Mooi opZuid

This crime story interwoven with social drama is a great example of the neo-realism wave in Italian cinema. Giuseppe De Santis sets the story of two runaway thieves in the context of the rice fields of northern Italy, where each year seasonal workers (all female) work under bad conditions. The mix of social commentary with the brooding (sexual) tension between the four main characters doesn’t work all the time, but this is a very good movie. Technical there are a lot of new ideas here; very nice compositional shots, crowd scenes and camera movements. Star of the movie is Silvana Mangano, whose voluptuous body is given every opportunity to shine by Giuseppe De Santis.

I went to the opening of NeoRealismo, which came with a good introduction by Ruud Visschedijk about the birth of the NeoRealism, first seen in Italian cinema. A reaction to fascism, filmmakers and later photographers began to explore the realities and diversities of Italy. This new realism in film and photo opposed the image of one strong and undivided state as proposed by Mussolini. The photographs show the hard rural life in the country and explore the different ethnicities, but they also register in detail aspects of modern urban life. They all have a genuine interest for human existence in common, without any added social agenda. The techniques used are new, modern; new framing is a good example. Many of the pictures shown here now have an iconic status, which is totally justified; they are still a fresh and true look onto Italy in the 1930s-1960s.
Exhibition by Enrica Viganò

Theory:
Cesare Zavattini

Key films:
Ossessione (1943) by Luchino Visconti
Ladri di biciclette (194 by Vittorio De Sica
Riso amaro (1949) by Giuseppe De Santis
Umberto D. (1952) by Vittorio De Sica
C’eravamo tanto amati (1974) by Ettore Scola (Lascia o raddoppia?)

Photographers:
Mario De Biasi, Federico Patellani, Mario Cattaneo, Enrico Pasquali, Gianni Berengo Gardin, Piergiorgio Branzi, Stefano Bricarelli, Giuseppe Bruno, Alfredo Camisa, Mario Carbone, Mario Carrieri, Enrico Cattaneo, Giuseppe Cavalli, Cesare Colombo, Mario Dondero, Pietro Donzelli, Ernesto Fantozzi, Stanislao Farri, Mario Finocchiaro, Mario Giacomelli, Giancolombo, Giuseppe Leone, Nino Migliori, Riccardo Moncalvo, Paolo Monti, Ugo Mulas, Tino Petrelli, Franco Pinna, Stefano Robino, Fulvio Roiter, Chiara Samugheo , Tazio Secchiaroli , Enzo Sellerio , Lamberti Sorrentino , Luigi Veronesi , Pablo Volta , Arturo Zavattini

The kick-off for the three-day festival in Lantaren-Venster was yesterday night with a free-for-all. There was no plan, just instant composing and playing, but with these names wandering onto the stage, this was a jam session royale. My problem with sets like this is that the songs seem to wander aimlessly along with no particular beginning or end, with the musicians trying to feel which way to go. This can go haywire or the musicians connect and magic happens. Yesterday no real magic, but it was really enjoyable with no major screw-ups (however in the piece with the African violin, there was no connection). I liked Joe Bowie; he had a good feel for it, nice vocals and trombone, although his volume was to big for this stage (not his fault). Tony Allen did his thing, which was solid but not really involved. The man on African percussion was excellent. Benjamin Herman was good. Kain wasn’t really up for it on this night, he redeemed himself however with an intense solo performance at the end. Props to the NumoonLab for getting all this talent onto one stage. (Next time please less media; at some point the number of photographers and camera men outnumbered the musicians?!)

watch bit @ google

FOAM shows a collection photographs by Ryan McGinley in their ‘Celebrating Life’ exhibition. The photographs depict his friends in a carefree holiday setting. The style is naïve, dreamy, I like the images, they bring you back to a child-like state. However, it’s a bit one-dimensional; not much depth, you can tell that McGinley does a lot of commercial work. The lack of story makes you almost resent those rich American kids in the pictures; life isn’t this simple or carefree, or is it? Larry Clark is said to have influenced Ryan McGinley; it’s evident in this series, although Clark’s work is considerably more edgy.
www.ryanmcginley.com

I found out that I am growing increasingly impatient with exhibitions like this. This Andy Warhol exhibition prides itself to be showing one of the most complete collections of Warhol to date, but what is the use to have to dig through piles of irrelevant notes, letters and audio fragments? The curator says it will shed light on the conceptual development of the artist, but it didn’t work for me. Not that I didn’t enjoyed myself; the almost complete collection of movies was interesting to see. It’s fascinating to see this development of fame and life as art, although no answer was given to the question what triggered Warhol in this process. In a sense it’s sobering to see yourself looking at for example a voyeuristic Warhol movie of David Bowie blabbering about some Italian designer and going to Milan to shop for clothes; it’s empty, but you will keep watching, because it’s David Bowie. The spin of being famous and this commercial art is omni-present today and Andy Warhol invented it.

Last nights performance of Belmondo and Yusef Lateef was strong and inspiring. Lateef on the outset look fragile but from the moment he started playing, he looked strong. Sure, maybe at times he missed the absolute lung capacity for the saxophone, but he knew it and blew beyond it. In the beginning I thought Lateef would be outplayed in brute force by the drummer and Stéphane Belmondo, however he responded with deep, thoughtful play. He enjoyed hearing the others playing around him. Towards the end Yusef Lateef read a poem and you could hear him getting emotional. He has seen it all, his eyes and his voice showed it, but he still has the drive to share his love for music. Beautiful concert.

Yusef Lateef - flute, tenor

Lionel Belmondo - flute, tenor, soprano, Flugelhorn

Stéphane Belmondo - trumpet, bugel

Laurent Fickelson - piano

Sylvain Romano - bass

Dre Pallemaerts - drums

Photograph © Hans Sirks

In the old Fotomuseum an exposition is showing the results of the architectural competition ‘Burgermeester zoekt woning’, in search of a new residence for the mayor of Rotterdam. Overall, the quality is poor, not only in architecture, but also more strikingly, in ideas. As there was no given location, participants could choose one to strengthen their own concepts. Disappointing to see so many chose the same (de Hef, Maas-oevers), not much originality here and few used the location choice as a strategic tool. Many entries only concerned themselves with looking spectacular; no one really addressed bigger issues in Rotterdam. I liked the choice of one entry to use the mayor’s house to create a new green infrastructure. Didn’t really get the appeal of the winning entry. The jury was disappointed to see very few did anything with the ecological questions posed in the brief. Funny to read that they didn’t awarded a third prize, but instead used that prize-money to educate all entrants.

The exhibition in the Gemeentemuseum Helmond finally gave me the chance to see the photographs of Edward Burtynsky true to scale. His work centers on man’s impact on the landscape and to fully grasp the scale of things the motto ‘bigger is better’ applies. It is easy to be seduced by for example the beautiful images of quarries, large geometrical holes cut into the ground, almost like abstract art, with, on closer inspection, miniscule men laboring in the depths. However, the pictures also have a resonating effect; they show the awesome power of the ant-like workforces.The balance has shifted; now the numbers are so great that man truly has a deep impact on nature, has the power to move mountains and actually does so.Burtynsky doesn’t judge, the photographs make you think; what does this large-scale impact on nature mean beyond the visual? Extrapolate the current on the near future and the global rise of prosperity and you will wake up screaming. To have an exclusive preview, go see ‘Manufactured Landscapes’, an excellent documentary about the work of Edward Burtynsky. For a complete catalogue of Edward Burtynskys photographs go to the Charles Cowles Gallery.