37. Happy August
Pizzo Sella Art Village and more cool stuff, in your every-1st-of-the-month newsletter.
Hey there, how are you?
I’m picturing you on a pristine beach, so this month I’ll keep it short ;) also because I’m dizzy from my 2nd dose of vaccine, which makes it hard to translate my thoughts into a foreign language, and even harder to stare at the screen.
I turned 37 this week and, for the first time in my life, I hadn’t felt sparkly on my birthday, rather quite disappointed in myself for all the things I expected to have accomplished by now, and not yet had. And so, while the four-time Olympic champion Simone Biles realises she is more than her accomplishments, I’m afraid I’m very far from her wisdom. Hope to become better at it over the summer :)
Until next month,
Giulia
NEW on the blog!
Street artists painting on derelict villas seized from the Mafia at Pizzo Sella Art Village in Palermo, Sicily
In 2013 Fare Ala collective launched an unsanctioned street art project to highlight the unlawfulness of the villas built by a construction company affiliated with the Mafia on a beautiful stretch of Sicilian coastline.
For more street art in Palermo, you should check out my Palermo Street Art Guide!
NEW on YouTube
2 days in Palermo… in 2 minutes!
Handpicked by yours truly
Stuff I liked this month
French street artist JR was in my hometown of Rome, where he realised yet another monumental trompe-l’oeil on a famed building. After “The Wound” on Palazzo Strozzi in Florence, which has sparkled a conversation about art accessibility in the time of Covid, JR offered an imaginary look behind the walls of Palazzo Farnese, one of the most important High Renaissance palaces in Rome and home to the French Embassy in Italy.
“Punto di Fuga”, Rome, 2021 While in Rome, JR attended the European premiere of his latest movie ‘Paper & Glue’ at the summer manifestation Cinema in Piazza. I couldn’t miss it! :) The movie follows JR through some of his latest projects, from the installation on the US-Mexico border to the huge paste-up atop a maximum-security prison in California. After the screening, the artist shared more insights on his artistic process of creating eye-catching immersive art that challenges perspectives and unites communities.
The first edition of WOODS Art Project took place in July, featuring: Phlegm, Axel Void, Helen Bur and more artists who made site specific works in and around the grounds of St. Peter in the Forest Church in London. So far, I could only find a photo of Phlegm’s piece, if you live in London please go hunt for more on my behalf ;)
Phlegm in London, 2021 Postponed in April 2020 because of the pandemic, Nuart Aberdeen returned with a series of individual street art productions spaced throughout the summer, starting with some stunning murals by Fanakapan, Snik, Helen Bur, Henrik Uldalen and KMG. I’m looking forward to a Zoom Tour with my friend and Nuart Aberdeen host Jon Reid, who will show us the new murals in the city. Stay tuned!
In the same way, Nuart Stavanger has just launched the first in a series of street art residencies set to run throughout the year. The first artist to land in Norway has been the Polish stencil master M-City:
M-City in Stavanger, 2021 While postponing the world’s leading street art festival as we knew it, curator Martyn Reed looks forward to focusing on Nuart’s core practice and finally taking distance from the spectacularization of street art.
MURAL OF THE MONTH: A tribute to Carlo Giuliani by BLU in Rome
BLU in Rome, 2021 Appeared on the facade of Rome’s squat cultural centre Acrobax on the 20th anniversary of the death of Carlo Giuliani (shot dead by Italian police during an anti-globalisation demonstration outside the G8 summit in Genoa), this intricate mural is featured in the book “Nessun Rimorso – Genova 2001 – 2021” along with comics, texts and illustrations by several Italian artists who witnessed the human rights violations occurred on those days.
This TV shows by the creators of Black Mirror is a dystopian anthology starting from the premises that there’s an accurate test which can determine a person’s soulmate:
BOOK OF THE MONTH: a selection of stories by Truman Capote, whose style I simply love. It included early stories as well as popular ones, all showing his unique voice and unforgettable characters (my favorite being the protagonists of “Thanksgiving Visitor" and “A Christmas Memory”).
Another collection of stories I read in July is “Incontables” by the Chilean author Pedro Lemebel. Written in different stages of his life, they all call attention to those living on the social margins, the oppressed and the poor, in a visionary and often brutal way.
I usually don’t include Italian books in this list, unless they have been translated into English. However, from Blocal reader’s survey I learnt that some of you understand Italian, so here is yet another book I’ve enjoyed reading in July: “La più amata” by Teresa Ciabatti, a semi-fictional autobiography that left me wondering what truth is there in what she wrote about the story of her family, which is intertwined with a mysterious piece of Italian history.
You somehow stumbled upon my blog and subscribed to the newsletter, but you have no idea who I am and how my blogging journey has unfolded so far? Here I share the ups and downs of my first 9 years of blogging :)
From the Archive
Gluttony and Street Art in Palermo
Saying that Palermo is worse off is a gross understatement. Palermo’s palaces are, at best, beaten up, but in any other scenario they’re outright shattered. Yet their crumbling facades, which the North African sun and the sea breeze keep eroding daily, are what make Palermo so seductive.
