In England, at the end of 1800, a certain William Morris created a system where artists, craftsmen and designers had direct responsibility for their creations. His house, called the Red House, was designed by Phillip Webb. Not satisfied with architect’s choices, Morris came to personally control the design and execution of furniture, stained glass windows, tiling and wall hangings for the Red House, then arriving to establish in 1861 – on the wake of this experience – a study of art of decoration with six of his friends called Morris, Marshall, Faulkner & Company.
Inspired by this old English story, as by the masters of Italian design and by graffiti and street art in recent years, in 2011 the Roman network of designers and artists Spaghetticreative conceived Pimp My House, abusive event for arts and derivatives, now in its second edition.

Pimp My House#2 will once again rise to CasaMia, a private space in the Roman suburb of Torrespaccata which is much more than just a home gallery: it is a creative laboratory, a design shop, and even a bed & breakfast for creatives, where the DJ can find his dishes in the kitchen, the writer his wall in the bedroom, and where every room hosts site-specific artworks and design objects. This time, on Sunday, May 27, it’s up to artists Jonathan Pannacciò (Italian) and ZenTwO (Austro-French) to make a wallpaper and a tent, while DJ Solko will propose delicious tastes of contemporary music, Luca Elio Rimatori (Nio Architecten _NL) will present a photo series in limited edition 1/1 and Paula necessity for designers the new version of the wall clock “Solid_Ho”. In addition, CasaMia will host a monthly solo show of Jonathan Pannacciò, and in its rooms will be possible to (re)discover the permanent works by the artists of Pimp My House first edition: Etnik, Joys, Karma and Verbo.
So, home sweet home… see you at CasaMia!

25.05.2012

PIMP MY HOUSE #2
abusive event for arts and derivatives / powered by Spaghetticreative
CASAMIA B&B/artgallery
Via giuseppe Martellotti 3 (Torrespaccata)
By Invitation Only | info@casamiaroma.it

Rome, May 27, 2012 | from 6pm to 9pm

The atavistic clash between Nature and Man is in the art, once again, to debate about who will prevail: NATURE VS NURTURE is the group show that opens next June 8, 2012, at the FaMa Gallery in Verona, and presents the work of five artists called to investigate the intricate controversy between the origin and evolution of the world. How the innate characteristics of what surrounds us have suffered the trials and changes that science and progress have applied?
David Casini, in a dialogical exchange of identities of the objects represented, reflects through the medium of the mirror their original structure and their artificial transformation, overloading them with a symbolic value that tells the uncertainty of this time of transition. Mat Collishaw (who you can also discover on the catastrophic pages of DROME 20), interprets nature with a decadent reminder of Les Fleurs du Mal, representing it in a corrupt putrescence that alarms the observer. The beauty of the iris in his images is eaten by an unstoppable genetic modification that deflowers it and yet makes it morbidly hypnotizing. And always talking about bioethics, the work of Patricia Piccinini is focused on human and perfect forms, reconstructed with exact details and realistic materials: the creatures that inhabit her imagination are halfway between the humanoid, the android and the alien, in a projection of the imminent future that scares us a little. Synthetic and rigorous instead Barry Reigate, who examines the unexpected but deep relationship that exists between physical and social structures. So it becomes inevitable questioning about what will happen, because the present is always difficult to understand; in the fear and the bewilderment, still exist the shelters of Sissi that, although they come from a disciplined scientific research, envelopes living cocoons that seem familiar and cosy.
Until July 28, 2012!

Ilaria Giordano
24.05.2012

NATURE VS NURTURE :: Group Show
FaMa Gallery
Corso Cavour, 25/27
web: www.famagallery.com

Verona, from June 9 to July 28, 2012

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DROME also suggests you the Mat Collishaw’s solo show:

THE CRYSTAL GAZE
Galleria Raucci / Santamaria
Corso Amedeo di Savoia, 190
web: www.raucciesantamaria.com

Naples, from May 11 to July 20, 2012

To compose the soundtrack for a miscellaneous catalogue of thematic illustrations dealing with the question “What is God?”, is an experience that I would never wish on anybody. The project as has been conceived by Studio Pomo in Milan with the aim of collecting such an array of different views in 105 drawings (size: 29,7×21 cm) by as many illustrators, also including 2 soundtracks composed by 1+2 of the featured artists, is already a magic – quite divine – achievement. I defy you to discover the numerological alchemy that left in me a feeling of excitement and unease.

The 12” split vinyl released in Spring 2012 for Sonic Belligeranza/POMO fully grasps the spirit of the project with two long elaborate compositions written by 3 of the best and most eclectic Italian visual artists. Dea by Ottaven, creative moniker of the great Canedicoda and the track Ritorneranno dal cielo by the amazing groundbreaking duo Dr. Pira & 108, alias Aquarius Omega. With the first song, you delve into a visionary drone, which through psychedelic additives takes you close to the spiritual side of divinity; whereas with the second track, you find yourself in a highly imaginative spacesynth suite in an Alan Parsons Project style directed by Stanley Kubrick, which grasps the scientific infinite that the man attempts to shape.
We definitely recommend both the A4GOD box-book and the complementary split vinyl.

Edo Tetsuo [Alpacha Distro]

OTTAVEN / AQUARIUS Ω
A4GOD – “An Inquiry into Eidolatria and Contemporary Drawing in Italy”
SonicBelligeranza, Studio POMO, 2012
web: belligeranza.c8.com / www.thepomo.com
A4GOD Project: www.a4god.com
Ottaven: www.ottave.altervista.org
Aquarius Omega: aquariusomega.bandcamp.com

From the art gallery to the theater scene, from comfortable homes to the most refined hotels. Site-specific works selected because of their affinity within the concept, co-working projects born from the determination to create objects that have “special life”, products conceived to give a character totally unique to the environment that will host them.
The design works selected by Fies, production center for performing arts, and MI9 Architettura Immagine studio, will be hosted in the areas of the Temporary Gallery at Central Fies on the occasion of F.I.C.O., an initiative focused on unique projects of interior design.
Fies Interiors Contemporary Objects is a creative laboratory, a factory in turmoil with the aim of creating a network of tangency between companies, craftsmen, artists and customers.
 

23.05.2012

 
Fies Interiors Contemporary Objects
Centrale Fies
Loc. Fies 1 – 38074 Dro (TN)
web: www.centralefies.it

Dro, from May 27 July 8, 2012

Tim Burton brings Dark Shadows – an American cult series created by Dan Curtis and aired between the 1960′s and 1970′s – to the big screen, even though it’s nearly unknown outside of the United States. “I was a big fan of it” – recalls Burton – “and when on the set of Sweeney Todd the idea of making a film about vampires came to me, my thoughts shifted to that childhood memory.” And so Burton commemorates one of the most ravaged figures of the cinematic world: the bloodsucker.

We are in 1772, and the rich and hardened playboy Barnabas Collins falls in love with the beautiful Josette, and by doing so makes the grave mistake of breaking the heart of Angelique, a witch in every sense. Her revenge will be dreadful: not only does she transform him into a vampire, but she condemns him to be buried for two centuries. When the tomb is inadvertently opened, the vampire re-emerges in 1972 and returns to Collinwood Manor, where he will come to the bitter discovery that his large property has fallen into disrepair, but that the heirs of his eccentric family still reside there, each with his or her own dark secrets. It will all conclude when he once again encounters the immortal Angelique, still in love with him and consumed with jealousy of Vickie, the young nanny of the family who bears a striking resemblance to Josette.

This time the eccentric creatures, gloomy and lonesome as they are, that come from the father of Edward Scissorhands and Beetlejuice, just to name a few, are perturbed characters and of a rough-sketched psychology are left in the background for the only true protagonist, Johnny Depp, naturally, in the role of Barnabas. The freak of the moment is a gentleman dandy who finds himself ill at ease in the America of the 1970′s, when young people were strange hippie flower children, and the music was odd. The witch, Angelique Bouchard, is played by Eva Green, whose supple curves adapt well to the costumes. Meanwhile, the veteran Michelle Pfeiffer wears the clothes of soap-opera matriarch with the difficult task of keeping an eye on the child prodigy Chloe Moretz, who plays her daughter, and has already played a preadolescent vampire in Blood Story and Hit-Girl in Kick Ass.
Burton’s creative world, laden with visions, colors, lights and shadows, expresses itself best in the initial scenes, and then becomes a tribute to the same director who drags up all of his most gothic and dark traditions, from Sleepy Hollow and Nightmare Before Christmas to Corpse Bride. A horror comedy that moves along through continuous quotes from films such as The Addams Family, Twilight, Death Becomes Her, Nosferatu, and many others, and a series of zany gags about the pecularities of the ’70′s that very early on get in the way of Burton’s cinematic poetics.

It would be wrong, however, to label Burton’s latest effort as a simple self-referential film, but the director ends up mixing far too many genres and in doing so achieves one of his laziest works, void of emotional impulse and incapable of provoking that feeling of inspiration that the director has accustomed us to with his movies. A sometimes bewildering plot that Burton holds firm to with breathtaking digital visual effects, a soundtrack in which the music of Danny Elfman joins in a sort of marriage with the great rock classics from the 70′s, which includes Highway Star by Deep Purple and Crocodile Rock by Elton John. But the real gem of the film is the superhuman and long cameo appearance of the brilliant performer Alice Cooper, defined by Barnabas/Johnny as “the ugliest woman I’ve ever seen.”

Monica Straniero
21.05.2012

DARK  SHADOWS
A film by Tim Burton
Warner Bros, 2012
web: darkshadowsmovie.warnerbros.com

After the huge success of Spaceship Earth exhibition in 2011, the Center of Contemporary Art Znaki Czasu in Torun (Poland) is now preparing to inaugurate a new, prestigious group show curated by Dobrila Denegri.
Theater of Life is an exhibition dedicated to the artistic practices that challenged social conventions in search for alternative models of art and life, announcing and propelling the liberating energies that shook the art world, and not only, in the late ‘60s and early ‘70s.: Fluxus, performance, body art, and all those tendencies that have found their focus on action and on the body as subject and object of the artwork, will be the starting point for a wide exhibition which will also highlight how the theatrical and subversive character of the gestures of those years still resounds in the work of new generations.
The opening, scheduled on May 18, will be accompanied by an intensive program of performances and lectures which will turn the museum and exhibition in a “total performative event”, that will include artists as well as the public, of course.

16.05.2012

Theater of Life
Center of Contemporary Art Znaki Czasu
Waly gen. Sikorskiego, 13
web: www.csw.torun.pl

Torun (Poland), from May 18 to September 16, 2012

Put together by taking away. The result is a non-linear story, a polyphonic narration, a kaleidoscope of possible paths. The process aimed to shape the profile of someone has lost the faculty of having an adult appearance is not easy. You could only start from a picture that immortalize an enchanted season of life, Childhood. Just with a faded memory in pockets, you could try to create an identikit. Half true because a cropped photo is never factual. Half false for the reason that among the pieces resides what collective memory associates with the concept of absence.

Sofia Mattioli
21.05.2012

Kensuke Koike is a visual artist born in 1980 in Nagoya, Japan. After the degree in Visual Arts at the University of Architecture in Venice, Italy, he began to collaborate with various art galleries. He works mainly on collages: from the traditional and technically simple photo-collage to the three dimensional collage in motion. He presents a highly personal vision of reality in which he proposes new ways of perceiving the world around us. Among the spaces that have recently hosted his works, the Jarach Gallery in Venice and Virgil de Voldere Gallery in New York.
www.kensukekoike.com

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What he might have looked like
Kensuke Koike, Inspired by DROME, 2012

The first solo show of Angelo Cricchi at Castle of Rivara (Turin), The Pearls Are Real, begins with a familiar project to dromers – and not only: Gloomy Sunday, the event curated by DROME magazine in 2009 at MAK Museum of Applied Arts in Vienna which saw the interventions of several visual and performing artists, including the same photographic project by Cricchi.

The exhibition of Rivara, curated by Simona Cresci, explores the troubled world of some of the most charismatic and famous women in History ,who have decided to end their lives. The shots by Angelo Cricchi interpret the existential way of the protagonists, with a documentary carefulness, but never intrusive, even lyrical. So the pursuit – sometimes morbid – of death almost doesn’t appear, not as the female sensuality of the subjects, which obscures the idea of tragedy: the spectator remains fascinated by the personality, and the weakness falls into the background. But it is there, and remains essential. The photographs bring the visible sign of the formation of the artist, the fashion world: another trait that sets on the wrong track, turning this feature into a free zone, in the fictional of the set and documenting through backstage videos. It’s an intimate journey through the sensitivity of the female universe, once again hidden from the proud modesty of thirty notes, perturbing and fascinating women whose we have memory.

Ilaria Giordano

18.05.201

ANGELO CRICCHI

The Pearls Are True (Le Perle sono Vere)
Castle of Rivara – Center of Contemporary Art
Piazza Sillano, 2
web: www.castellodirivara.it

Rivara (TO), from May 19 to October 28, 2012

Going to take place from May 17 to 25, 2012, in Rome, Teatri di Vetro is not an usual festival. It is rather a community of actors, curators and – not least – of public, all assembled around a Kafkaesque claim: Assault on the frontiers. Because from the Kafka quote – “all such writing is an assault on the frontiers” -, they take the strength to overcome the social, economic, political, philosophical and anthropological difficulties, in order to share an art which is independent, free and consistent.
Reached its sixth edition, like a child who goes to school, the festival grew up, and this year – under the artistic direction of Roberta Nicolai and Triangolo Scaleno Teatro – has significantly expanded its possibilities by opening its doors to many new companies and new artistic genres, such as dance and video art, which are going to animate the Roman popular district of Garbatella.
The Body is the theme of the initiative, not only from a physical and dynamic point of view, but also aesthetic, reflective, revolutionary, and in connection with the objects and scenes which, especially in the case of the shows organized in several spaces of the neighbourhood, constantly change the performances, demonstrating the great importance that this kind of theater gives to his context and audience: popular, honest and collaborative.
TDV assaults the frontiers, it surpasses them despite the crisis, and defines its character, this time more than ever, “there are not good magicians, – says Roberta Nicolai – neither artists: you can choose to live in the light off, among the ghosts, or you can find the switches and turn on the light.” 

Ilaria Giordano
16.05.2012

TEATRI DI VETRO
Palladium Theatre
Piazza Bartolomeo Romano, 8 | Various venues
web: www.teatridivetro.it

Rome, from May 17 to 25 , 2012

An aphorism by Francesco Sales says: “Teaching is the foundation for learning.” The phrase fits perfectly to the designing duo formed by Rachele Mancini and Maila Ferlisi, better known as Hibou Ra Ma, a brand which produces trendy bags, made with selected materials and 100% made in Italy, but absolutely affordable.
Rachele was astudent at her last year at the Accademy of International Academy for Haute Couture and Art of Costume Koefia when she met Maila, who was her teacher. The two had shared many ideas and tastes, and when they both realized that they needed a clutch bag, and that they wasn’t able to find one with appreciable design and quality, they decided to create it with their own hands and ingenuity. Thus was born Virginia, the first bag, two-tone, imaginative and fashionable, but with a subtle touch of aggressive allure that distinguishes all the bags Hibou Ra Ma, and also the two designers. Virginia has changed over time, has dabbled more or less young women with its many versions, and has been joined by several companions, as Polly, the current it bag of the brand.

DROME: A woman can’t get enough bags. What’s fundamental for an accessoire?
Hibou but Ra: We have always had a passion for accessories, because we believe that they are the finishing touch that can enhance any outfit, even the most simple. It is often the way to dare for those who can not wear any dress, by choice or because of their physical fitness, job or age. We are convinced that they are a great way to vent the own fancy. From bags and shoes, you can understand the personality of a person.

D: What do you think about today’s fashion system and how would you like to see it change in the future?
H: We are attracted by the luxury that excites us, but it would be nice to have an accessory of high quality and refined genre at an affordable price. We would also like it to be given space to these emerging brands that perform their work with passion, professionalism and a bit of courage.

D: What is your greatest satisfaction at the time?
H: No doubt to see our creations around, worn by many women, each one in its own way. Or when our clients write to us telling their enthusiasm and come back to buy more bags.

D: What was, until now, the most challenging and interesting meeting for your work?
H: Participating at Artisanal Intelligence, the first real event that allowed us to know industry insiders, Roman and not only. We had the feeling of having chosen the right path.

D: Which are the characteristics that you admire in the other, and which are the advantages to work as a duo?
H: We have the same taste and together we can have some interesting and challenging ideas. This is definitely our strength. Rachel is very good in planning, she is down-to earth and has a lot of self-control. Maila, however, has a strong artistic streak.

D: If you have to compare your personal style, your fashion to a song, which would be? And a dish? A movie?
H: As song, Megamix by Jovanotti, because, for us, is a hymn to creativity. As dish, definitely chocolate: we love in all its forms. Finally, as a movie, Limitless with Bradley Cooper.

text by Anna Franco
photos by Federico Oddone for DROME magazine
16.05.2012

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The two models invited by Hibou for IN THE VAN #05 are Francesca Perini and Camilla Alibrandi. Francesca is a young Italian actress, who divides her time between the sets of movies, TV series and commercials. Instead Camilla is a photographer, but an acute observer has surely recognized her due to numerous appearances on The Sartorialist, thanks to her innate ability to play with fashion.
www.myspace.com/alibrandicamilla

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Making of IN THE VAN #05 | video by Jacopo Pergameno - music by Equ Ohm

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Discover the next stops of the tour!

www.dromemagazine.com/in-the-van

Only a few days left to the launch of the new exhibition project conceived and curated by the collective elsewhere factory, which once again finds an unusual mechanism of collaboration, this time with CARGO, the symbol-space of the creative ferment that increasingly animates the Roman district of Pigneto – that has also given birth to DROME! -, and now new cradle of vibrant artistic avant-garde.

PATCHBOX is a multifaceted project: an exhibition of artworks by over 50 international artists, sent in digital format and then printed, numbered and stamped by the curators. Thus, the artworks become limited edition, despite their digital origin, proving that 2.0 art is officially recognized, it’s beautiful and has value because it CAN be unique. The exhibition will also be dynamic, because the works on sale, at 10 Euros each, once purchased will create new compositions and arrangements in the original setup, following a formula that suggests the kaleidoscope: one click, and everything changes.
All this – and, given the concept, couldn’t be otherwise – will have its parallel interface online between a web gallery that will gradually show all the artwork on show, and the documentation of the continuous changes of the exhibition, communicated in real time via social networks.
In short, PATCHBOX is the event that we all would like to attend, and this time we can, it shouldn’t be missed: from May 17, 2012, and for the next three months, at the CARGO you can drink, chat, and buy art at reasonable prices, a little as it probably should be thought contemporary art for young people: somewhere it’s necessary to begin in order to become collectors and to interact with the market… more interaction than that?!

Ilaria Giordano
15.05.2012

PATCHBOX project – Group Show
CARGO
Via del Pigneto, 20
web: www.patchboxproject.com

Rome, from May 17 to August 2012

“It is all about hands which leave unique and inimitable signs. Hands that touch, interact, change. Hands that create objects intended for use, not just consumption”

Designers, stylists, artists, artisan boutiques and Italian and international small ateliers are the protagonists of the sixth edition of Byhand, the temporary shop focused on mingling between art and fashion, dedicated to unique design disciplines. This time, it’s the Circolo dei Lettori of Turin which is going to host the 34 exhibitors-craftsmen who, with a fresh and live approach, manufactures products, not “goods”. The industrial Anonymity is put aside, and it is emphasized the spontaneous and genuine creativity that gives birth to unique one-offs, all meticulously handmade. With an event where fashion, art and design come together, live together, by sharing planning and production poetics, Byhand will showcase (and sell!) dresses (Workshop), accessories (Atelrier Carlotta Sadino, Saisei, Livia Lazzari – our protagonist for IN THA VAN #02), home design (2icedesign), brand (Trakatan), illustrations (Giorgio Rubbio) and collections (Elizabeth The First, ombredifoglia). Limited editions made with the knowledge of tradition and craftsmanship by those who just don’t care about the logic of consumerism and of arid laws of the market.
From 18 to 20 May, 2012!

Giulia Fasanella
14.05.2012

Byhand – Edizione 06
Circolo dei Lettori
Via Bogino, 9
web: www.byhandshow.com / www.circololettori.it

Torino, dal 18 al 20 Maggio 2012