A P A G I N A D I DIARIO: Atterraggio all’aeroporto di Leipzig-Halle con 15 minuti di anticipo.

Silenzio. C’è una calma impressionante. Tutti i suoni sembrano ovattati. Si aziona il carrello che consegna la valigie imbarcate; la mia borsa rossa è la terza ad uscire. Incredibile. Sono diretta alla ‘rail station’.

C’è gente ma tutto tace.

weimar, august 2012

Passi silenziosi, dialoghi silenziosi, saluti silenziosi; bambini che giocano non silenziosi.

Il rumore delle ruote della mia enorme valigia rimbomba in questa quiete assoluta.

Treno in perfetto orario. Arriva silenzioso, quasi volasse. Ne esce un uomo alto in un’ordinatissima divisa da ferroviere, mi prende la valigia e con notevole sforzo la carica a bordo. Tutto tace ancora. Mi siedo e aspetto il controllo del biglietto. L’uomo mi sorride e timbra il biglietto. Mi chiedo quanto ci vorrà

S o no i n G e r m a n i a e i n G e r m a n i a si v a i n b i ci c l e t t a su l l e pi st e c i cl a b i l i e si su o n a i l c a mp a n e l l o c o m e f o sse i l g r a n c l a c so n d i u n a q u al s i a s i a u t o m o b i l e .

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zine #01 / bauhaus

per raggiungere la stazione centrale; l’uomo guarda il suo orologio, fa qualche calcolo alzando il sopracciglio in tono pensieroso e afferma sorridente “in six minutes you’ll arrive to the central station”. Sorride ancora e procede con il suo lavoro.

Sono in Germania, piccole casette colorate sono immerse nel verde. Tanto verde. Verde di vita. Tanta vita. E pensare che da noi il verde quasi non si vede; solo stoppa, morte gialla che ormai neanche più riesce a chiedere acqua.

Secondo treno. Arrivo a Weimar. Taxi fino a Brhül 6. Mi accolgono una amica della mia amica e il suo piccolo Jacob, un amante dei gioielli.

Una vecchia scala in legno nella casa che sulla facciata azzurrina porta una targa in memoria di chi, non così tanti anni prima, venne strappato a quella dimora dalla crudeltà della Germania nazista e della sua guerra. Entro in quella che sarà la mia casa per una ventina di giorni. Deliziosa. Legno e profumo di candele.

Un po’ impolverata, un po’ tanto impolverata, ma accogliente.

Entro nel salottino: un divano creato da tanti cuscini giganti sistemati in terra, sul legno, enormi casse e un pianoforte. Non resisto alla tentazione di aprirlo e di sedervisi di fronte. Un suono bellissimo, strappato ad altri tempi, estremamente dolce, incantevole.

C’è il sole, l’aria è fresca; pace.

Questa cittadina ricoperta di sampietrini (il cui nome, qui, non ho idea di quale sia) non ha strisce pedonali. La gente è calma, attraversa quando non ci sono macchine, con calma.

Cecilia Della Longa, Weimar, 8 agosto 2012

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F irst sig ns o f a incoming d epa rture.

I dreamt m y red bi g bag , l ayi ng o pen on the flo o r; full , compl ete ly full o f dresses sho es bags sheets a nd soa ps.

I dreamt I was l ate and m y hea rt, worried, was beati n g lou dly and m y red big bag co uld n’ t be closed. I d rea m t I was ru nni ng to the stati o n, I was ru nning a nd I cou l dn’ t breath.

portfolio / cecilia della longa

growing old growing wiser...

coimbra , a .a . 2013-2014

// Coim bra ’s Un i ve rs i t y s t u d e n t s (g o i n g ups tairs th ro u g h t h e “e s ca d a s m o n u m e n t a i s ”) in their bl a ck s u i t e n a m e d “t ra j e a ca d é m i co ”

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zine #01 / contents

In October 2013 I moved to Portugal, Coimbra, and I totally changed my usual way of life. I wanted to really live that new world adapting to it as I always love to do.

The first words I’ve learnt were: “menina italiana. arrendar quarto. até fevreiro. obrigada”; I was obviously looking for my six-months room. I found it in a beautiful super old house. Then, a little bit later, I found a family too: every night I walk to the other side of the city to meet my big family and to have dinner. They welcomed me, they taught me portuguese and they asked me to design posters and edit fanzines for our parties and events. Thanks to them I’ve learnt a lot; I’ve learnt about people, about relationships and about life.

Then I traveled trying to discover Portugal and the fresh, extravagant design.

It was exactly what I was looking for: something different from my usual me.

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portfolio / cecilia della longa

what is? coimbra , a .a . 2013-2014

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zine #01 / contents

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portfolio / cecilia della longa

U N A P A G I N A D I DIARIO: Coimbra, novembre 2013 Dovevo scrivere di loro. Dovevo scrivere assolutamente di loro. Perché, fin dal primo giorno che ho cenato con loro, mi sono sentita felice guardandoli. Semplicemente restando, muta, a guardarli. Immaginatevi una cucina di modeste dimensioni, con un lungo tavolo che va dalla finestra alla porta. Immaginatevi un bel paio di casse che pompano ininterrottamente musica da tutto il mondo: francese, portoghese, inglese, spagnola, africana, brasiliana.

Adesso aggiungete tanto fumo nell’aria; fumo di pronta comida, fumo di pentole bruciate, fumo di tabacco e di parole al vento. E adesso ovviamente metteteci anche le loro voci di portoghesi (con qualche spruzzo di accento francese e spagnolo) che in un frastuono totale e allucinante si impastano, diventano melodia.

Ecco, io li guardavo, ad uno ad uno, in silenzio, studiando i loro volti, le loro espressioni, e innamorandomi così, piano piano, di ognuno di loro.

Poi c’è da dire che in questa città ci sono scarpe appese ovunque. Big Fish. Chissà se ci abbiano mai pensato. Sarà lo stesso significato?

Eppure l’erba non è cosi soffice ed è piuttosto freddo per andare in giro a piedi nudi.

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Però effettivamente qui si trova una nuova casa con tanto di grande famiglia. Pacchetto regalo completo. Quando trovi un posto così è difficile poi abbandonarlo. A meno che tu non sia come quel grande pesce d’acqua dolce abituato a risalire il fiume, a cercare l’avventura. Ma questa è la mia avventura. Così ho lanciato in aria le mie scarpe per guardarle ricadere e aggrapparsi come tutte le altre a quel lungo filo stendi-panni che attraversa la città.

Così da oggi sono una komensal dei Kágados.

Che poi le cagados sono le tartarughe. Infatti sulla porta della più antica Republica di Coimbra vi è raffigurata una testuggine blu: simbolo e mascotte della casa.

Tutto torna.

Quando si dice il destino.

Questa volta mi sono fatta trascinare lungo questa via. E per ora mi piace.

Ho una nuova famiglia.

E anche questo mi piace.

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portfolio / cecilia della longa

IS / having breakfast wearing pijiama in the street and welcome by-pASSERS to join us

IS / design a super-quick layout for the cultural and musical events we organized

IS / edit our monthly fanzine sell for 1â‚Ź to gain money for house care

coimbra , a .a . 2013-2014

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zine #01 / Portugal

IS / ORGANIZING POETRY, LITERARY, TABLE-GAMES AND MOVIE MEETINGS

IS / playing music and dancing in a quite small living-room

IS / exchanging handmade presents in big occasion

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This workshop was about experimenting the old printing tecniques starting from the marvaiolleus typewriter, through the still used stencil letters, to the real typographic composition with the movable metrix organized on an iron board.

coimbra , a .a . 2013-2014

In that circumstances I noticed how much is used the cmd-z,c there everything it seemed to be harder and printing something needed a real courgious act.. What was really interesting in that quick lesson was to look at other people’s works. There were art’s students and architecture’s ones. Everyone could experiment his creativity choosing references from their personal backgrounds.

It was a really good sharing experience in which I’ve loved to learn from others good or bad typographic choices.

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zine #01 / Portugal

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portfolio / cecilia della longa

In October 2013 I moved to Portugal, Coimbra, and I totally changed my usual way of life.

In February 2014 I had to come back to Italy because my Erasmus period was over, but I decided to ask for another semester. I found a new house where to sleep while my real Coimbra’s home was obviously the same of the first semester.

In this period I’ve travelled more. I visited some cities of the north and some of the soul.

I’ve worked on different projects profiting by free time to help kágados’s needs of design and to participate into more typographic workshops.

Then the sun became hotter and the lessons were coming to the end, I’ve discovered a river’s beach not so far from the center of the city and I experienced the super-cold water of the ocean. I’ve loved it. Loved it all. In the meantime I was following some Porto’s students imagining my possible close future in that city where bridges, bycicles and shops are a lot.

// C o i mbra , M useo Mac hado do Cas tro’ s bar v iew

coimbra , a .a . 2013-2014

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In july 2014, after a free music festival in the south of Portugal, I had to come back to my origins. I rent a new house in Milano where I’ve had no “family” waiting for me for dinner-time and I started a new life, again. Waiting for a very new begin, again.

zine #01 / Portugal

Peguei no meu coração E pu-lo na minha mão Olhei-o como quem olha Grãos de areia ou uma folha.

Olhei-o pávido e absorto C o m o q u e m s a b e e sta r m o rto ; Com a alma só comovida Do sonho e pouco da vida.

Fernando Pessoa, 1913

// P o r to’s i ro n bri dge na me d “ Ponte D. Luís I”.

21x

fact-sheet

art director / editor / graphics / photos : Cecilia Della Longa

One single page model based on the hexagon page (1:√3 proportion): it consist in 6 equilateral triangles and each of these pages shapes can be directly derived from it. This is the Renaissance proportion characterized by this vertical shape.

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