#0

less work, more play

OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2009

1
 EDITORIAL TEAM

DIRECTOR
Kiki Sideris
CHIEF EDITOR
Alix Doran
ART, CULTURE, A.S.K. & ALUMNI EDITORS
Neri Bastiancich
Camilla Pietrabissa
Giovanni Saladino
MEDIA & ENTERTAINMENT EDITORS
Livia Andrea Piazza
Filippo Nava
PHOTOSPECTIVES EDITOR
Stephanie Serra
UPSIDE DOWN EDITOR
Sonia Fanoni
BLOG
Rosa Plijnaar
COMMUNICATION
Matteo Zanetti
Julia Westermann
Valia Xanthopoulou-Tsitsoni
FINANCES
Sofia Adamantopoulou

2
 CONTENTS

INTRO 4

EDITORIAL 5

ART 6

OUR PHOTOSPECTIVES 12

CULTURE 24

UPSIDE DOWN 30

MEDIA 32

YOUR PHOTOSPECTIVES 38

ENTERTAINMENT 46

3
 WHY BOB?
Be Objective

BOB stands for Be Objective. Why Be Objective? Ironically the contents of this magazine are anything
but objective. In fact the title isn’t describing the magazine at all, but is intended as an instruction
to the readers to please be objective when reading BOB; to free themselves of prejudices and predis-
positions and just enjoy the contents of this publication.

BOB is an idea that came to me last spring, when in a moment of grand folly, I became convinced
that our student body is an overflowing resource of information and creativity. My solution for man-
aging this oversupply of resources? A bi-monthly, online, PDF-magazine through which this energy
could flow and spread.

Looking back, it was more a moment of clarity than silliness, of inspiration that hindered any ratio-
nal thought and erased my perception of time and space for the next few months. I was hooked. I
managed to convince 13 other individuals to partake. It wasn’t hard. They came willingly and most
importantly enthusiastically. They invested their time and energies to this challenging experiment.

Eventually, undiscovered elements started to emerge, heat was applied, double carbon bonds formed,
and POOF! Out of the test tube emerged ISSUE #0, “less work, more play”.

So, it is with sincere gratitude, that I dedicate this “pilot” issue to my 13 colleagues (and friends) that
generously poured their creativity into these 54 empty pages without a moment’s hesitation.

-Kiki Sideris
DIRECTOR

4
 ISSUE #0
Less Work, More Play

‘Less work, more play’ seemed to be an appropriate title for the first issue of BOB magazine for
a variety of reasons. This new magazine, for the people involved in its production, combines both
work/studies and play. For students in management of arts, culture, media and entertainment, all
these fields can be approached in two ways: they represent our personal and professional interests.
These fields evoke work for today in terms of studies and work for the future in terms of career, and
hopefully expertise! But arts and culture are also part of play because they are something that also
brings fun and enjoyment in our everyday life. For most people events related arts, culture, media
and entertainment are moments of free time and leisure, unrelated to their professional lives. For
us, these events embody both work and play, ‘professional’ and personal, rational and emotional. I
do not believe that any of us could attend such an event and not think about his/her future career
choices, about how this event relates to what we have studied and at the same time feel free to sim-
ply enjoy the event. This double interpretation of arts and culture as objects of play and work fol-
lows us everywhere, whether we are working or on holidays, as this issue I hope shows. The articles
were written about events and places we have seen during our free time and for our own personal
benefit.

We might play while working, and work while we play, because our professional interests are so
closely related to our personal interests, but ‘less work, more play’, I believe, does not only speak to
cultural management students because ‘work’ and ‘play’ can take on so many different meanings.
We have just seen the ‘professional work’, but isn’t the ‘work of interpretation’ work too? Indeed, an
artistic and cultural experience mixes the work of interpretation of the experience with pure emo-
tions. Whether you are looking at the most recent contemporary art production of the most exciting
artist of the century, or whether you are watching a movie, you will always have your own way of
relating to, and interpreting, the experience, which is the ‘work’ part of ‘play’.

The production of this magazine is, in itself, both work and play. It is a new and exciting experience,
or ‘play’, for us to create an entire magazine, and think about all the things we could do or write
about, but it is also work because we have to remain rational to build a project that makes sense
for the team and for others.

Because people and tastes are different and change, BOB magazine offers articles written about a
variety of topics and events. The overall structure of the magazine has been designed especially to
reflect the diversity and richness of arts, culture, media and entertainment. It also presents people,
pictures and projects that are somehow linked to the articles of the issue and its theme.
In this particular issue you will be able to discover and read about events taking place in Italy, as
well as abroad. ‘Less work, more play’ is a story of holidays that are never quite free from work. BOB
magazine, I believe, is a way to convey that arts, culture, media and entertainment are, whatever
way you look at them, and for everyone who becomes involved with them, more play than work.

-Alix Doran
CHIEF EDITOR

5
6
ART
We are continuously being exposed to
all kinds of art products; collections,
exhibitions, fairs, biennials, confer-
ences, and the list goes on. But what
do such experiences really give us?
How can we avoid just being passive
users and instead adopt a more in-
quisitive approach? Books, academic
journals, and university lectures can
help, but ultimately the most power-
ful tool we hold, is our individual abil-
ity to process the images that invade
our field of vision on a daily basis.
In this issue we will discover a mys-
tical refuge in the south of France,
and go for a stroll through a desert-
ed, but heavenly Athens.
7
 LITTLE FACES
On the hills behind Nice, far from the crowd and
movement from the Promenade des Anglais, I arrive in
the house of the French artist, Alain Boullet. White sky,
strong light, nothing else than green trees and bushes
everywhere, except for some surprising sculptures hid-
den here and there, little faces coming out of pots of
cactuses, all here to be discovered.
In the intimacy of his house, Alain gives me time
alone, some special time in silence to look. The sculp-
tures, for most of them, are outside, exhibited next
to one another. They correspond, interact, and meet
while I walk and observe the strange dialogues. In this
wonderland of fantasy, the artist acts as the hand of
the four elements in order to create Artworks.
After the moments for thoughts, we sit down for a
conversation and Alain starts talking about his life as
an artist. From the youngest age, his inspiration came
from the lakes in Sologne where he used to spend his
summers. In the centre of France, surrounded by peace
8
by Stephanie Serra
and nature, he found a very special type of clay and
started making sculptures out of it.
From then on, Sologne has unconsciously been the
point of reference, present in each one of his paint-
ings and in the colours of his sculptures. Ever year, he
brings back that particular clay to the South of France.
He must then work the material, wet it and extract all
non-fluid textures. Only then can he start to sculpt. The
combination between nature and art is present during
the entire creation process.
In the garden, some of the most impressive sculp-
tures are represented by “little rock faces”. Once the
sculpture has integrated the rock and the work looks
like one entity, it is baked. The fire has to create its
colours on the materials. The little characters are then
left outside, polished by the rain, the sun and the wind.
Slowly the colours evolve. For Alain, Art has no time
and it is therefore very common for him to work on
a piece that he created 20 years ago. What counts

is for it to fit its ideal.
The trip continued to his studio. Surrounded by
faces, he works with a few books and postcards
or images he likes to go back to. He shows me a
picture of a satellite view from earth that looked
exactly like the texture of one of his sculpture: “If
you look closely, the same images appear in micro
and macro all the time, it is just a question of look-
ing.” Henri Moore is one of Alain’s major inspira-
tion. He studied the forms but most of all, Moore’s
techniques of sculpting. It’s all about the size: “You
see, it has to fit in the hand in order to work with
it, Henri Moore had his sculptures enlarged but his
creation was done in little sizes.”
The house is also full of surprises. On the 1st
floor, there is a little exhibition space, next to his
archive. Walking through the corridor, I spot a
framed sentence from Rilke (Letter to a young Art-
ist):
"Being an artist means
not numbering or count-
ing, but ripening like a
tree, which doesn't force
its sap, standing con-
fidently in storms, not
afraid that summer may
not come."
The sculptures are presented with painting in the
background, a “mise en scene” that fits in perfectly
with the art works.
The most impressive room of all is a small dark
area where all of Alain’s works are displayed, a life
of labor organized in little white boxes. It almost
feels religious because the extract of a life is con-
densed in a room. All those different decades of
characters are staring at me with the most pro-
voking look. All is there, condensed in a peaceful
and intimate room. The sun hits me, going back
out in the strong daylight, out of this little area of
thoughts and meditation.
The garden is quiet and I can now see better the little
faces hidden in the cactus plants. I do not want to
leave. This is an artist who followed his talent in the
most elegant way, far from the market and its fluctua-
tions and who is today looking back on a life of work.
He saw something most people do not see and was not
afraid to continue his search. I have met a very special
artist and I hope he will one day be recognized for his
work. For now, I had to leave, but I knew that in my
back, many little faces were looking at me.
9
 15th of August. Athens is deserted and the heat oppressive. My Greek
friend is driving on one of the many motorways that cross the city. “After
the Olympic Village turn right…Heaven should be there, shouldn’t it?”. I

HEAVEN?
was a little bit surprised by the question and immediately I replied “No,
I guess. Or, at least, I have never imagined Heaven as a huge empty
parking in front of a gigantic stadium. Abandoned.” We parked and we
started looking around. Nobody, nothing. Just skeletons of the empty
buildings used for the Olympic games in 2004. No signals “Heaven” or
“Entrance” or “Where’s Wally”. “I’m sure it is here. I checked twice. I read
articles and saw advertising everywhere. It has to be here, how can we
not see a Biennale?!”. Ironically, the fourth pavillon of the the 2nd edi-
tion of the Athens Biennial is called «Splendid Isolation, Athens». “That’s
Greece! I’m sorry if our Biennale is not in Venice in Giardini or Arsenale
but in a ghost neighborhood”.
By Neri Bastiancich

After a long walk around the Faliron Olympic Complex, we saw a little
door under an overhead street. The Esplanade Building. Yellow lights and
a desk. “Tickets to Heaven?”- “Two thanks”-“If you want, you can rent a
bike for free and…take an iPhone as a guide”. Not bad, I thought. A cone
of mirrors is indicating the entrance. Ok, here we are.
The Athens Bienniale is curated by Xenia Kalpaktsoglu, Poka-Yio and
Augustine Zenakos. The three curators chose “Heaven” as the theme for
this edition. Really brave choice and challenging for the 150 artists. In
the turbulent and chaotic contemporary world it is difficult to imagine
something that could mirror paradise. The sources of inspiration are re-
ally limited. Only looking at the personal and individual insight, or at sin-
gle and bright moments, maybe it is possible to go close to an intimate
and private happiness, something close to heaven. Be able to express
and represent this is a hard job. The artist needs to “have” a genius.
The event is divided into six exhibitions curated, each one, by a differ-
ent curator that gives his own interpretation of the theme.
The first space is titled “World Question Center” curated by Chus Mar-
tinez. The works of the 23 artists are exposed on separè disposed in a
geometrical way. Therefore, the shape of the room becomes rigid and
straight. Heaven is here a complex net of words and thoughts that criti-
cally look at the past, as showed by the work of Lisi Raskin (“Hiroshima”),
philosophically analyze the present (Erick Beltràn, “4 inflection points”)
and hope in the future (Dorothy Iannone, “The next great moment in his-
tory is ours”).

10
 The second exhibition room, curated by Diane Bal-
don, is spiral shaped and follows the more classical
travel of the Divine Comedy. The visit is a mental loop
that brings the visitors through a wide range of media.
From the political interpretation of hell in the work of
Athanasios Argianas and Mark Aerial Waller to the pur-
gatory of Adam Chodzko.
The exhibition continues with the third pavillon
curated by Cay Sophie Rabinowitz situated on a large
steep open space that goes up to the second floor. In
this section is exposed Ettore Sottsass with the series
“Architettura Virtuale”, amusing photographs in which
the artists add some elements to the landscapes.
Another work is the mountain made by little pieces of
banknotes of Republic of Cyprus, work of the artist
Christodoulos Panagiotou.
The fourth pavillon is titled “Hotel Paradise”. The ex-
hibition reminded me of Pink Floyd’s “So you think you
can tell Heaven from Hell”. In this section absolutely
not. Grotesque and satanic visions, black art, mystery
and nightmarish figures surround the whole section. In
order to find a little bit of peace, both for the eyes and
the mind, the visitor has to be saved by two important
artists. The immortal American master Robert Smithson
with the slideshow “Hotel Plenque” and the young and
famous Paul Chan (Triennale Turin 2008, Whitney Bien-
nial 2006) with its “Cemetery Keyboard” and the funny
videos “Sex and the New Way”.
The last pavillon, “How many Angels can Dance on
the Head of a Pin?” hid nice surprises that saved the
whole Biennial. On the door there is a quotation of
Dante again “Lasciate ogne speranza voi ch’entrate”
work made by the Parisian cooperative Société Réal-
iste. Thus, we entered. The first work is an interesting
collage, made by Christian Tomaszewsky, “Hunting the
pheasant” that is an homage to all the people killed
during the “hunting season”, from Rosa Luxenburg to
Aldo Moro, and then J. F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King
and others. The exhibition path continues with Angus
Fairhurst, student from the Goldsmith College, that
printed many times the same page of a newspaper
“1st-7th July 2002”. The result is an interesting con-
demnation against the strong power of the media that
are able to manipulate the reality and our imagination
by building fake paradises and true hells. The biennial
tour of Heaven ended with a nice ride around the new
port of Athens where outdoor works were installed
forming the “Live” pavillon curated Dimitris Papaioan-
nou and Zafos Xagoraris.
In the end it turned out to be a pleasant afternoon.
The overall organization was good, considering the low
budget (€2 million), wastes were avoided and the cre-
ativity increased; a good start. Concerning the art, the
general impression is that the Muses abandoned the
Greek lands, at least on the contemporary art scene.
However, we need to appreciate the effort, and surely
something good will come out in the future. There are
already some promising signals coming from spaces
like “taf - The Art Foundation”, an amazing little space,
dedicated to contemporary art.
www.theartfoundation.gr
11
PHOTOSPECTIVES
This is not a professional photographical out-
put, but a place to merge subjective points of
view to build a more objective one. So Be Ob-
jective, as BOB said! Look around. Images ev-
erywhere. We take pictures, we share them, ex-
change them, stock them, look at them, forget
about them and pull them out of an old drawer
to reminisce. In the era of digitalization, pho-
tography has become a new game where the
objective can be pointed at anything, from the
most serious to the most futile subject. The
freedom of a quick “click” is sometimes abused
so choices have to be made in order for the
images to start interacting and, by speaking a
common language, build a common sense. OUR
PHOTOSPECTIVE: Black and White. Do you trust
us? YOUR PHOTOSPECTIVE: Your time to play.

12
 FAKING WORLDS

Location: Venice
Day: October 3rd, 2009
Playground: 53rd Venice Biennial
Photographers: Sonia Fanoni - Stephanie Serra

13
From left to right: Spencer Finch, Big Bang (Mars Black), 2003. Luis Roldán, Dominios Del Lobo, 2009. Raquel Paiowonsky, Mutantes, 2009.

14
15
16
Hans Peter Feldmann, Schattenspiel (Shadow Play), 2002-2009.
17
18
Elmgreen & Dragset, Death of a Collector, 2009.

19
Luca Samaras, Doorway , 1966-2007.

20
 21
Michelangelo Pistoletto, Seventeen Less One, 2008.
Bruce Nauman, Fifteen Pairs of hands, 1996. Bruce Nauman, Hanging carousel (george skins a fox), 1988. Akira Kanayama.

22
23
24
CUL-
TURE
Sometimes we take culture for grant-
ed. People, history, traditions, dia-
logues, heritage. Other times, in-
stead, an analytical thought crosses
our minds and we stop and reflect. Be
Objective magazine offers this par-
ticular space to just such reflections;
entering our everyday lives in order
to offer a glimpse into some common
cultural encounters: trips we went on,
food we ate, urban centers we visited,
old traditions we rediscovered, sens-
es of fashion we express, and so on.
So let’s get started with a trip to the
traditional and quaint, but neverthe-
less evolving Italian south and then a
rushed visit to a highly structured and
complex museum in the Big Apple.
25
 CONTEMPORARY ISLAND
Contemporary art is finally reaching the traditional
lands of Sicily. In February 2009, with the opening
of Palazzo Riso, the new regional contemporary art
museum, we have witnessed the most significant event,
from both the national and international point of view.
But to be clear, we already had in the last few years
some innovative galleries and private institutions that
carried on a discussion about art from a contemporary
perspective.
The new initiative of Azienda Agricola Mandranova,
a small agrotourism company near Agrigento, is one
such example. They chose to dedicate some spaces of
the farmhouse to contemporary art. The project started
in June, through a partnership with a young and prom-
26
by Giovanni Saladino
ising contemporary art gallery from Milano, AreaB. The
Di Vincenzo family, that own and manage the company,
approached this new challenge zestfully. The old han-
gar, that only a few months earlier was jam-packed with
olive oil processing equipment, turned into an open-
space gallery surprisingly suitable for contemporary
art. Currently, a collective exhibition with a selection of
young Italian artists from AreaB gallery (Vanni Cuoghi,
Paolo De Biasi, Massimo Gurnari, Tiziano Soro and Siva)
is being held in the space. The location is very sugges-
tive, thanks to the contrasts that emerge between the
surrounding countryside and the inner exhibition set
up. Guests generally come from outside Italy, usually
from USA or Britain, and are often surprised and aston-
ished by this unexpected vision.

Between July and August another interesting

project took place, more linked to the promotion
of young Sicilian artists. The first step involved
a collaboration with Marco Bonafè*, a young art-
ist from Palermo. The artist spent a short period
in residence, so as to develop some work linked
with the territory. The exhibition ALTER-ECO is the
final output of this experience. It is a collection of
three different interventions, all site-specific. Using
natural elements and old furniture found around the
ruins of the Di Vincenzo country, Marco gave new
meanings, and new life, to something that was sup-
posed to be dead.
Il Giardino del Campiere, the great installation in-
side the old Frantoio, honors the dialectic between
natural and artificial, light and shadow, stillness
and movement. All the elements are in a charming
equilibrium, creating a special atmosphere inside
the room that captures everyone who enters.
Pennate, the installation placed inside the common
spaces of the main building, aims to alter a familiar
setting, destabilizing the vision of the viewers, giv-
ing shape to a sort of surreal corner.
Last but not Least, Famiglia Di Vincenzo Don Tan-
credi, is the most moderate and apparently ironic
intervention. The inclusion of a picture of an old
codger (found by Marco in a local street market)
among those of the Di Vincenzo ancestors could
seem at a glance just a game of contrasts, but in
reality it goes much deeper than that. Don Tancredi,
a name borrowed from the Gattopardo, a novel writ-
ten by Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa, is not an ac-
cidental reference. The agrotourism farm is situated
in the Palma di Montechiaro neighborhood, where
the majority of the novel takes place. Within the
story, Don Tancredi is certainly the most innovative
character, inclined to change but at the same time
aware of his origins. In my opinion, this is exactly
the right mood to have in order to keep on going
with a grave and concrete discussion about contem-
porary art in Sicily.

* Marco Bonafè is a young Sicilian artist born in Pal-

ermo in 1981. In spite of several experience abroad
(exhibition in New York, London, Barcelona), he
choose to live and work in Palermo, his city born, in
order to catch stimuli and live experiences that are
precious sources of inspiration.

www.palazzoriso.it
www.mandranova.it
www.areab.org

27
 THE PERFECT MUSEUM by Camilla Pietrabissa
This past summer I spent two weeks in New York City.
As a tourist, and as one with a taste for contemporary
art, I was in the right place to see cutting-edge galler-
ies and alternative spaces, which I did relentlessy. Since
the friend I was staying with lived in Williamsburg – the
Brooklyn neighbourhood selected by various young
artists to live and hang out in – I had the opportunity
to see where the origin of the art world I have dreamed
of for years actually lies. After several days of studio
and gallery visits, of highly conceptual exhibitions,
challenging – not to say indecipherable – installations, I
finally made up my mind and decided to go to the Met-
ropolitan Museum of Art. Not that I did not like what
I had seen so far, it's just that sometimes you need
a break from the ubiquitous dogma of progress and
experiment, and feel a desire for the other dogma, that
of ‘conservation’.
I knew that the MET had a Francis Bacon exhibition,
which I wanted to see, and one about the ‘Pictures gen-
eration’ (John Baldessarri, Cindy Sherman and Richard
Prince amongst others) that appealed to me. Since I had
the opportunity to go around the city with people that
proved to be amazing guides, I had not previously read
anything about the museum or prepared myself in any
way about what to expect from the visit. I only imag-
ined that the Metropolitan museum would be a big,
‘encyclopaedic’ compound, like the Louvre or the Art
Institute of Chicago.
When I entered the museum, escaping the fresh sum-
mer rain, I found it extremely crowded, even though
closing time was only an hour away. With the map in
my hands, I ran to the second floor to see the exhibi-
tion about the ‘Pictures generation’. On my way there
and back, I passed through the immense Reja (choir
screen) from the Cathedral of Vallaloid and stood in
awe. Along with the amazing rooms from Egypt, Meso-
potamia and Greece on view at the British Museum, this
was one of the most impressive pieces I had ever seen.
I didn’t know that the next day, coming back to see the
famous terrace – a raft on Central Park’s fluffy green
sea –, I would also be seeing an Egyptian temple wholly
reconstructed, Duke of Montefeltro’s wooden studiolo
28
coming from Gubbio and a two floors Spanish Renais-
sance patio. All this would already be enough to fill an
entire museum, but the Metropolitan has an infinite
collection of never-ending surprises, perfectly displayed
and labyrinthic enough to trap the visitor, while always
making it easy to find your way out. Damn, for four
years now I have read books on museum studies and
museum management, visited exhibitions and collec-
tions wherever I go, but never had I imagined seeing all
I had learned in front of my eyes! Amazing architecture,
great conservation of all the pieces, clear and user-
friendly directions, entertaining educational apparatus,
and the possibility to easily jump from exhibitions to
the permanent collection, not to speak of the consis-
tent appeal of the price: with the ‘suggested donation’
system, you can get in with just a few cents!
The sudden love for what I had in front of my eyes
was soon replaced by two orders of consideration: first
about the story behind such a collection, and second
about the comparison with the Italian management
model.
On the one hand, I was faced with one of the institu-
tions that the Italian government had recently fought
against, and beaten in an attempt to bring back sev-
eral supposedly ‘stolen’ artefacts to their country of
provenance. A museum like the Metropolitan depends
precisely on the assumption that through the acquisi-
tion and the accessible display of pieces coming from
different cultures it is possible to have an overview of
world history and culture. This is a very Western way
of thinking about history and culture, but no-doubt an
effective one. The history of every American museum
is interconnected to that of its donors and its board,
its ability to attract the general public, and to have an
economic return in order to broaden the museum’s
activities. There is a fine line between what should and
should not be bought and transported from one conti-
nent to the other. We can be on Francis Haskell’s side,
valuing the artwork’s safety as a criterion to decide on
its movements. In this view, collections are okay, but
big moving retrospectives are not. Or, we can stay on
the Italian government’s side, nationalistically calling
for a property right that is desperately trying to rein-
force its national museums. But, as many others have
said, culture is living culture, and one cannot easily
claim an artist to be of one culture or another, as is the
case with many Greek sculptures being made in Italy in
ancient times. It is a matter of recognizing, once and
for all, the necessity of a simultaneous local and global
identity that goes far beyond the use of political power
and reads culture as the product of a continuous inter-
relation of individual histories and colonial empires.
On the other hand, I started pondering about the
perfect display, the immense management apparatus,
the majestic equilibrium between the parts that make
up the whole. All the principles I have so often thought
about were perfectly in place: the quality of the ‘ser-
vice’ provided was at its best, the spectator was placed
on a pedestal. Nevertheless, for some reason, I felt un-
comfortable. I could never have done what the protago-
nists do in Jules et Jim, running through the Louvre,
with that many people everywhere. Nor could I fully
appreciate the renaissance saloon with that smell of
food coming from the nearby cafè. I felt a subtle nos-
talgia for the Uffizi, with its long lines, bad lights, and
its sense of refusal for the public horde which gives
the visit a personality, a sense of imperfection that is
the essence of history in place. I had realized, through
great amusement and consequent disgust, that I did
not want to become a disposable visitor, a throwaway
element ready to consume, seeing all the masterpieces
at once, buying the reproduction of a Caravaggio or
a Manet, and easily finding my way out. Somehow, I
think we still need the art experience to be a little more
complex in order to remain engrained in our minds... at
least for a while anyway.
29
Jules et Jim (1962), François Truffaut
UPSIDE DOWN
Cutural exchange is such an abused concept in our globalized age. We read, study and hear about it, often
in very theoretical ways, but before all that, which is nevertheless of extreme importance, sometimes we
should just notice the small episodes of exchange that are constantly occuring before our eyes. The “ex-
change programs” in universities and schools are one such instance. So, this section is dedicated to those
who left, and those who came, those who turned their worlds upside down and agreed to tell us how they
did it. Ilaria, from Milan is now in Copenhagen and Emanuel from Copenhagen recently came to Milan.
NAME: Ilaria Montorsi

HOMETOWN: Milano

CURRENT LOCATION: Copen-

hagen (non ho ancora impar-
ato a scriverlo nel modo cor-
retto)

WHAT'S YOUR CURRENT

STATE OF MIND? Discovering
myself and the world outside

WHAT MAKES YOU FEEL AT

HOME? Stepping in my house
and being able to smell my
mom cooking while my dogs
run up wagging their tails

WHAT'S THE GREATEST DIF-

FICULTY YOU HAD SINCE
WHEN YOU ARRIVED IN CO-
PENHAGEN? to find a funnel
(imbuto)

WHAT'S THE FUNNIEST

THING
THAT HAPPENED TO YOU
SINCE WHEN YOU ARRIVED
IN COPENHAGEN? Having
party inside the CBS univeristy
building

WHO'S THE FIRST PERSON IN

COPENAGHEN YOU SPOKE
WITH? The employee of the
shop chain "7eleven"

WHERE YOU THINK YOU WILL

BE WITHIN ONE YEAR? Who
knows?

AS A CHILD, WHICH WAS

YOUR FAVOURITE TOY? Do-
ing puzzle and play with my
fake kitchen

30
 PSIDE DOWN
netfo ,ti tuoba raeh dna yduts ,daer eW .ega dezilabolg ruo ni tpecnoc desuba na hcus si egnahcxe larutuC
ew semitemos ,ecnatropmi emertxe fo sselehtreven si hcihw ,taht lla erofeb tub ,syaw laciteroeht yrev ni
-xe“ ehT .seye ruo erofeb gnirucco yltnatsnoc era taht egnahcxe fo sedosipe llams eht eciton tsuj dluohs
esoht ot detacided si noitces siht ,oS .ecnatsni hcus eno era sloohcs dna seitisrevinu ni ”smargorp egnahc
yeht woh su llet ot deerga dna nwod edispu sdlrow rieht denrut ohw esoht ,emac ohw esoht dna ,tfel ohw
.naliM ot emac yltnecer negahnepoC morf leunamE dna negahnepoC ni won si naliM morf ,airalI .ti did
NAME: Emanuel Schwartz

HOMETOWN: Copenhagen

CURRENT LOCATION: Milano

WHAT'S YOUR CURRENT

STATE OF MIND? Re-adjust-
ing to my new life in Milano

WHAT MAKES YOU FEEL AT

HOME? Recognition, an envi-
ronment that is friendly and
welcoming.

WHAT'S THE GREATEST DIF-

FICULTY YOU HAD SINCE
WHEN YOU ARRIVED IN CO-
PENHAGEN? To find Farina di
Segale and to figure out the
bureaucracy of Italy

WHAT'S THE FUNNIEST

THING THAT HAPPENED TO
YOU SINCE WHEN YOU AR-
RIVED IN MILANO? Me trying
to speak italian

WHO'S THE FIRST PERSON

IN Milano YOU SPOKE WITH?
The taxi driver at Malpensa
airport.

WHERE YOU THINK YOU

WILL BE WITHIN ONE YEAR?
I will be living in Berlusconis
mansion at lago como or just
be writing thesis at Bocconi

AS A CHILD, WHICH WAS

YOUR FAVOURITE TOY? He-
Man and G.I.Joe

31
32
MEDIA
Media is a pivotal term in our con-
temporary reality. From private rela-
tionships to public power, from pro-
duction to marketing, from cultural
production to cultural consumption,
media is constantly evolving and mod-
ifying our behaviours, perceptions,
lifestyles and expectations. Appropri-
ate reflections are necessary. Through
the eyes of its writers, this section will
follow the evolution of media such as
cinema, internet, radio and publica-
tions.
First, we are going to live an Indian
cinema adventure and then we will try
to understand some of the complexi-
ties intrinsic to being a young film-
maker.
33
 MADE IN INDIA
When landing in India last July, my planned trip did
not include Mumbai and I therefore did not particularly
think about Indian cinema, although it is something
I am naturally curious about. I thought the Indian
cinema industry was more or less all in Mumbai, ‘Made
in Bollywood’, and so... end of story. I was, however,
wrong, and I could very quickly sense the importance
of cinema and films everywhere.
I was based in the city of Pondicherry, in the state
of Tamil-Nadu, in the South-East of India, and I was
consequently over 1300 kilometres away from the
world-famous Bollywood. But the importance of cinema
was just as clear in Pondicherry. On my second day of
exploring the city, I stubbled across the making of a
film in the former French part of the city, the so-called
‘white quarter’. At a street corner, surrounded by fancy-
looking square greyish-white houses, there were about
twenty Indian men and women, actively trying to shoot
a scene and struggling with the wind. My friend and
I stopped to watch people trying, with the help of an
old ventilator, to make long and colourful clothes blow
in a specific direction. It certainly was not a Hollywood
super-production (as some French tourist mockingly
remarked), but it was great to see, and quite admirable
in its own way: The temperature must have been close
34
By Alix Doran
to 40C° in the shade, and the sun was high in the sky,
but all these people kept on moving around, operating
hardly modern equipment. I cannot help but wonder
what the images will look like, considering this archaic
equipment, but most of all, I wish I knew what the film
was about...
Although we were present while this film was being
made, disappointingly, neither me nor my friend were
asked to participate in this film. This might sound
weird and presumptuous but it is not, and here is the
reason why: I discovered that it is quite common for
white people in India to be asked to be part of movies
and tv ads. You might walk around, anywhere in India,
be completely absorbed by your sightseeing, and sud-
denly be approached by someone working on a film
project who asks you to participate, against payment,
in an Indian production. You may wonder, ‘But what
exactly would be expected of me...??’. And you would
be right to wonder.
If you spend a little bit of time in India and care to
watch even just a few minutes of television, or watch
a movie, you will probably realise that white people
in Indian productions play various roles: it might, for
instance, simply and innocently be the presentation of
a new toothpaste, but it might also be to dance in a big
film production. Let me explain the latter.
When we realised how cheap and easy it was to go to
the cinema, my friend and I decided to go and see a
movie. We ended up going with some French students
we met, and a couple of Indian guys they knew. To
say the film was great would be lying. It was, unfortu-
nately, simply boring. We all fell asleep, including the
two Indians we were with, and although I can usually
appreciate Indian films, with the dancing, singing, pas-
sion, drama and tears, I could not enjoy this particular
one. There was, however, something very interesting:
when the male protagonist sang his first song, he was
suddenly surrounded by a group of white women danc-
ing in a rather suggestive manner, wearing mini-shorts
and extremely low-cut tops, clothes Indian women
would probably not wear in a country where shoulders,
and most of the body, should be covered at all times.
It reminded me of what I had read about early Indian
films and the fact that some female characters, at that
time, were played by men dressed as women. However,
as society evolved, women were allowed to act, though
obviously were not allowed to dance the way European
actresses might dance.
The history of Indian cinema is as long as the history
of Occidental cinema. Over time, commercial cinema
has become prominent in India and it is indeed this
cinema that we are exposed to in Europe. The lower
budget productions do not yet hit our screens but we
can still get a flavour of India thanks to the commercial
films being exported.
While in India, I went into a dvd shop and asked an
employee to show me which films he thought were
worth watching. Most of the films he pointed out, were
films that I had already heard of or even seen at the
cinema back home, which just confirmed what I already
suspected: with the recent European interest in Indian
cinema, the films we get to see at the cinema or buy
on dvd, are films which have been very successful in
India, and which are therefore thought likely to attract
European audiences. The price of the dvd in itself was
also an indication of how successful the film had been
in India: some dvds cost four times as much as other
ones! The films exported are often Bollywood films,
made in Hindi, but I now know this is only a part of
the Indian film production, and regional films, made
in local languages, are also culturally very important
and reflect the different influences and identities of the
various regions: for instance, I was told that movies
made in the region I visited were usually very violent
and bloody, something the movie I saw there was not,
although perhaps, the dvds I brought back with me will
confirm this rather ominous observation. But even if it
is not ‘violent and bloody’ I am pretty much guaranteed
to spend 3 hours in front of my television, watching
passionate lovers and possessive families being torn
apart, the evil Englishmen being fought against by
brave Indian peasants, fate acting its part as it must, all
merged into a great story told with songs and dances.
35
 WANNA BE A FILMMAKER? By Filippo Nava

Filmmakers usually do everything by themselves,

they build up a production, they write the script, they
look after the photography and direct their own mov-
ies. Films are like big projects, very difficult to manage
and as a matter of fact one single person is unable to
direct the entire project alone, without being helped
by a professional staff. The difficulty in shooting short
movies for example, is that the filmmaker cannot pos-
sibly cover in the best way all the roles involved in the
production: surely some technical and artistic aspects
could eventually be neglected because not enough
attention and capabilities are dedicated to everything
that is needed to create a product of quality. Once a
filmmaker decides to take care of the direction himself,

Lars Von Trier

he should give others the chance to contribute, to each
specialize on different specificities of film production
so that the best competences from everyone can be
exploited. Movies are conceived as collective works that
should be managed by different people, each with its
specific role, and not only by single filmmakers.
However, beginners should be selfish and arrogant
in order to build up their own outlined personalities
in the specific field of movie-making. Short movies are
sort of weird contraptions to test ourselves: tools to
check our capabilities to handle big projects. Once we
discover our talents and strengths we can then focus
on what really could be the appropriate role for us, for
example such as the one of directors or producers. By
gaining experience with short movies, beginners can
understand which direction they can chose to follow in
the film industry.
Moreover, it is, nowadays, easier to shoot movies,
thanks to the most innovative and particular, but yet
affordable, new technological devices. In the past,
film-quality was lower than that of today, and the time
needed to edit a small project was so long that no more
than one movie per year could be produced. Today,
digital cameras and video cameras, and upgraded edit-
ing software, enable young film-lovers to shoot their
own amateur movies without devoting to it as much ef-
fort and time as before. Filmmaking has become easier
and more accessible to all. It can therefore easily be a
way to experiment and have fun, as well as a means
through which to learn about oneself and about the
mechanisms of an industry.
Consequently, the big challenge for filmmakers is to
be aware of the big potential they have in hand, and
once they are conscious of that, to start planning care-
fully every single aspects of what they want to produce
in order to generate a well-groomed product. Printing
a 35mm film in a master copy costs a lot of money, but
new technologies enable a reduction of costs in terms
of time and money. They also give filmmakers the pos-
sibility to focus and concentrate on all the production
aspects of movies. By dedicating to production more
time and attention, filmmakers can be perfectly ready
on the day of shooting to shoot a good work, from the
point of view on the artistic research that lies behind
the moviemaking itself.
According to this, everyone can become a filmmaker,
a producer or run an independent company to produce
its own movies. But not everyone is able to become
an artist, someone with something to say, and charac-
terized by his particular mode of expression and his
specific way of framing and looking at the world.
But how does it work if someone wants to enter the
film industry, intended in a broader sense and also in-
cluding television, documentaries, video clips and com-
mercials? First of all, there is a big distinction between
actors working in the higher end and those working in
the lower end. While the high end refers to very struc-
tured managers working together as organizations,
such as specific production or distribution companies,
the low end, on the other hand, concentrates on all the
creative imaginary that is generated by the auteurs. In a
way we can distinguish these two ends as, on one side,

36
the ones who create, the producers, and, on
the other side, the others who really make the
movie, the filmmakers.
The more naive creators, most of the time,
start their professional path, by self-producing
their own work. Once someone has been no-
ticed by a person who is interested in his work,
commissioned video clips or documentaries
are used as a tools to spread the voice of his
professionalism and after a while the doors of
the commercial market open up, to further as-
sess his ability as a director.
Here, the word of mouth appears to be
fundamental and once a filmmaker has suc-
ceeded in building up a name, he can decide
whether he wants to work in the commercials
or television market or whether he wants to
risk it in the actual movie industry, where he
has to fight to keep his identity untouched,
as he would be a new-comer. It also happens
that filmmakers become known through other
artistic channels, like, for example, the field of
contemporary art, where a lot of visual artists
challenge themselves with the new experience
of video-making, intended as a more dynamic
and avant-garde means of expression.
For what concerns the Italian film sector,
there is a big problem caused by the distribu-
tion channel, where debutants are not helped
by the industry itself. Most times, the films
produced by these artists therefore seem like
they could not interest the public, and so many
distributors decide not to bet on them, and
prefer to give space and visibility to already
well-known products like the “Cinepanettoni”
and plenty of vain teenager comedies. In fact,
the majority of films, once edited and finished,
remain closed in drawers, because no distribu-
tor seems ready to bear the risk. Many movies
therefore remain unpublished and will never
see the darkness of the cinemas.
It appears justified to question ourselves
about what could be done to face this penal-
izing, and limiting, condition for the national
movie sector, that unconsciously presents a
proper vivacity and a new generation of au-
thors numerically considerable. The only thing
that new producers and distributors should
do in the future is to bet on, and give voice to,
young and innovative filmmakers in order to repopulate the industry, now considered poor in valuable contents,
and to look at the past, so the industry can find and redefine again a well defined identity.
For most people, filmmaking remains a personal leisure because the industry is not yet flexible and open
enough to accept new ideas and talents for what they are, but this has to change, if the industry wants to regener-
ate itself and survive in the long run.

37
38
“LES ENFANTS SEULS SAVENT
CE QU’ILS CHERCHENT.”
Antoine de St Exupery,
Le Petit Prince

Photographer: Stephanie Serra

Locations: Zurich, Venice
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
ENTER
TAIN-
MENT
Performing arts are about stories. Big stories
of small characters and little stories of big
characters. Some of these stories are hidden
within music tunes while others live just for
a few hours on a stage. Their collective na-
ture, is made up of a complicated texture of
creative individuals, people who enjoy mix-
ing and molding different artistic genres into
one work. By writing about entertainment, we
hope to recreate the moments of interrac-
tion and exchange, that occur before a con-
cert, during a festival, or after a performance;
those short encounters in public spaces, that
leave us with long lasting memories.
In this issue we will take a peek at the small
but dramatic story of a big character, Myrtle,
in ‘Opening Night’ by Toneelgroep Amster-
dam. We will also reflect on the pornography
of information with the three little non-char-
acters from ‘Pornobboy’ by Babilonia Teatri.

47
 [Images (c) Jan Versweyveld]
THE SHOW MUST GO ON...
BUT CAN IT?
Entering the theatre you almost feel like you are in-
truding. Instead of being fooled by huge stage-tricks,
fake backgrounds of mountains, a living room in the
sixties or any other setting, this stages shows you
back stage.
Opening Night is a new theatre play by Ivo van Hove,
based on the film of the same name by John Cas-
savetes. The film made in 1977 is not the first film
Ivo van Hove converted into a theatre play, in the past
years this has become part of his brand. Stories with
complex characters, inner battles and without many
changes in settings, become even more impressive
during a live act. Examples of his conversions are
'Scenes from a Marriage' by Igmar Bergman and 'An-
gels in America' by Tony Kushner. However, 'Opening
Night' is one of the more complex conversions so far
because it actually contains live video images of the
actors while they are playing.
The play in the play
The play tells the story of Myrtle (Elsie de Brauw), the
leading actress in the broadway-play The second wife.
Myrtle has a lot of difficulty playing her role because
this character is a woman struggling with getting old-
er, but she doesn't completely collapse until a devoted
young fan dies in front of her eyes in an accident. This
48
by Rosa Plijnaar
makes Myrtle feel useless. What is she still doing on
stage? Faking grief? Try-outs fail, and dramas occur
when she walks offstage in the middle scenes, chang-
es all her lines, and starts talking to her public directly
about how ridiculous her co-actor looks with his fake
mustache. When she is offstage in the dressing room,
or at home with a glass of wine, she starts talking to
the ghost of her dead fan, Nancy (Hadewych Minis).
Maybe Nancy can help her understand the character
she has to play. How was it to be young and sexy? And
how do you change over the years? But what started
out as a good idea, turns 180 degrees when Myrtle
becomes always more dependent on Nancy. She starts
drinking more and more to forget her problems, and
when the premiere of her play approaches, there is
only one thing left to do: Completely drunk, she stag-
es a fiscal fight with Nancy and eventually 'kills' her
imagined helper. Reciting her text all the while, she
ends up playing a magnificent première and, there-
fore, giving e twist of her own liking to the play.
Theatre families
But even more than the underlying battles Myrtle
fights with herself, her relationships with her direc-
tor, ex-husband and leading male, and producer are
complicated enough by themselves. The story of a
theatre-family which completely collapses when
their main star loses it. Ivo van Hove explains
in an interview that this is exactly what makes
this play interesting. A sneak peak behind the
scenes of an ordinary play. The director who al-
ways tries to make and keep everybody happy;
The producer who, in the end, just has to make
money; the playwright who feels nobody under-
stood what she really wanted to say with her
play; and hear/make-up personnel and stage
managers who feel they are the only ones really
understanding what the actors need, but do not
have the power to make it happen.
The setting
The stage setting and decors create the pos-
sibility to understand when you are seeing bits
of Opening Night and when the actors are act-
ing the play in the play, The second wife. The
one hundred audience members sit stage right
as the audience of the play in the play. On top
of this construction, the video screens placed
all over the stage and theatre makes you feel
you are watching a live documentary and mak-
ing-of. Ivo van Hove decided on purpose not to
see the actual film of Cassavetes, but to work
from his screenplay to avoid comparison. It is
refreshing to see that theatre and video-images
can work together, not just for aesthetics, but
to support the goal, message and feeling of the
play. If you know what a theatre-family works
like, this play will give you numerous laughs of
recognition. Know what it takes when the show
must go on...

The theatre play ‘Opening Night’

by the Toneelgroep Amsterdam
(Theatre Company Amsterdam) and
NTGent (National Theatre Gent).
Concept: Ivo van Hove
Leading roles: Elsie de Brauw, Jacob Derwig,
Hadewych Minis and Fedja van Hûet.
Seen: 26 August 2009,
City Theatre Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Tour until June 2010
Info: www.toneelgroepamsterdam.com

49
50
BABILONIA GOES IN
FOR PORNOGRAPHY
by Livia Andrea Piazza
Babilonia Teatri, a young theatre company that became
famous by winning the Premio Scenario with their play
Made in Italy, was hosted by CRT Teatro dell’Arte to
play their new production Pornobboy. Babilonia Teatri
has always focused on social issues and this time the
pornography of information is the main and only char-
acter on stage. You may think that this is nothing new:
we all know about the “media-bombing” we everyday
go through, we are all aware of the infinite number of
boobs and butts we see everyday, even in the most
unexpected places, and we find ourselves attracted
by the need to know every single useless detail about
everything we couldn’t care less about, from the cruel-
est murder to the newest couple of the star system.
The banality of this topic may be a matter of fact but
this doesn’t imply that it is not worth talking about and
most importantly, before criticizing this choice, you
must see Babilonia Teatri in action. On a stage occu-
pied just by an empty billboard, three actors wait for
the public to sit, they then begin to cover the billboard
with promotional posters of “Pornobboy”. When the bill-
board is all covered and the three actors, dressed just
like in the posters, take an attitude which is just like
the one they have in posters, it all starts. A “theatrical
blob”, there are no better words to describe the juxta-
position of lists made by wordplays (lists of newspaper
names, names of magazines for women, national days
dedicated to something, soccer players and whatever
else you can imagine) and tongue twisters which recall
childhood as well as horror movies. The enumeration
of things seems to be never-ending and during one of
the funniest moments, it alternates news referring to
a soccer game with the two public letters exchanged
between Silvio Berlusconi and Veronica Lario. What is
most impressing, besides the incredible actors’ vocal
technique and the unnatural immobility of their bodies,
is the performance's essentiality, which makes the mes-
sage and the experience for the public much stronger.
Lists and enumerations go on giving the impression
of being in front of a newscast you can never switch
off, and you eventually realize that pornography of
information is not as banal as you thought. Watching
Pornobboy makes you feel the physical sensation of the
media-bombing and this is a queasy sensation that is
everything but banal. This impression is reinforced by
the fact that there are no characters on stage who give
an interpretation of the blob. Interpretation is com-
pletely left to the public, together with the latent aware-
ness that if we are forced to watch and hear all about
crime news and gossip columns, it may be because
there is something hidden, something that TV news
and newspaper cannot talk about. Why is this con-
nected to ‘less work and more play’? It’s just because
this performance is really fun. Throughout the show,
the public is overcome by uncontrollable laughter and
moments in which terrifying aspects of reality find a
balance between drama and irony. What is best is that
the final scene in which the three actors are submerged
by an ejaculation of huge proportion which is the result
of forty-five minutes of hypnotic media-bombing: the
ejaculation invade the whole stage, completely covering
the actors up. This is the way used by Babilonia Teatri
to tell their public that they are not in the position of
judging or giving a solution for all this, that they are
just where everybody else is and that they are using in-
formation in the same way everyone else is. Personally,
I really appreciate this humble position which is some-
thing uncommon in many theatre companies that work
on socio-political issues. So, keep an eye on Babilonia
Teatri’s next move, they will be at CRT until October 18
with another production “Pop Star” and then they will
be bringing their performances all around Italy.
51
 THAN
K YOU

52
53
54