Street Art Festivals. Happy July
Nuart Festival and more cool stuff, in your 1st-of-the-month newsletter.
Ciao,
how are you?
I'm writing you from Civitacampomarano, a little village in Southern Italy where Italian street artist Alice Pasquini has been curating a street art festival since 2016. It's my first time at CVTA' Street Fest, and I'm having such a great weekend documenting the work in progress of the artists and mingling with local old ladies, who, btw, are the true stars of the festival ;)
Civitacampomarano is a village of 300 people, all somehow involved in making the festival days unique and welcoming more than 20.000 visitors over the weekend. A collective effort that touched me, I'll write more about it.
CVTA' Street Fest is the second street art festival I attended this month, after a week in Aberdeen, Scotland to document the world-leading street art festival Nuart. In this monthly dispatch, you'll find a short video and the first article I wrote about Nuart Aberdeen 2022, a day-by-day report of what I saw at my favorite street art festival ever, which was finally back after two years.
Next month I'll take a break from festivals and focus on writing, and I'm doing it in a little village in Sardinia. The general plan is to explore some more abandoned places in Sardinia, some urban art, and the old murals scattered around the island. Sardinia is the only region in Italy with a muralism tradition, an expression of popular, anti-authoritarian sentiment that dates back to the 1970s, and so way before the burst of New York-inspired graffiti throughout the country (in the 1990s).
I will be alternating explorations with locked-in writing sessions to meet July's deadlines, but still, I'm very excited about the trip. Most of all, I'm glad I'll be escaping the city's heat: temperatures in Rome are sweltering, and the city faces water rationing, which is a first for me. I hope we'll manage to reverse climate change, the situation is getting out of control, and that's kind of scary… don't you think?
Until next month,
Giulia
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Behind the scenes of Nuart Aberdeen street art festival.
I'm bringing you behind the scenes of the world's leading street art festival to document the work in progress of this year's artists, attend the street art symposium Nuart Plus, and reconnect with the Nuart Family after two years apart. Let’s go!
New on Youtube!
Watch the artists at work in the streets of Aberdeen, Scotland. I’ve also included some of my all time favorite street art in Aberdeen, enjoy!
I’m getting started with Instagram Reels, albeit reluctantly ;) This month I created several reels, both from CVTA Street Fest and from Nuart Aberdeen. Check them out!
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Street Art News and more cool stuff I liked this month.
The man who owns the stone by Jofre Oliveras was the first mural to be completed at Nuart Aberdeen 2022, and its powerful message sets the tone for all the other artworks created around this year’s theme of Reconnect. Jofre shows what is stopping us from being connected; namely, nationalism. The mural is a metaphor for our isolation. The man is blinded by the flag he is fiercely carrying and thus doesn’t realise that the issues we are called to face, from climate change to the depletion of resources to the migration crisis, demand for a shared vision. However, joining forces and acting together become impossible to accomplish if we all only care about our own stone.
For Nuart Aberdeen 2022, Pejac painted a powerful piece right outside the door of the Citizens Advice Bureau, which helps marginalized groups in the social housing above. Pejac’s art is highly site-specific, so the placement itself adds a layer of meaning to the artwork, consisting of a trompe-l’oeil doormat of tiny men dispersing around the word “Welcome.” The installation refers to nationalism, particularly to Brexit, but it speaks in support of all people who feel marginalized, foreign, and discriminated against.
At CVTA’ Street Fest, I especially liked Akut’s artwork, which develops across three small walls in three different parts of Civitacampomarano. The three images -an old lady, a child, and a close-up of their hands making pasta together- are threaded together by the old saying “Impara l’arte, e mettila da parte” (Learn a trade for the rainy days) written across the three walls. Akut’s piece is about the transmission of ancient traditions across generations.
An unusual intervention for the Portuguese street artist Bordalo II, but a very timely one. Titled “Her body, her choice,” it was realised for the “secret” street art exhibition “Permission” in Lisbon.
This abstract mural by Sardinian artist Ciredz in the little village of Aggius -one of the many places I’ll visit next month ;) Ciredz’s work is inspired by the shapes and colors of his island, and by the emptiness of Sardinia’s desolated landscapes where men’s traces tend to disappear. I love the way his abstract shapes turn out to be less theoretical when you consider the surroundings.
During our interview, Jofre Oliveras mentioned this documentary movie about the rise and fall of Barcellona’s graffiti. I found it on youtube; here you go:
This episode of Radio Juxtapoz was recorded at Nuart Aberdeen 2022. It’s an interview with the lovely Jacoba Niepoort, check it out:
I watched “SuperNature”, Ricky Gervais’ latest special on Netflix. Highly recommended!
I’m reading the 2nd Volume of David Sedaris diaries, covering the years from 2003 to 2020. Likewise the first volume, “A carnival of snackery” is a celebration of the unexpected in the everyday.
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 10 years of blogging :) Wanna support my work? Here is a big button for doing so:
Artists Open Calls
Today (July 1st) is the last day to apply to Street Wise Arts Boulder festival in Colorado (USA).
Today (July 1st) is also the last day to apply to Resilience Festival in Sardinia (Italy).
If you work with an original printmaking medium, then check out Woolwich Contemporary Print Fair. They are looking for artists to enter their open call, apply before July 3rd.
Applications for Thorp Stavri’s Art Residency in London are open! All kind of visual artists can apply until July 3rd.
Yet another Art Residency, curated by the people at “in-ruins” project. Apply before July 5th.
To paint at Big Walls Big Dreams in Houston, Texas (USA) you can send your application until August 15th.
The art gallery Art Number 23 is opening a new space in Barcelona and are now receiving applications for their new project. More info here.
The lovely people at Gallery No. 32 (whom I personally met at Nuart Aberdeen) are now taking submissions of outdoor sculpture for their 3rd annual Winter Sculpture Park. Apply before September 18th.
Something from last summer…
Street artists painting on derelict villas seized from the Mafia at Pizzo Sella Art Village in Palermo.
In 2013 Fare Ala collective launched Pizzo Sella Art Village, an unsanctioned street art project highlighting the unlawfulness of the villas built by a construction company affiliated with the Mafia on a panoramic stretch of Sicilian coastline.
