Newsletter 2/00 - january-february
90 days missing and countdown to BIG
The countdown has begun for BIG 2000. Only 90 days are counting between us and that Happening of the emerging creativity of the old continent, and its cultural antipodes, China. Write down in your agendas the date of April 7th, the day of the opening, as a day you can "!t miss.
This second number of BIG News will introduce you to the "why" of this initiative, to the theoretical and organisational background, to its realisation. It will illustrate the history and heritage, artistic and creative, of Turin and Piedmont and the reasons for this City "!s and Region "!s continuing regard for emerging art, not only for its cultural value, but for its social importance as well. Our illustrious guests, artists and intellectuals, will give you their opinions concerning
BIG is great
Vast is the variety of BIG "!s interests and relations. The number of disciplines is high, totalling 14 sectors that effectively represent the entire range of creative expression. Sustained by the creation of a pool of international experts, and the active role played by major European cultural institutions, BIG is betting high as well, on the quality of the artists to be presented, on these 500 young people with professional objectives and the desire to amplify their opportunities.
Great is the word for the collaboration of sponsors, institutions, associations and foundations. With more than 180 entities involved, the whole world of Piedmontese art and culture is fine-tuning its proposals to the big themes of BIG Wave, and the most prominent European cultural institutions are bringing their most promising young artists to Turin.
Great will be the participation of Piedmontese artists in the BIG "!s Off Space. There are over 900 candidates who want to propose their work to the public in the clubs, pubs and associations of cultural cachet.
Great has been the students "! response to the call of BIG Schools 2000. Up to now, over 6,000 students from 250 Italian schools and numerous foreign institutions have signed up.
And enormous too, is the desire to make of BIG an international encounter zone for those who live art as an expression of contemporary being and doing, a European celebration space, which will reopen every two years to a different part of the world.
BIG gives a new lease on life to the forgotten heart of Turin.
A new/old space will come back to life thanks to BIG. The former CEAT factory, fifteen thousand forgotten square metres, will open its doors again to the young artists. And give them space; for the shows and projects of the young designers and for two theatres to host the performances. There will be space as well for the mounting of an expositional showcase, which will display a series of European projects for the transformation of structures in disuse into living homes for culture, art and free-time activities. More than appropriate, since the City of Turin is currently studying the possibilities of transforming this same factory into a permanent multimedia centre that could become an international point of reference for artists of all the world wishing to produce and present their works.
The Cavalerizza Reale, the royal riding school, will recuperate that connotation of "piazza" it had briefly acquired in 1997with the Mediterranean Biennial. Here will be held all the international exhibitions, and here will the artists, critics, journalists and the invited specialists be able to meet, in the cafÀ , in the open yard, or in the covered stables turned into exposition venues.
And Lingotto, the historical symbol of automotive production that is today a congress and fair centre, will be the forge for the artists of tomorrow. It will be, in fact, the site of BIG 2000 Schools, a creative play and learn zone open to the schools and students of all Italy that will come expressly to participate in BIG. From the Celebration Court, to the Garden of Marvels, through the Arcades, up the helicoidal ramp and around the famous test-track on the roof, many of the areas of this immense former factory will be re-activated by students of all ages.
In April BIG will be everywhere
Art makes the people who esteem it come a long way to find it. And this is a great force, able to shine new lights on obscure but fascinating places, and to gather together thousands of people with celebration in their eyes, in suburban streets, in front of peeling palaces, and at the summit of near-unreachable heights. A force that BIG is using to discover and transform dozens of everyday places throughout Torino and Piedmont into temporary homes for art, for exhibitions and performances. Piazzas, gardens, railway stations, commercial centres and parking lots, along with museums, galleries, theatres, cinemas, historical buildings, schools, universities, all transformed by BIG, the beneficial Blob that colours everything it touches.
The news has just arrived that
for its Cultural Program 2000,The European Commission has approved 55 European projects among the 425 candidates. Ten of these are Italian, and BIG is in the top 10. We can "!t help but feel satisfied and proud of this important recognition by the European Union.
Latest flash
There will be a special edition of BIG News wholly dedicated to the section BIG 2000 Schools, to be distributed throughout the Italian world of education and training.
Now we know who the artists of BIG are:
Look for their names in the artists section
Once upon a time
Twenty years ago, in fact, the first Italian Youth Project was born. The intent was to create a series of initiatives for training, exchange, work, culture and young protagonism. These initiatives led to numerous training, informational and exchange activities, among which figure the show and concert programs reserved to young artists. An archive was organised for young people between 18 and 35 years of age with artistic aspirations, which fast became an indispensable instrument for promotion. At the same time, the first Department of Youth in Italy was created.
Today, Turin has several ongoing programs for the promotion of emerging art, most of which concentrate on the visual arts, literature, rock music and the cinema. And Piedmont has been one of the first regions in Italy to equip itself with a law mandating the creation of policies and programs for young people.
Other cities in Italy and abroad are getting on Turin "!s bandwagon, which will soon lead to initiatives in common. Artists are beginning to travel and to meet other young people from different cities, both in Italy and abroad. This experience will widen their horizons, artistically as well as personally. It could also give rise to a completely innovative system of international relations.
The possibility of realising exchange and residence initiatives has permitted verification in the field of the value of the promotional work accomplished up to now. In particular, these experiments have highlighted the necessity of establishing contacts throughout Europe with the diverse cultural institutions, foundations and art markets, and the importance of artistic exchanges, multidisciplinary concepts and initiatives, ethnic encounters, and the development of new professionals for the new creative occupation.
In 1989 the Young Italian Artists "! Circuit was born, as an association of local administrations operating to support emerging artists with research, training and promotional projects. Since that year its administrative headquarters and national presidency have been in Turin. In 1997 the Young Mediterranean Artists "! Biennial touched down in Turin, where these themes found, and continue to find, ample space for their expression.
A guide to BIG "!s arts, in BIG "!s city
14 ways to say "art" in Turin
Discover the hidden places along our itinerary
Visual arts: art feels at home in Turin
The inspiration for De Chirico "!s metaphysical piazzas and for Casorati "!s diaphanous figures, Turin is a city in which artists stay and work willingly, and the home of an impassioned cohort of collectors, as well. In its streets of severe baroque beauty one can find numerous art galleries full of proposals by young artists, along with museums of international quality, housing important permanent collections and temporary shows.
Cinema: Cabiria rising again, in virtual reality
The Italian cinema was born in Turin. Dozens of film studios opened here in the first decades of the twentieth century, making memorable silent-era films, such as Cabiria. Often, in the elegant cafÀ s of the old centre, the stars of the epoch could be seen sipping bicerin, coffee with rich hot chocolate and cream.
When the cinema left its childhood it left Turin as well. Today however, with the Film Commission providing economic and organisational support for films produced in Piedmont, and the National Cinema Museum finding its new home in the Mole Antonelliana, it is returning, in grand pomp and style.
Communications and new media: we are all a little wired.
The telecommunication giants have their headquarters and research centres in Piedmont, and Turin is first among Italian cities for being completely cabled, with hundreds of kilometres of fibre-optics. Radio broadcasting began here in the thirties, and television in the fifties. The new century will surely see Turin become a centre for digital cinema, multi-media and audio-visual experimentation.
Dance: the last tango in Via Po
From festivals to summer programs to schools of dance, what is hot is the tango. A passionate group of enthusiasts will throw itself from attitude to embrace in defiance of the gravitational limits of the streets and piazzas of Turin. Not to be missed.
Design: even pasta can be created by big designers.
Yet another discipline in which Turin is internationally eminent. The automobile designers of Turin are famous even in Patagonia. They have even put their signatures to pasta formats and design turns tasty, and highly digestible, too.
Photography: focusing on Turin
The eye of the auteur is everywhere. On the streets, in the churches, in the numerous specialised private galleries. Throughout the city, where a Foundation, together with the museums, is undertaking an intense archival and historical research project, which regularly makes it possible to see retrospectives and private collections of great interest. And where an important international photography biennial is being organised
Comic Art: Turin, city of Diabolik
Piedmont is home to numerous comic artists, which panoply is complemented by the Regional Comics Art Observatory. It is also fertile ground for a growing number of collectors, whose presence is confirmed by the numerous openings of specialised shops, the appearance of associations of afficionados, and by the birth of new productions and publishers in this sector.
Gastronomy: gastric solace in piedmontese style
Piedmont discovers eno-gastronomical tourism and a way to boost local products. In this cradle of rare flavours and terrain of fine wines, even during this era of fast food, the gospel of eating and drinking well is spreading. Young people have rediscovered wine, the custom of a glass of rosso as an aperitif is proliferating, and the wineries are being reborn. The traditional restaurants are full every night, but local interest is by no means purely provincial. Numerous ethnic restaurants have sprung up, spearheaded by the Chinese, but in Turin you can eat Greek, Indian, Japanese, Kurdish, Mexican, Somalian and Thai In short, the pleasure of the senses is triumphing over "grabbing a bite".
Metropolitan Interventions: where once was the factory, now there "!s the city
The changing city, city of the construction site, transforming its great industrial areas into parks, houses, museums, piazzas, centres of production and culture These initiatives of territorial re-qualification will be accompanied by informative actions to involve the inhabitants; work site events that will be further galvanised by moments of performance and party.
Fashion: BIG "!s here, and I "!ve got nothing to wear
Also active in the field of fashion, Turin has been a production centre of renown, and the venue for international fairs. Today, efforts are underway to bring back to Turin a share of the enormous international production.
Contemporary Music: the note factory
Turin has Lingotto, the old industrial complex, now cultural and conference centre, and host to a part of BIG, and Lingotto has the beautiful Auditorium, entirely panelled in wood, a delight to look at and to listen in. Turin also has the Music System which co-ordinates the programs and the initiatives of the most important metropolitan music institutions, and festivals of every kind that bring to the city the great names of classical and jazz, and of ethnic and contemporary music as well.
Pop Rock Music: The sonic Eldorado
The Nineties made Turin into the Mecca of pop music. Groups were born here that are substantially present in today "!s market. And in the places where music is played, and there are many, different and experienced groups are presented every night. Live from Turin, new sounds for Europe
Writing: the novel of a young artist
Site of the Book Fair and home to several important publishers, Turin lived the nineties as a period of intense cultural activity. Today there is a school that teaches young writers to use the different languages of narration. There are cafÀ s where poetry is read and the talk is of literature And the budding writers grow, and open. Thanks to a permanent observatory that documents the activities of hundreds of young authors.
Theatre: all the city "!s a stage
Turin is a city with a non-traditional relationship with theatre, and in hindsight it "!s not surprising that the cultural animation of the seventies found energy here, and fertile ground to grow on. Now there are three centres of production for contemporary theatre, along with numerous young companies avidly searching for performance spaces. And Turin "!s theatre for kids has won its own well-earned space on the European scene.
But why? Because BIG says so, six times
Six reasons to say BIG, six ideas of why BIG is something special. One by one, some with comments by some people who are just as special, here they are:
Learn, know, grow, sharpen and express oneself, to be in permanent formation is a happy existential condition for those who make of creativity their profession. To look at the world as one starving for sensation, but with the tools to interpret it, and then to live this condition in exponential growth, choosing good teachers and enriching oneself with experiences.
BIG wants to be the provider of experiences and encounters. It is bringing students and schools from all Italy to Turin, with its 2000 Schools section. It is bringing artists into the great institutions to meet the teachers, to confront an informed and attentive public, and to encounter other young people who live in different cultural contexts. BIG is a large open square where encounter, an amplifier of consciousness, is a necessary condition to education.
"Eliminate the distances while keeping the differences", is the motto of Michelangelo Pistoletto, internationally famous artist here expressing his thoughts on the theme of artistic training. "It "!s not possible to use the word education the way it was used once upon a time. Education is not something to be transmitted. Today we talk about the problems of education, but do we talk or do we work creatively?
"There is notionistical learning, but in modern and contemporary art, personal autonomy is developed individually, it can "!t be taught. And this is a principle that extends to occupy the entire space. But it "!s not enough anymore, because the world comes into the question.
"We argue about education in front of icons and wars, in the face of human degradation, in the shadow of the financial cathedrals of the economy, trying to reconcile the absolute with the relative, the profound with the superficial, ourselves with everything This is fine, as a beginning. To look at life, and work to bring together opposing poles, to produce constructive energy, to see others as beautiful because they are different. If there must be a rule then let it be the rule of diversity, which is really the true rule of equality. I repeat my motto, ܀. eliminate the distances while keeping the differences "!.
"Now it is necessary to navigate in fluid space, in empty space-time bursting with all existing images, like in a mirror. And have a care not to fall yet again into any of the nets of dogma, including artistic dogma.
"Learn to get outside the system of sacrificial thought. It "!s not a question of apprenticeship but of research and discovery, as it is for science.
"There "!s a lot to do if one believes him- or herself to be a creator. There is always orthodox art, that is self-referring, but there is also the prospective of a heterodoxy of art, reaching into the hypertext spoken by millions of voices.
"Art places itself at the intersection of all roads, where the idea can create and transform. Instead of conceiving further forms to fill the syllabus at an Academy of Art, I preferred to create a University of Ideas.
"I have chosen the term idea because the word ܀. art "! can still seem exclusive with respect to various social contexts. It "!s the idea that lies at the base of all human undertakings, it is the root that draws creativity, and therefore art itself, into the structures that shape our society".
Emerging artists show a strong tendency to utilise languages, expressive instruments and technologies in integral ways, free from academic dogma, so BIG is in favour of the intermingling of the artistic languages, seeking hybrids, productions realised in the confrontation of artists from different disciplines.
If art is life, then life is simultaneity permeated with sound and light. If so, then down with the barricades between the arts and up with the creation of a fluid space, wide open to experiment.
The ܀. bohemian life "! of the artist is a much-abused literary commonplace, as out of date as aristocratic detachment from the vile hurly-burly of everyday life. Stories of the past, these are, of a false, hagiographic past and in any case they do not fit anymore. The person/artist no longer sees the market as a place of perdition. The line between creativity and professional skill is getting finer and finer, permitting the development of new fields of work and new forms of production.
For Oliviero Toscani, the great photographer and director of Fabrika, the relationship between art and the market is "not only possible but necessary."
"I have never been able to stand the expression ܀. pure art "!, perhaps because it presupposes the existence of an impure art, whose impurity derives in some way from its having been ܀. contaminated "! by the market. In my activity I have had to confront this argument too often. Too many times have I been accused of being the ܀. servant "! of an industry, when in fact (and I say this without pretension, though with a slight embarrassment for the excess of fortune that has befallen me), it was industry, and in this specific case, the particularly forward looking and courageous Benetton, that acted in the ܀. service "! of art. And finally, whom did Michelangelo paint for? Weren "!t there propagandistic intentions expressed in his works, even if it was on behalf of the church? And what about Picasso "!s paintings, and the recordings of Mozart "!s music? Aren "!t Hemingway "!s books in print so they can be sold? Wasn "!t there ܀. business "! behind every masterpiece of Fellini "!s?
"The image of the artist closed in his world of uncontaminated creativity is old and out of date. If it persists it is because it is not granted to everyone to have financial backing and the opportunity for free expression. For the majority, it is so. The myth of the isolated artist is real only as masking for a hard constraint.
But if there is a way to make art in today "!s technological world, it is precisely that which does not refuse contamination with mass culture, of which advertising is at least one of the most visible expressions. I know from personal experience how difficult relations between culture and industry can be. I know how complicated it is to try to explain the reasons of art to someone who is rightfully more interested in the reasons of sales and profits. But the challenge I gave myself was to demonstrate that the coincidence of these two worlds, apparently so far apart, of experimental art (or advertising) and industrial production, is not impossible. I believe that art is also communication, and if there is an industry that chooses difficult and risky ways of communication, then it deserves credit.
With its advertising campaigns, with the magazine ܀. Colors "!, with FABRIKA, a communications research centre open to students from all over the world, Benetton has demonstrated that there can be a different use for the resources destined for advertising, a new use that enhances, in terms of culture and image, what the others let slip away with their images of ephemeral idylls and calls of ܀. buy one, get one free "!. On the other hand, the facts seem to give us credence. For almost twenty years I have had the possibility to express my creativity through my work at Benetton, and Benetton continues to grow. There are many, including some of those that used to call us crazy, who now look at us with admiration, who see us as a model to imitate."
There exists therefore, a market for creative work, thanks also to the development of means of communication, telematic networks and places of performance. Young people themselves are strong consumers of cultural products, the source of a demand that affects with determination and speed the supply, which is not always ready to respond efficaciously. It is then logical that consumers transform themselves into producers of instruments, of languages and services equipped with a strong dose of innovation and, addressed to a chosen public.
If art approaches life enough to identify with it, then the territory, the living space, is also venue for art. Through the symbolic force that is art, the urban space can re-discover a history, a character, a reason for stopping people in front of something they recognise, before a sign of identity lost in the dissemination of anonymous places that are crossed but never lived as particular. Listen to what the great Canadian architect Frank O. Gehry has to say about this proposition.
"For me, it is important in my work to create culture together, with people. You have to get out and create channels of communication. Architects, like all intellectuals, must move, exchange ideas and collaborate, while maintaining their own identities. The real enemy is provincialism.
"Western culture thinks only of one kind of order, of symmetry, of classicism, of the idea of a central prospective. But the whole world cannot be constructed axially. I have great respect for history and tradition, but I think we must learn to live in the present. History is like a good neighbour, to respect, to appreciate, but not to copy. Movement is the key to getting away from a certain modern austerity. I grew up in the modern age and was therefore taught to eschew ornamentation. This refusal by the modern style of ornamentation has led to a certain frigidity of composition.
"I was irritated however by the post-moderns and their ways out. When you start drawing you don "!t really know what form the final project will take. I was drawing fish when I discovered I was drawing movement, that the fish forms were giving movement. My discovery therefore, of movement in architecture has on the one hand symbolic, almost archaic roots in the basis and development of my research, but on the other, it approaches the new technologies almost by accident, relying as it does on the possibilities of constructing curvilinear models and objects that are offered by computer-aided design systems."
Where there was fixedness, Gehry brought movement. Where there was angle and edge he brought curvature and rotundity. Where there was uniformity, he brought light. And he demonstrated that art can transform the characteristics of a forgotten place and revive it, by unveiling it to a new interpretation.
So it will be with the former CEAT factory, which will become a cultural container, dedicated to artists and young people, as it was for the Cavallerizza, brought back to public use after decades of abandonment, and so it will be for other forgotten places in Piedmont with the upcoming editions of BIG.
The smallest continent conquered the world and then let itself be conquered: the European metropolises are territories of ethnic encounter and confrontation. Thousands of ܀. outsiders "! risk their lives, spending everything they have, in order to try their fortunes in Europe. Our streets are taking on a ܀. foreign "! aspect, with shops springing up that are full of products we once would have defined as ܀. colonial "!, along with Indian restaurants and Arab sandwich stalls. The encounter is no longer avoidable, and the very notion of nation is changing under the pressure of a multi-ethnic society.
"The Europe of creation", is how it is defined by Jack Lang, the President of the French Foreign Affairs Commission of the National Assembly, who goes on to say, "Europe is one and at the same time it is many. Europe is the proof that it is neither necessary to be alike to be together, nor identical to be united. This diversity of languages, of cultures, of religions and myths is our incomparable wealth, our new patrimony.
"The respect of the particularity of each component of Europe is the best way to safeguard our creative potential. Cultures are reciprocally enriched, contacts stimulate creativity, and encounters among languages and different forms of music and writing are sources of inspiration. The new Europe is founded on reciprocal interaction. It is necessary to take inspiration from what is best in the others, and make sure that they are inspired by the best in us. This is why it is necessary to conceive a grand design for us to construct together a Europe of thought, a Europe of innovation, and a Europe of young people. It is the mobilisation of the young generations that will insure the bases of Europe with their new À lan.
"We are proposing to the young people of today to live, study and work together, as with the ambition of BIG 2000. We are in favour of the ܀. half-breed "! and the mixing of ideas, projects and initiatives. Immense scientific, intellectual and educational activity sites must be opened to young Europeans. We need real European universities, the systematic twinning of all scholastic institutions, and pluri-lingualism, through the obligatory teaching of two foreign languages Young people will be at the same time the artisans of this future development and the dynamic actors in a renewed Union that will be united, but open and fraternal. It is thanks to culture that young people will learn to discover, appreciate and know each other, and to live Europe as a common space that is natural, sensitive and stimulating."
To promote young people: is that a job, a mission, or a passion? As maintained by Valentino Castellani, the Mayor of Turin, it is simply the certainty that "young people represent the economic, social and cultural future of the territory".
Investment in youth means helping to raise the future generations and avoiding that history be erased through ignorance. BIG has put its stinger to the cultural institutions of half of Europe, and its conviction of the value of young creativity has infected numerous entities that will come to Turin bringing their contributions to this idea. Many qualified European institutions will thus be able to present themselves and meet in our city during BIG.
BIG is born under the sign of the dragon
The year 2000, for Chinese astrology, is the year of the fiery dragon. It is a favourable year for great and brilliant undertakings. The dragon symbolises life and growth, and is the bearer of fortune, peace and longevity. Apart from its exceptional and frenetic vitality, the monster is not so monstrous. It is carried in triumph during celebrations and afterwards is burned, but like the phoenix it is soon ready to rise again Since the dragon is a creature contaminated by symbols and allegories ascribed over time, BIG has decided to make it the symbol of this first edition. A dragon whose scales look like the heads and tails of BIG "!s blue fish.
A symbol linked in this particular edition to the encounter with China that will transmute itself in future editions to other animalesque forms. Active and perfectionist, hard and intransigent, tenacious and generous, the image of the dragon has been for millenniums, and remains, the figure most charged with meanings in Chinese symbolism. It incarnates the conception of the universe as a unity of heaven, earth and man. It represents power, strong and pure, but gathers in itself animals that are symbolic of underdog populations. The dragon is a contradictory being, and as such it is capable of unveiling the invisible. Just as art does.