Rewind

For the second time speaker at FAR, Lea Vergine focuses her intervention on the figure of the artist within the social context. Taking up one of her best-known publications such as Body as Language, she describes the artists as those who "manage - and so do we - to get around the knots of life, to drift along the tangents of the question at stake which is basically always the same: the fear and trouble of living”.

Quoting Mario Fortunato, curator of the Ratti Lectures’ cycle: “the idea was to address the theme of contemporary art, one rightly or wrongly considered too difficult or elitist, starting from keywords with a direct and clear meaning – fear and desire, in this case.”

Then, Lea Vergine briefly addresses other pressing issues, such as the relationship between fashion and art, the globalization of art with particular reference to the East and a critical analysis of the contemporary art system, starting from the interference between the figure of the art critic and that of the curator.

03.04.2009, Archive Fondazione Antonio Ratti

Language: Italian

To download the english translation visit: http://www.fondazioneratti.org/pressKit/87/rewind_003_lea_vergine

Invited during the XIII edition of CSAV - Artists' Research Laboratory, with Joan Jonas as Visiting Professor, Marina Warner illustrates the developments of magical thinking in the XX century, in relation to anthropological research and scientific discoveries. The evolution of the figure and the term shaman are thus reflected in the corridors of an ethnographic museum and in the everyday life of children's bestsellers such as Harry Potter or His Dark Matter as well as in artistic practices. In this dense excursus, Marina Warner dialogues with Aby Warburg's intuitions about the ritual snake dance of Hopi Indians, the same followed by Joan Jonas for her performance The Shape, The Scent, The Feel of Things. It is therefore the ability of the ritual to dialogue with other worlds and dimensions, that reveals "the true language of art: the flight of the shaman's mind".

05.07.2007, Archive Fondazione Antonio Ratti

In this lecture Alanna Heiss traces the evolution of a cultural and artistic scene she has lived and still lives as an active protagonist. In 1970s New York, the rejection of the museum led Heiss to a constant search for alternative spaces, where new solutions could emerge. From the very first nomadic projects, in fact, the close collaboration with some of the most significant artists of her generation goes along with the redefinition of the relationship between curatorial research, artistic research and urban structure. It is after these experiences that Heiss came to found institutions such as Clocktower or PS1, which are still today landmarks on the international art scene. The lecture is part of the project The most beautiful Kunsthalle in the world.

17.12.2010, Archive Fondazione Antonio Ratti