day 87

waiting for rain!

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Some work by Inaas Yassin made over the summer at UNIDEE,

remember the game 5 Stones from day 7’s post???, it even inspired the name of  an artists collective among 3 of the UNIDEE 2010 residents…

Well now Inaas brings you:

7 Stones, a traditional Palestinian game of rebuilding under attack

in this game Team A will try to rebuild the 7 stones pile under the attack of team B who will keep trying to hunt A members. It is dual game of rebuild and attack.

(photo by Inaas Yassin)

It is a game to be played in public space, by adults or children.

The game was announced by spreading posters in the city of Sanremo and In La Pigna in Italian, English and Arabic, the game was organised at Piazza  Santa Brigida  and  2 matches were held. It was fun!

For more on 7 Stones at La Pigna and the background of the game, click here

day 86

More work in progress…on this particular day Residents Anna Moreno and Jobelle Tayawa went to the “Karaoke Pinocchi Music Pub” in Biella to make a short film about the Philippines, Karaoke and its relationship with the song “My Way”…

day 85

The sun does not always shine in Biella!

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…Meanwhile back in the studio, more one on one’s with Michelangelo Pistoletto:

Anna Moreno

Meanwhile Kosta Tonev took the opportunity to ask Michelangelo a few questions about a pair of shoes he purchased locally that were decorated with a symbol that looked suspiciously like the Michelangelo’s own symbol for the Third Paradise…

day 84

NEWS!!! Winners of the Illy call to design the graphics for the Illy coffee can were announced today.

Armona and Sabina from the Cittadellarte Production Office dropped by to tell us that two designs have been selected, those by Alioum Moussa and Chiara Tinonin in collaboration with Jobelle Tayawa. Congratulations to all concerned!

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Meanwhile here is the thought process that led to the work currently being researched by Sara Hany Abed, she wrote this text in late July after she had been at UNIDEE for one month…

I’m an artist from Alexandria, Egypt  experiencing my first residency in Cittadellarte Fondazione Pistoletto, Biella, Italy. It started on the 15th of June and ends on the 15th of October. In those four months we are supposed to develop an art project. Trying to think outside the box and allowing my art senses to develop I changed my first idea for the project and started to let go and experience things differently. I started walking in the streets, looking at people, faces, buildings, places.  I realized two things.

(photo by Sara Hany Abed)

First, is that the mixture of being a woman, a muslim and an arab is very tempting for people to be curious, to ask a lot, sometimes to be even offensive and  sometimes to put you in focus. Some focus on differences of  gender, religion, nationality, colour, traditions..etc. and totally forget about the most common fact that we all share by just being human beings regardless any geographical, historical,social,physical,religious…etc differences we might have.

(photo by Sara Hany Abed)

Talking about differences and that alienated look people sometimes practice upon others came my second realization, or let me say wondering about the stories behind the arab population I saw in the streets of Biella very often. I wondered if they are also longing to be known for just being the human beings they are rather than to be judged by where they come from and their beliefs. From that point I started taking photos, investigating, interviewing, chatting, talking with them. The first thing that I confronted was their fear, feeling of insecurity and mistrust. They were suspicious about everything. They always have the fear of being betrayed or misused. I had to try to break those fearful barriers and to get them to trust me and to talk openly. Now I succeeded to interview an Egyptian family who are here since 20 years. It took time to gain their trust. They even saw my passport and Egyptian ID. I believe they –like other immigrants here- learned to trust papers and written official facts not just words. This made me wonder what happened to the word of honor the Egyptians used to believe in. Talking with them I realized that they are in that grey area between liking to stay here and wanting so much to go back to their country, between hating to stay here and hating other things back at home. In both places for them there’s something missing. And they are living in that dilemma not knowing any more where they can feel complete again.

day 83

on one side of the UNIDEE space…Italian lessons with Chiara Tinonin…reading from Romeo and Juliet…

…meanwhile on the other side, one to ones for Alioum Moussa and Maggie Lawson with Michelangelo Pistoletto…

day 80

Of course this “second half” of the residency has to change pace, the amount of visitors, presentations and trips have to slow down to make way for the residents developing projects. Now we spend much more time here at Cittadellarte, bent over computers or rushing around trying to get things done!

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…work in progress by resident Jobelle Tayawa:

“My research has led to the observation of a grief support group from Fondo Edo Tempia, which in the process became an inquiry on grief, its cycle and possible transformations. What keeps us from living the present, more so, contemplating about tomorrow? Hence, the initial action “Cosa Fai Domani” (What are you doing tomorrow?): a set of cards was given to the group, where they were invited to write about what they would like to do the next day”.

(photo by jobelle tayawa)

day 79

…some work from residents made over the past month:

Arnaud Hollard is a French architect and UNIDEE 2010 RESIDENT, here is a “scenario for the transformation of Grenoble’s synchrotron – n°1 : the amusement park”.

(image by arnaud hollard)

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Through  needle and thread, Cameroon resident Alioum Moussa explores clothing and its possibilities. It is an ideal instrument of communication; sewing the relationship between him and his environment.
During his residency, UNIDEE 2010, the garment is the central subject of his work, the object of experiments and investigations. In the end it creates a branch of clothing design that uses only second-hand clothes or clothes that have been discarded or abandoned.

(photo by maggie lawson)

day 78…

WE ARE BACK!!! Well the blog at least, everyone else was still pretty much here working away!

So, after an August break, the blog is back to full strength with a lot to catch up on. One of the main activities of the summer was the La Pigna one week residence in Sanremo, where many of the residents created works and interventions. We will be creating a separate page for that over the next week or so so please keep your eyes open for that.

Meanwhile here at Cittadellarte it’s business as usual. Today saw the arrival of a new guest at UNIDEE, Professor Karen Forbes.

Karen is an artist and Professor of Art and Research Leader at Edinburgh College of Art, Scotland with a strong focus on the integration of context, art and architectural thinking. She regularly collaborates with architects on large scale international projects and proposals. She presented us some of her current projects and began a series of tutorials with the residents. For more scroll to Karen on our visiting artists/guests page.

day 72

CONVERSATIONS Workshop by Alicia Herrero

(photo by Aleksandrija Ajdukovic’)

Artist, co-curator/co-editor of Magazine in Situ, developer of liPac Laboratory of Investigation in Contemporary Artistic Practices in CCRRojas UBA (Ricardo Rojas Cultural Centre, Buenos Aires University) and lecturer in CCRRojas and other institutions. For more on Alice find her on the visiting artists/guests page

(photo by Aleksandrija Ajdukovic’)

Alice is here fro 2 days to run the CONVERSATIONS workshop which develops different levels of fiction with the participation of Necessary Actors Involved (NAI) and the creation of series of mises-en-scénes, pamphlets/flyers, public actions, and performatic workshops. Conversations proposes the creation of scenarios to encourage the emergence of contradictions. Its operations are focusing to retain the critical instant of aesthetic experience.

Art & Capital involves the UNIDEE 2010 residents as  Necessary Actors Involved (NAI). This workshop turns the practices of the workshop in new scenery of Conversations project. It puts a dialogical relationship between the micro-situation of the workshop with other conversational flows of the general project.

day 55 – 62

UNIDEE ARE ON HOLIDAY FROM 8 -16 AUGUST!!!!

HAPPY HOLIDAY…!!!!