#AI MAGAZINE | #71 | Fall 2015

aI # M A G A Z I N E

reportage:

PORTFOLIO & interview:

rencontres d’arles Frieze London balla-magnani rocca art basel-basel joya-barcelona

Giovanni Gastel Massimo vitali Paolo Simonazzi Alberto Andreis marco onofri

EUR 12,00 ( Italy only ) - EUR 17,00 ( A - E - P ) - EUR 20,00 ( b - D - F - l ) - GBP 17,00 ( uk ) - Chf 24,00 ( ch ) - Chf 22,00 ( CH TICINO )

a photography & CONTEMPORARY cultures’ mag.

No_ 71 / fall 2015 ISSN 2037-0490

9 772037 049000

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About ART:

“ART isn’t everything. It’s just about everything”.” ― Gertrude Stein

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Ai

magazine

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a

photography

&

CONTEMPORARY

cultures’

mag

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Giudecca 10 30133 Venezia, Italy Tel: +39 041 240 801 www.hotelcipriani.com

No.71 FALL 2015

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AI/contents FALL

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the resulting state Editor’s letter by ANDREA TINTERRI

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to have the blue devils Editor’s letter by Christina Magnanelli weitensfelder

Blue Blood

Editor’s letter by simone d. casadei bernardi

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Andrea tinterri

art basel mIAMI BEACH

about by Luca magnanelli

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about by bianca maria zonta

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INTERVIEW + Portfolio

Giovanni Gastel >

Above: Myster Cernobbio, 1991 Kristen Mc Menamy, (detail)

Arles and faith in photography about by ERIC MC GRATH

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Editor’s letter by Sergio Signorini

interview by

Art in the Park

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Velvet Blue

women, men and spectres

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2015

Freedom of Panorama photography and law

by CRISTINA MANASSE

The

nuances of a character, the identity of a photographer interview by gaia conti

Emilian provinces

interview by andrea tinterri

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Portfolio

Paolo Simonazzi

landscape of memory interview

by andrea tinterri

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Balla, the futurist abstractionist

> Above: Giacomo Balla, Sorge l’idea, (detail), 1920, oil on canvas

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Bologna ARTE FIERA 2016 photography section Blackplaces, a methapyshical dream giovanni marinelli

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2015

a library of fascinating journeys interview by

cecile gallet

the line is her language

profile by giacomo belloni

Balla, the futurist abstractionist

profile

by Andrea

tinterri

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about by

benedetta alessi

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new york why and how

interview

by sergio signorini

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The nuances of a character,the identity of a photographer

> Above: Marco Onofri, from the project Il rumore di uno sguardo, (detail)

The world of Tim Burton profile

by Brian Midnight

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expo blues

The art of Corrado Giuspino

profile by michael sÄgerbrecht

Joya Barcelona Art Jewellery Fair 2015 by michael

sÄgerbrecht

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Portfolio

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must-see

aGENDA

by Stefania Dottori

massimo vitali

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The world of Tim Burton

> Above: Tim Burton, Blue Girl with Wine, (detail), 1997 ca, oil on canvas, 71,1 x 55,9 cm, Private Collection © 2015 Tim Burton

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AI MAGAZINE a photography and CONTEMPORARY cultures’ mag.

No.

71

/ fall 2015

This issue is dedicated to the colour VELVET BLUE and to the methaphorical meaning of ‘The Resulting State’.

MASTHEAD

This Magazine was founded in 2007 by Greta Edizioni and is published quarterly in collaboration with BAG Photo Art Gallery and Zeitgeist Association.

Distributed in 28 countries around the world, AI Magazine (Paper version) can be found in bookstores, museum bookshops, concept stores.

You can order the magazine through your bookshop or directly from the publisher; the digital version is available worldwide from the Apple iTunes App Store.

AI magazine is an eco-friendly quarterly: printed on acid-free paper with water-based pigmented inks for eco-printing.

Subscription Customer Service: telephone +39 0721 403988, Monday - Friday, 9AM – 6PM e-mail: abo@aperitivoillustrato.it Advertising department: Bildung Inc. - Exclusive AD Company for contact@bildung-inc.com Italy Office, Headquarters: Greta Edizioni, via degli Abeti 102-104, 61122 Pesaro, Italy telephone: +39 0721 403988 fax: +39 0721 1792507 e-mail: greta@gretaedizioni.com United Kingdom Office: 71-75 Shelton Street, Covent Garden, London WC2H 9JQ, United Kingdom Simone D. Casadei Bernardi | telephone: +44 7546 694318 e-mail: simone.uk@bildung-inc.com Bianca Maria Zonta | UK Team Art Media & PR e-mail: bianca.uk@bildung-inc.com United Arab Emirates Office: Marina Square, Building 2, Al Reem Island, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates Giacomo Belloni | telephone: +971 55 367 9446 e-mail: giacomo.emirates@bildung-inc.com editor at large: Alberto Bevilacqua Editor in chief & creative director: Christina Magnanelli Weitensfelder Deputy director & Art director: Andrea Tinterri editorial staff: Stefania Dottori (Director) Carlos Ruiz Sonia Magi redazione@aperitivoillustrato.it Translator: Daniel Clarke Paper distribution: Europe and rest of the world: Aie - Agenzia Italiana di Esportazione Srl Via Manzoni, 12 - 20089 Rozzano (MI) - Italy, telephone: +39 02 5753911 fax: +39 02 57512606 www.aie-mag.com Italy: Messinter SpA Via Campania, 12 - 20098 San Giuliano Milanese (MI) - Italy, telephone: +39 02 57512612 fax: +39 02 98281410 www.messinter.it Publisher: Greta Edizioni e-mail: greta@gretaedizioni.com digital distribution: App Store Printing: Graffietti, Italy Contributors in this Issue: Benedetta Alessi, Cecile Gallet, Luca Magnanelli, Eric Mc Grath, Brian Midnight, Michael Sägerbrecht Website: www.aperitivoillustrato.it Facebook: L’APERITIVO ILLUSTRATO MAGAZINE / L’APERITIVO ILLUSTRATO ITALIA Pinterest: L’APERITIVO ILLUSTRATO Twitter: AI_magazine All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in whole or part without written permission from the publisher.

The publisher declares its willingness to settle fees that may be owed for texts and images whose sources could not be traced or identified.

Cover: Giovanni Gastel, Donna, (detail), 1992 Flyleafs: Anna Sutor, What, 2015, mixed technique

Cecile Gallet Contemporary Galerie d’art | Fine art gallery

Photos by Caroline Gavazzi

Cecile Gallet Contemporary Fine Art Gallery Marseille - France Ph +33 671448864 Email cecile@cecilegalletcontemporary.com FB www.facebook.com/cecilegalletcontemporary Instagram Cecile Gallet Contemporary

No.71 FALL 2015

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AI | contributing editors

Gaia Conti We first met at the Guggenheim, with Dalì, Calder and Picasso; we then got to know each other better at the Pompidou Centre with Man Ray and Beuys, but it became true love at the Moma immersed in Blake, Woodman and Calle.

We have been together ever since, Art and I. Art is the fascinating lagoon that I have decided to dive into, like that of my city, Venice, which Thomas Mann described as “[..] the flattering and suspect beauty – this city, half fairy tale and half tourist trap, in whose insalubrious air the arts once rankly and voluptuously blossomed, where composers have been inspired to lulling tones of somniferous eroticism”.

Sergio Signorini Born in Codogno (Italy) in 1952, he attended the Liceo Classico Gioia in Piacenza to then graduate in enginieering in Pavia in 1976. He worked as a full-time architect from 1977 to 2000, a year which was marked by a profound existential crisis. Since the early 1980s he has been working in the field of bioclimatic architecture. Over the last 15 years he has studied psychoanalysis and psychology for the configuration of living spaces adapted to a harmonious sharing of habitats. He is a higher education teacher for the University of Pavia’s Literature faculty and Department of Art History, as well as in many other faculties of Architecture and Engineering. He writes for magazines and newspapers, L’architecture, Cronache e storia – directed by Bruno Zevi, Spazio & Spazio – directed

by Giancarlo De Carlo, Costruire in Laterizio – for which he has also written the book review column, and AI magazine. He writes in the role of curator for art and photography, and is an inquisitive and tireless seeker of truth and the meaning of life.

Cristina Manasse Lawyer, more than 20 years of experience in art/photography law, copyright, also digitally.

Represents artists/collectors/galleries, museums/institutions, start ups/platforms, editing companies. Advises clients on art law/IP issues, ie. drafting art-related agreements, also for organization/management of art fairs/cultural events. Member of the Advisory Board of the Italian fair of photography. Associate Researcher at Ask Centre, Bocconi University, for art law and copyright. Former Chairman, Art, Cultural Institution & Heritage Law Committee of International Bar Association.

Author of articles, speaker at conferences, lecturer in university courses, also abroad, on art law/copyright. Worked also abroad with major law firms.

Giacomo Belloni Born in Rome in 1964. He grad-

uated summa cum laude in Art History at the University “La Sapienza” in Rome. Currently he is a gallery owner, art curator, auctioneer, writer and art journalist. He organises events and exhibitions of Italian and international artists all over Italy, in public and private locations. He works with the publishing house Greta Edizioni and the quarterly AI Magazine; he’s a writer of art-books and catalogues. Expert in art marketing, he collaborates with several galleries on the new tendencies of Contemporary Art. He currently lives in Abu Dhabi, in the United Arab Emirates, where he continues to with Greta Edizioni on the launching of a new project in the Persian Gulf.

Simone D. Casadei Bernardi. Born in Urbino Andrea Tinterri Independent critic and curator, he

works in the field of photography, reflecting on possible contaminations with other forms of narration. He is one of the members of TØ Studio (Parma, Italy), a pluridisciplinary studio which combines visual arts, urban planning with theoretical research, writing, photography and economics. Since 2010 he has formed part of the editorial team of the literary magazine La Luna di Traverso and since 2013 has collaborated with the Italian quarterly D’Ars, the international quarterly AI magazine and the publishing house Greta Edizioni.

(Italy) in 1976, is a business developer, expert in management control and internationalisation processes. He manages three business consulting enterprises and a business continuing education company across Europe and lives among the United Kingdom, Ireland and Latvia. He occasionally returns to Italy.

He also collaborates with Bildung Inc. as supervisor of the UK Team. He loves every expression of art, photography and architecture among all. He considers them a way to communicate effectively, even when words cannot be of aid. He deeply believes that art is the best means to recover the lost art of introspection.

Bianca Maria Zonta

Art writer and qualified English teacher with diverse experience in publishing, archaeology and English studies. After being awarded a First Class Honours degree in Near Eastern art and archaeology from Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, followed by PhD studies in Mesopotamian archaeology at UCL London, she took her Cambridge ESOL CELTA in London. There she worked as an editorial assistant and contributing writer at Minerva, a British magazine of ancient art and archaeology, and at Rooms, a visual arts magazine. She has newly joined AI Magazine, while teaching and pursuing a Master’s Degree (MA) in English Literature.

Anna Sutor

Architect, designer and illustrator. Following her Master at the Architectural Association in London, she worked for Rem Koolhaas in Rotterdam, and then for the architect Norman Foster. She lives and works in Milan as an illustrator, dedicating particular attention to drawing the many aspects of the city. Her drawings have been published in Europe, the United States and Brazil. Her work has been awarded by the American Society of Illustrators and the Italian Association of Illustrators.

Daniel Clarke Free-lance translator. Born in Kent, England, he passed his childhood and early adult life in London before deciding at the age of 22 to move out to Italy. He initially lived in Mantova, and then Milan, where he worked for the British Council for 8 years. In 2005 he began translating for the Piccolo Teatro di Milano – Teatro d’Europa, a collaboration which continues today. Daniel currently lives in Olbia, Sardinia, and, as well as the Piccolo and AI magazine, collaborates with a number of organisations including the Pinacoteca di Brera in Milan.

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No.71 FALL 2015

the resulting state

Resistance can have many forms. One can shout, fight, brandish a sword or a gun, kick, spit, hold an ambush, or wait behind a hedge to watch the movements of others and take note of their daily routine. Or one can go on working on content without renouncing one’s own story, in the conviction that something is happening around them, but that

it has no bearing: we know how to write, we know how to choose, we know how to build a narrative. Those who work for a magazine like ours, a quarterly magazine printed with care, as though every page were necessary for a single long story, those who work like this every day (strange as it may seem, working for a quarterly magazine is a daily activity) know very well the state of things, what is happing around them, the problems of the publishing industry and the advancement of on-line publications, the ever tighter deadlines and the news which goes out of date after three minutes and twenty-five seconds. But we go on, we resist in the knowledge of the usefulness of a steady pace, pondered thought, and a product to be consumed but not thrown away after reading. Because the necessary violence is in thought, in the continuation of a good published product, in writing, and – above all – in the act of reading and contemplating. I love the implicit antifascism of Eugenio Montale, not shouted, but simply filtered by a culture which the powers that be can only distain, for the simple fact that the height of thought is by nature liberal, libertarian and free. We resist on paper, seeking external prosthesis, collaborations such as that which is forming in London with the The Gallery on the Corner, where we will present the latest edition of the magazine proposing a performance by the artist Erjon Nazeraj, a young writer of Albanian origins who made his home in Italy over ten years ago. A reflection on emigration as a universal phenomenon, not only a contemporary emergency, but a historical experience, in which Nazarej proposes a topical, everyday shroud, much less holy and without bodies ready for resurrection. And so our thanks to those who will follow our future story both within and beyond the confines of paper, to those who will read the following pages, to those who will calmly leaf through the images, to those who will place the magazine on their side table and will gladly pick it up to hold once again. Yours will be a political act; it will have a consequence, perhaps a result: it will be

an act of resistance, of elegance, perhaps the only true luxury which we can still allow ourselves.

La resistenza può essere esercitata in molti modi diversi. Gridare, lottare, sfoderare un’arma bianca o polvere da sparo, calciare, sputare, tendere un’imboscata, aspettare dietro una siepe spiando le mosse altrui calcolando gli spostamenti giornalieri. Oppure si può continuare a lavorare sui contenuti senza rinnegare la propria storia, nella convinzione che qualcosa intorno sta succedendo, ma procedere come se tutto questo potesse non influire: scrivere è quello che sappiamo fare, scegliere è quello che sappiamo fare, costruire una narrazione è quello che sappiamo fare. Chi lavora per una rivista come la nostra, una rivista cartacea con uscita trimestrale, stampata con attenzione come se ogni pagina fosse necessaria ad un unico lungo racconto, chi lavoro in questo senso quotidianamente (sembra strano ma anche per un trimestrale il lavoro è giornaliero) conosce benissimo lo stato dei fatti, cosa succede intorno, i problemi dell’editoria e la cavalcata dei giornali on line, le tempistiche accelerate e le notizie che scadono dopo tre minuti e venticinque secondi. Ma si continua, si resiste nella consapevolezza dell’utilità del tempo lungo, della sedimentazione del pensiero, di un prodotto da consumare, ma non gettare dopo la lettura. Perchè la violenza necessaria sta nel pensiero, nel portare avanti un buon prodotto editoriale, nello scrivere e, soprattutto nell’atto della lettura e della contemplazione.

Amo l’antifascismo implicito di Eugenio Montale, non gridato, ma solo filtrato da una cultura che la gerarchia di potere poteva solo disprezzare, per il semplice fatto che l’altezza del pensiero per sua natura è liberale, liber­ taria e libera. Resistiamo sulla carta cercando protesi esterne, collaborazioni come quella che si concretizzerà a Londra con The Gallery on the Corner dove presenteremo il nuovo numero della rivista proponendo una performance dell’artista Erjon Nazeraj. Un giovane autore di origini albanesi, ma ormai da più di dieci anni stabile in Italia. Una riflessione sull’emigrazione come fenomeno universale, non solo emergenza contemporanea, ma esperienza della Storia. Nazarej proporrà un sudario attualizzato, una Sindone quotidiana, molto poco celeste e senza corpi pronti alla resurrezione. E quindi grazie a chi seguirà la nostra futura storia dentro e fuori le mura di carta, a chi leggerà le pagine che seguono, a chi sfoglierà le immagini senza avere fretta, a chi appoggerà la rivista sul comodino e avrà la voglia di riprenderla in mano e ripassarla tra le dita. Il vostro sarà un atto politico, avrà una conseguenza, forse un risultato: sarà un gesto di resistenza, d’eleganza, forse l’unico vero lusso che ancora ci possiamo concedere.

AI | editor’s letter

AI

deputy

by ANDREA TINTERRI / director & TØ visual Arts

curator

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No.71 FALL 2015

to have the blue devils

Blue, like any other colour, has taken on countless meanings over the course of history. From East to West, every culture influenced by historical events has attributed one meaning or another,

sometimes completely opposing. At the end of the 19th century however, and for the entire 20th century, blue took on a very precise significance which it has kept ever since. It was a very specific art form which assigned this value: music. Not having visual characteristics, if we exclude album covers – once of generous dimensions, far from the ridiculous digital forms of today, but that’s another story – or advertising, music has sound as its only form of transmission, and through sound the artist must be able to transmit their emotions to the listener. I am of course talking about the blues, a genre which all of you will have heard at some time, even perhaps unwittingly. In that apparently simple musical structure, based on a scale of five notes (plus the sixth, the blue note) rather than the seven in the majority of musical scales used in Western music, there is much more than you could possibly imagine. To begin with, music is pure mathematics, and the blues has the incredible characteristic of acting almost as a key to understanding the entire code. The most extraordinary thing about this musical genre however, in my opinion, regards its origins: in Blues People, Amiri Baraka covers the history of Afro-American music from its first cries in the American plantations, scenes of unspeakable suffering and injustice. Thousands of years of Middle-Eastern and African wisdom hybridized to give a voice to the suffering of the cotton pickers, denied their liberty but not their soul.

From there came the Blues, which then lead to Jazz, to Swing, Boogie-woogie, Rhythm and blues, Rock ‘n roll and even Heavy metal.

Everything began there, with those work songs which were essential in relieving the suffering, physical but above all spiritual. It is no coincidence that the blues is not easily played by white artists, with the exception of rare talents like Mr Eric Clapton. Even music, like other art forms, is nowadays easily falsified: the great “hits” we listen to are more often produced by machines that by the artists themselves.

The result is that the message they transmit is also false and artificial, devoid of substance. It is not, however, a question of technical skill, but of emotions, feelings. It is still not easy to find a machine capable of suffering, of having the blue devils.

Il blu, come qualsiasi altro colore, ha assunto innumerevoli significati nella Storia.

Dall’oriente all’occidente ogni cultura, influenzata dal momento storico, gli ha attribuito questo o quel significato, anche totalmente opposti. Sul finire del IX secolo però, e per tutto il XX, il blu si è appropriato di un significato ben preciso, senza più perderlo. Ad assegnare questa valenza ci ha pensato un’arte molto specifica: la musica. Non possedendo caratteristiche visive, se si escludono le copertine degli album – una volta erano di dimensioni generose, ben lontane dalle ridicole fattezze digitali odierne, ma questa è un’altra storia – o i manifesti pubblicitari, la musica ha come unico veicolo di propagazione il suono, e con quello l’artista deve essere in grado di trasmettere le sue emozioni all’ascoltatore. Quello di cui sto parlando è ovviamente il blues, un genere che tutti voi avrete avuto occasione di ascoltare, magari senza rendervene conto. In quella apparentemente semplice struttura musicale, basata su di una scala musicale di cinque note (più la sesta, la blue-note) e non di sette come la maggior parte delle scale musicali utilizzate nella musica occidentale, c’è molto di più di quanto potreste immaginare. Tanto per cominciare la musica è pura matematica, e il blues ha l’incredibile caratteristica di fungere quasi da chiave di lettura dell’intero codice. La cosa più straordinaria di questo genere musicale, però, sta a mio parere nella sua genesi: ne Il popolo del blues. Sociologia degli afroamericani attraverso il Jazz. Amiri Baraka ripercorre il cammino della musica afroamericana fin dai suoi primi vagiti nelle piantagioni Americane, luoghi di indicibili sofferenze e ingiustizie. Sapienze millenarie di origine mediorientale e africane si ibridarono per dar vita alla sofferenza dei raccoglitori di cotone, privati della libertà ma non dell’anima. Da lì viene il Blues, che poi darà vita al Jazz, allo Swing, al Boogie-woogie, il Rhythm and blues, il Rock ‘n roll e perfino l’Heavy Metal. Nasce tutto da lì, da quei canti di lavoro indispensabili per alleviare la sofferenza, quella spirituale ancor prima di quella fisica. Non a caso il blues non è facilmente suonabile dai bianchi, ad eccezione di pochi talentuosi come Mr. Eric Clapton. Anche la musica, come le altre arti, oggi è facilmente falsificabile: le grandi “hit” che ascoltate sono più il frutto delle macchine che non degli artisti.

Il risultato è che anche ciò che trasmettono è falso e artefatto, privo di sostanza. Attenzione, però: non è una questione di tecnica esecutoria, ma proprio di emozioni, di sentimenti. È ancora difficile trovare una macchina capace di soffrire, di avere i diavoli blue.

AI | editor’s letter

by Christina Magnanelli weitensfelder / AI Editor in chief & BDG art designer

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in collaboration with BAG GALLERY +39 366 1977 633 www.bildungartgallery.com

t ZERO ART EXHIBIT GROUP +39 338 1404626 tzerogroup@gmail.com

No.71 FALL 2015

blue blood

According to the popular saying, noble blood is blue. And there is no place in the world which brings nobility to mind quite like the United Kingdom. A country which is not only the home of the House of Windsor but also a place where the Royal and noble ranks are shown, through daily life and social interaction, to be as important in substance as they are in reputation. It would seem that the expression “blue blood” originates from medieval times, when members of the lower classes, most of whom worked the land or tended animals, were consequently almost always tanned. On the contrary, the nobility – and along with them the middle and clerical classes – were proud of the candour of their skin, a distinctive sign of their status and an undisputed aspect of beauty. In marked contrast with the delicate hue of their skin, the blood vessels closest to the surface appeared almost blue in colour.

Thus was born the association between “blue blood” and the aristocracy. Blue is also one of the colours of the Union Jack, the flag of the United Kingdom, in which the red cross of Saint George, the patron saint of England, bordered in white, is superimposed over the cross of Saint Patrick of Ireland, which is counterchanged with the cross of Saint Andrew, since the second half of the 10th century the patron saint of Scotland. It is because the blue of the British flag recalls the apostle and the northern part of Great Britain that, in the period shortly before last year’s referendum on the independence of Scotland, there was much discussion throughout the United Kingdom on the possibility of needing a new flag. But the risk of having to redesign one of the symbols of England - a risk considered by most, in any case, as not particularly high – was avoided with the result of the referendum. If the hypothetical new flag had been designed without the colour blue, it would however have been a real pity. Not only because blue is the colour which “expresses truth”, according to Benjamin Jonson, but also because it has been for some time associated – and once again we return to Medieval times – with wealth and we. This is, perhaps, because before chemistry was able to offer alternatives, the colour blue used in paintings could only be obtained by mixing flax oil with powdered lapis lazuli, considered the most precious of stones at the time. Such was the demand and the limited supply from a few mines in Afghanistan that the cost of Lapis Lazuli was only slightly below that of gold. The land of Albion was, and in a certain sense still remains today, at the centre of the world. And it is interesting to discover that the Mayas, in all of their languages, identified blue with the same word they used for green, and in their mysticism associated blue (and therefore also green) with the centre of the universe. Thus blue, associated with the United Kingdom, inevitably becomes more than a simple colour: it

holds a wealth of meaning, a permanent link to the past and the future of this nation, a distinctive trait of its entire, great, culture.

Secondo un diffuso modo di dire, è blu il sangue dei nobili. E non c’è luogo al mondo che possa mentalmente richiamare alla nobiltà come il Regno Unito. Che non è solo il Paese della House of Windsor ma è anche quello nel quale, nella ferialità dei rapporti sociali, i Royal and noble ranks rilevano, nella sostanza, almeno tanto quanto sono reputati importanti nella forma.

Pare che l’espressione “sangue blu” derivi dall’epoca medioevale, quando gli appartenenti alle classi sociali più deboli, per lo più intenti a coltivare la terra o a pascolare animali, erano quasi sempre abbronzati. Al contrario, i nobili – ma, in effetti, con essi anche la borghesia e il clero – erano orgogliosi del candore della loro pelle, segno distintivo del loro rango e canone indiscusso di bellezza. In contrasto col tenue colore della cute, i vasi sanguigni più superficiali apparivano quasi bluastri. Di qui l’associazione tra il “sangue blu” e l’aristocrazia. È blu anche uno dei tre colori della Union Jack, la bandiera del Regno Unito, nella quale la croce rossa di san Giorgio, che secondo la tradizione protegge l’Inghilterra, bordata di bianco, è sovrimpressa alla croce di san Patrizio d’Irlanda ed entrambe le croci sono sovrapposte alla decusse di sant’Andrea, dalla metà del X secolo patrono della Scozia. Proprio perché il blu della bandiera britannica richiama l’apostolo e dunque la regione settentrionale della Gran Bretagna, con l’avvicinarsi del referendum dell’anno scorso sull’indipendenza della Scozia, si è a lungo discusso in tutto il Regno circa la possibilità di introdurre una nuova bandiera. Ma il rischio di dover ridisegnare uno dei simboli inglesi – considerato dai più, comunque, tutt’altro che elevato – è venuto meno con la proclamazione del risultato della consultazione popolare. Se con l’ipotetica nuova bandiera fosse venuto meno anche il blu, peraltro, sarebbe stato un vero peccato. Non solo perché il blu è il colore che «esprime la verità», per dirla con Benjamin Jonson, ma anche perché il blu è associato da tempo – anche qui dovremmo ritornare col pensiero al Medioevo – alla ricchezza, all’agio. Forse a ragione del fatto che, prima dell’avvento della chimica, le tinte blu per i dipinti potevano realizzarsi solo mescolando l’olio di lino con la polvere di lapislazzuli, la pietra preziosa al tempo considerata di maggior pregio. Tanta la domanda ma l’offerta limitata a qualche miniera in Afghanistan, tanto che il costo del lapislazzuli era appena inferiore a quello dell’oro. La terra di Albione è stata, e per certi versi è ancora oggi, al centro del mondo. Ed è curioso rilevare come i Maya, in tutte le loro lingue, identificano il blu con la stessa parola usata per definire il colore verde e, nella loro mistica, associano al blu (e dunque anche al verde) il centro dell’universo. Il blu, quindi, associato al Regno Unito, non può che andare oltre una semplice tinta: è un vaso di significati e significanti, un permanente richiamo alla storia e al futuro di questa nazione, un tratto distintivo di tutta la sua grande cultura. by

AI | editor’s letter

simone d. casadei bernardi BDG uk team supervisor

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No.71 FALL 2015

velvet blue

Life is made up of alternating states of being, between the extremes of flowing and staying. We flow when we trust ourselves to that which ‘is’, without judgement, accepting that which existence gives us to an end which is yet to be revealed. We stay when the flow is interrupted, when faith – both in ourselves and in others – is lacking; when we feel the need to retreat into our secret garden, be it for the simple pleasure of profound contact with ourselves or for self defence, to tend to wounds which have suddenly reopened simply because they were not completely healed. Between the two extremes: an infinite range of intermediate states, split between differing parts of our being, or complete, but in diverse grades. The “resulting state” is revealed when we sum up our past; it is presented as the simple momentary effect of an unexpected event; recalling from mechanics the conditions of balance of suspended bodies: unstable when, exercising even the slightest of forces the body moves irreversibly towards a different configuration of stable balance; stable when the body, moved from a condition of balance, returns to the same with a pendular movement; indifferent when an exercised force is unable to change the current condition. Language favours the same meaning both in mechanics and life. We move: unstable is the state of being so shallowly rooted in ourselves as to risk being overwhelmed without hope of return, as thrilling as falling in love – Francesco Alberoni defines this as “a revolutionary movement for two” – or as gloomy as the fall into a deep depression.

Stable is any process bound to habits, rituals, rigid and slightly obsessive behavioural schemes; it coincides with the state of immobility, of little vitality, compensated by the secondary advantage of an illusionary sense of security. Stability is more survival than life. It is easy to grasp momentary external stimulation, but we tend to quickly flow back to our consolidated schemes. Indifferent would seem to suggest an undesirable meaning, an idea of sloth, but no! As in mechanics, indifferent means so well centred – like a wheel on its axis – as to be unaffected by external events, and it is the only truly desirable state: that of the observer who accepts everything without judgement, in the knowledge that the world is fine as it is, that there is nothing to change; and at the most the only possible change would be within ourselves, and that changing ourselves changes the world. Metamorphoses, in the indifferent state, are continuous – because everything flows, turns – and they are born from creation through donation, even simply to ourselves, and from the wish to sow beauty and a richness of meaning. The colour of creation is velvet blue, the wish to sow beauty and meaning is the irrepressible desire of this magazine.

Nella vita si alternano stati dell’essere fra gli estremi del fluire e dello stare. Fluiamo, quando ci lasciamo andare con fiducia a ciò che è, senza giudizio, accogliendo quanto l’esistenza ci invia per un fine che si svelerà nel tempo. Stiamo, quando il fluire si interrompe, la fiducia – in se stessi e negli altri – viene meno; quando sentiamo la necessità di ritirarci nel giardino segreto, per semplice piacere di contatto profondo con sé o per difenderci, per sanare ferite riapertesi all’improvviso, solo perché non erano completamente risanate. Fra gli estremi: un’infinita gamma di stati intermedi, scissi fra parti diverse del nostro essere o integri, ma in gradi diversi. Lo “stato risultante” risuona nei bilanci, quando tiriamo le somme del nostro passato; si presenta come semplice effetto momentaneo di un evento imprevisto; richiama dalla meccanica le condizioni di equilibrio dei corpi sospesi: instabile, quando, imprimendo una pur piccola forza, il corpo si muove irreversibilmente verso una diversa configurazione di equilibrio stabile; stabile, quando il corpo, spostato dalla condizione di equilibrio, torna allo stesso con un moto a pendolo; indifferente, quando una qualunque forza impressa non riesce a mutare la condizione di partenza. La lingua asseconda lo stesso significato in meccanica e nella vita. Trasliamo: instabile coincide con l’essere così poco radicati in sé da rischiare travolgimenti senza ritorno, esaltanti come un innamoramento – Francesco Alberoni lo definisce “movimento rivoluzionario a due” – o cupi come il cedere a una profonda depressione. Stabile è ogni processo ancorato ad abitudini, rituali, schemi di comportamento rigido e un po’ ossessivo; coincide con l’essere immobili, con poca vitalità, compensata dal tornaconto secondario di un illusorio senso di sicurezza. La stabilità è sopravvivenza, più che vita. È facile accogliere momentanee sollecitazioni dall’esterno, ma si tende a rifluire rapidamente negli schemi consolidati. Indifferente sembra suggerire un’accezione poco auspicabile, sconfinante nell’accidia. Invece no! Come in meccanica, indifferente significa talmente ben centrato – come una ruota al suo perno – da non subire effetti dagli eventi esterni ed è l’unico stato risultante davvero desiderabile: quello dell’osservatore che coglie tutto senza giudizio, consapevole che il mondo è giusto com’è, che non c’è alcunché da cambiare; e che, semmai, l’unico cambiamento possibile si attiva all’interno di sé e che cambiando sé si cambia il mondo. Le metamorfosi, nello stato risultante indifferente, sono continue – perché tutto scorre, ruota – e prendono avvio dalla creazione attraverso il dono, anche semplicemente di sé, e dalla volontà di seminare bellezza e ricchezza di senso. Il colore della creazione è il blu velluto, la volontà di

seminare bellezza e senso il desiderio irrefrenabile di questa rivista.

AI | editor’s letter

by sergio signorini / architectural & art writer

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No.71 FALL 2015

giovanni gastel portfolio

Italian photographer. His first contact with photography takes place in the 1970s. From that moment, a long period of apprenticeship began, during which he shoots pictures at weddings, and makes portraits, small still-lives and occasional kids’ fashion photo sessions, while an important opportunity is offered to him in 1975-76, when he starts working for the auction house Christie’s.

The turning point takes place in 1981 when he meets Carla Ghiglieri who becomes his agent and introduces him to the world of fashion. From this moment on, his professional activity becomes more intense and he starts collaborating with the most prestigious fashion magazines both in Italy and abroad, most of all in Paris. During these years of intense professional commitment he elaborates his unique style, characterized by a poetic irony, while his passion for art leads him to introduce in his pictures the taste for a well-balanced composition.

His active commitment in the world of photography brings him closer also to the Associazione Fotografi Italiani Professionisti, of which he was President from 1996 to 1998. His professional success consolidates in the following decade, up to the point in which his name appears on specialized magazines together with those of Italian photographers such as Oliviero Toscani, Giampaolo Barbieri, Ferdinando Scianna, or next to those of Helmut Newton, Richard Avedon, Annie Leibovitz, Mario Testino and Jurgen Teller.

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