New Year, New Account?
Street Art in Rome and more cool stuff, in your 1st-of-the-month newsletter.
Ciao,
How are you? Where are you celebrating the beginning of the year? I’m in Rome, currently sipping a craft beer at my local pub while putting together the last newsletter of the year -which, for you, is going to be the first newsletter of the year, and so… Cheers to yet another year together!
My 2022 ended with big drama: someone hacked my Facebook account and posted something against Facebook rules, and consequently, both my Facebook and Instagram accounts were canceled.
Weeks have passed, and I still haven’t managed to talk with a human but only bots and automatic replies from customer service, and it’s beginning to look like I’ve lost the work of years.
I’m flooded with great frustration. I was just getting back on my feet after quitting the job at the street art museum in Amsterdam: I had a few festival invitations to look forward to, 2023 was looking quite promising, and suddenly: puff. It’s all gone.
To keep my mind busy and avoid a meltdown, I threw myself into a project I’ve been procrastinating on for a long time: a super-mega-maxi travel guide that brings together all the articles I’ve written so far about street art in Rome.
“So far” actually means 11 blogging years, and that’s why writing this super-mega-maxi article felt so overwhelming at the beginning: too much material to go through!
However, I knew that a deep dive into the blog archive was the only thing that could keep me from going insane, together with a few expeditions on the field to take new photos of street art around the city and to meet Judith de Leeuw while she was painting Rome’s highest mural to date.
I stopped to say hi to Judith a few days before Christmas. I went there with my mom after a morning spent baking traditional Christmas cookies with my grandma, who lives in the same neighborhood where JDL was painting her mural.
My mom grew up in the area, so the first thing she asked the project manager was about residents’ reactions to the mural, and the guy confirmed what we had already heard: residents’ responses weren’t enthusiastic, mainly because it’s a social housing building whose apartments have more urgent issues, issues that can’t be fixed by painting a mural. Sure, painting such a large-scale mural is glamorous, but residents would prefer the municipality to spend money on fixing that elevator that isn’t working.
It’s the same situation I encountered in Pescara when I was ‘reporting’ from Millo’s wall (and that’s a story worth reading -if you hadn’t already). Residents demanded I visit their apartments and take photos of the mold on their walls, to write about their living conditions and not only about the mural -and I did exactly that.
“She wasn’t the only one to view Millo suspiciously. Those who’d lived with the spread of mold on their ceilings were quite puzzled. After years of disregard, the municipality was finally reminded of its decadent buildings. But just to color one wall. It seemed haphazard.
“When can we fix the road?” They wanted to know. And how to solve the practical issues they were dealing with, like “The rain runs down the walls and pools on the floor of our apartments.”
They wanted cameras to shoot their reality, not the artist at work.”
From the article “Millo and his ‘Dream’: street art in Pescara” (October 2017)
This is just one of the many issues raised by the “urban regeneration” process that our cities are undergoing, which has urban art at the very core of it.
And now I’m curious to know: how is it handled in your community? How is your city addressing this issue?
I know readers of this newsletter are scattered across all five continents, which makes me look forward to reading your answers -just reply to this email to let me know how your city is handling it, and we might come up with a ‘best practice’ case study ;)
That’s all for now; I wish you a happy 2023 full of traveling and creative growth.
Until next month,
Giulia
Ps. Until I get my Facebook and Instagram accounts back *fingers crossed* I’m using the account I created for Blocal’s street art travel guides. Come say hi at @street_art_city_guides. And thank you, once again, for subscribing to this newsletter! Things are much smoother here than on social networks, I cherish our like-minded community, and I’m so glad I’ve invested time and energy in here rather than on Instagram -this month more than ever.
New on the blog!
Street Art in Rome: A Guide to Ephemeral Art in Italy’s Eternal City
It was about time that I finally arranged in one single place all the articles about street art in Rome that I’ve written in 11 years of street art blogging!
In this Rome Street Art Guide, you can read about the top 26 neighborhoods to find street art in Rome, with additional local tips on where to eat, drink, and shop like a local in Rome.
And if you fancy a private street art tour or a custom travel plan based on your interests and passions, just reply to this email ;)
More articles published last month:
A Taste of Heaven: Trappist Beer at the Chiesa delle Tre Fontane in Rome.
Just outside Rome, in the tranquil Abbey of Tre Fontane, monks have been brewing beer according to the Trappist tradition since 1854. The Belgian-style beers they produce are some of the most sought-after in the world. And while it’s not easy to get your hands on a bottle of their coveted products—they’re only sold at the abbey—it’s well worth seeking out if you’re a fan of complex, flavorful beers.
Fintan Magee, a leading figure in Australian street art.
Fintan Magee is an Australian street artist who creates large-scale, socially conscious murals all over the world. Read his story and learn about his most famous murals.
Kunst-Labor-2 Museum: a look at my top 10 site-specific installations.
The Kunst-Labor-2 is a one-of-a-kind venue exhibiting site-specific installations from world-renowned urban contemporary artists. Perhaps my favorite museum in Munich, check out the photos on the blog!
Handpicked by yours truly
Have you watched Entergalactic on Netflix? This animated film follows the story of street artist Jabari (whose typical character reminded me of Richard Hambleton’s iconic silhouette) as he falls in love with his photographer neighbor Meadow. The movie was created to launch Kid Cudi’s music album of the same name, hence the music is a big part of the story (and if you follow me on Spotify, you might have noticed that I’m kind of obsessed with this playlist).
My Lisbon Street Art Guide was featured in Peter Forsgård’s tutorial on street art photography! Check out his videos if you love to take photos of street art, and subscribe to his youtube channel for more photography tutorials!
I just finished reading Raymond Carver's collection of short stories, America Today, and it was an absolute delight! Carver's familiarly vivid prose and blunt yet poetic style shines through as he takes us on a journey through the lives of everyday people in America in the 20th century. Highly recommended!
Two exhibitions you shouldn’t miss this month: 1) there is a huge Space Invader retrospective at Mima, in Bruxelles 2) you can finally admire the stunning fresco by Canemorto at the newly opened TAM Museum in Matera, where I brought you a couple of years ago (for a peek behind the scenes).
Finally, my Christmas present for you: the 1UP Crew just released their short movie “One week with 1UP” documenting their missions in Berlin with Martha Cooper:
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Are you still in Rome? I've just arrived this week - loving it so far! If you're still around wondered if you'd be interested in doing a collab with a fellow 'Travel substack-er'?
I'm sooooooo sorry about your Facebook experience. That's awful beyond words. Having had my own Facebook problems this year, I know how utterly infuriating they can be ....