Tag Archives: contemporary art scene

Sticks and Stones, an intervention

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I took some time yesterday to say goodbye to the Neue Nationalgalerie in Berlin. No, I’m not planning to move away, but there will be major renovation works soon, so the New National Gallery will be closed from 2015 for several years.  Several years, what an awful news.

Albeit the loss the city will face in terms of contemporary art offer, if you are in the city head there, and just enjoy the wonderful installation designed by British architect David Chipperfield. After the great renovation made at Neues Museum in Museum Island, he worked in the open glass hall of the New National Gallery by displaying 144 impressive tree trunks.

David Chipperfield, Sticks and Stones, intervention, installation view

Official Picture from the Museum website. © Photo: David Becker

I was blessed with a beautiful sunny day and the reflections of the light, the rays trespassing and the shadows produced were stunning. The synergy created between place, materials and light was the highlight of my Sunday. Additionally visitors create beautiful interactions by touching the 8m tall trees, by moving around, by creating new shadows.

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Toddler playing

Toddler playing

The exceptionality of living this open space in such a different way is striking if you are usually used to see it as a blank canvas, with no pillars sustaining its free floating roof. Architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe designed the space to be widely open, an interaction of granite floors, steel columns and glass. The introduction of wood on the granite, literally stick and stones, adds new meanings to the space itself: it gives a natural support to the roof, that for all this years; it gives also a sense of closure, anticipating the structural works the museum is about to undergo. An English nursery rhyme says “Sticks and Stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me”. I saw this installation also as a wish, to avoid cracking the soul of the New National Gallery with the upcoming works.

Sony Center in the background

Sony Center in the background

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The exhibition continues downstairs until December 31st, if you have no money to pay the ticket just go there and enjoy the forest in the hall, it is for free and really worth a visit.

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P.S.: as you may see the pictures were taken with a mobile phone. I had no power to control light and sharpness. At the end, I quite like the rough result this time.

 

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August Highlights!

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Hello lovely people.

It is, again, the end of the month. Almost the end of the Summer too, so double meaning.

New exciting times and changes are coming, more layers on too. I can’t wait for Autumn to start, maybe bar the rain, but I’ll live to moderately embrace that too. Bring it on! Under “Playlist” you can find a new fine selection ’bout what impressed me this month: flowers, movies, books, radio, etc.. We start with a brand new playlist.

playlist

A very peculiar mix this month: I took some of my favourite songs listened on Youtube, (especially this lovely demo song by Henry Hall for a great Casey Neistat’s video – he’s a filmmaker from NYC, go check him out if you don’t know him!), podcasts like Song Exploder and This American Life. I believe it’s an interesting mix, let me know what you think. To start to listen to and read of other monthly favourites just click on the picture or directly HERE.

Enjoy and bring joy with you, always.

 

Val

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Follow me on Facebook: Valanzo

July Highlights!

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What is the best thing about the end of a month?

The fact that you will get a paycheck? Or that it’s the only day you are sure you have no new bills to pay? That holidays come soon? Wrong. You’re all wrong.

The best part of the end of the month is to get to read this post. 🙂 Cheeky me, I know.

Here for you a new selection over art, photography, flowers, radio, movie and tv-series reviews, plus a fresh yummy recipe, all starting from a new Playlist. Click on the picture or here to start a new journey!

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Full link: The Playlist

Enjoy and bring joy with you, always.

Val

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Follow me on Facebook: Valanzo

Berlin. Sky Art. Snippets.

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It’s been a very interesting artsy month indeed.

Last Saturday in Berlin we experienced a very cool event in Mitte, precisely at Neue Nationalgalerie and related exhibition at Deutsche Bank KunstHalle “Otto Piene. More Sky”.

Let me start by saying I didn’t know this artist, at least I didn’t remember of him, but nevertheless its interest hold me an entire weekend, buzzing about him, despite the crazy heath hitting the Hauptstadt. It was a sky art exhibition!

This is a great video by Deutsche Bank to understand how big and exciting, especially with the help of the darkness, it was.

His beautiful description explains better than anything all the celebrations Deutsche Bank KunstHalle made for Otto Piene.

His Manifesto.

His Manifesto.

I took some pictures at Deutsche Bank KunstHalle I want to share with you, enjoy.

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That yellow...

That yellow…

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Greetings from Berlin, ’til the next time.

 

Art Basel: parallel Exhibitions

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When people tells me that contemporary art is snob I tend to disagree. Yes, it can be an as amusing as expensive hobby, but also a big, international community where to find opportunities, events and more. A clear example is Art Basel: during the week the fair is in town, the city itselfs hosts all the parallel exhibitions.

I went first to Volta 10, to feel the New York vibrations. It was a nice, niche exhibition at Markthalle, the indoor market, spot-on location next to the train station.

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I let myself playing a bit with the blues and vibrance, sorry 😉

vvolta 10

Of the 70 galleries I put my eyes on Fred Eerdekens at Spencer Brownstone Gallery mural. I was in love with the semplicity and spectacular effect on visitors (moi-même)

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Fred Eerdekens

Special mention to Michael Reisch at SCHLEUBLEIN +BAK and Marian Drew at Dianne Tanzer Gallery + Project, go visit her website to be amused by “alternative still life”.

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The next day I visited Scope. It was in an industrial hangar along river Rhein next to the border with Germany and France, a direct view to pharmaceutical companies. Since the backseat location the place was not overcrowded; that gave me the possibility to chat with gallerists and people around. Good experience.

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Hellow.

I didn’t see any breathtaking work, but for sure I was positively impressed by some galleries, like Wanrooij Gallery and Koh Sang Woo’s “Decoding Women” project

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My special mention goes to Roberto Fanari’s Solo Exhibition at gallerianumero38, a bit of Italian pride on my side. If you are around Lucca-Tuscany, go visit this gallery, people were lovely and works really worthy.

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Another day, another fair! Unlimited is part of Art Basel, designed for installations, video art and bis shiny stuff. Love it.

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           unlimited 3                          unlimited 4

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A  great after-fair is to chill along the river, while watching people floating in the Rhein (funny fact about the city: citizens float down the river with Wickelfisch, a designed waterproof bag to keep your clothes and belongings dry while enjoying a free water ride).

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Thanks to my lovely host and Swiss friend Nadia. See you next year, same place same time, I might float myself too afterwards.

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P.S. All pictures taken with mobile phone, some filtered, some naturally blurry and pixeled. Sorry.

Art Basel: one big fair is in town.

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The following post will be a highly promotional essay about Art Basel. If you are against contemporary art or you think the matter might offend or hurt your feelings please do not continue to read and go back doing what you were doing. Please beware that any complaint will be forwarded to Bruce.

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Just kidding. This above is an amusing work by the Bruce High Quality Foundation in Brooklyn. Go check them out.

Let’s start again with a statement: If you are into contemporary art, you must at least once go to Basel, let’s say a weekend in June.

Basel – lovely Swiss city where everybody speaks 3 languages and pretends to understand them too – has itself a remarkable amount of good museums, such as the Kunstmuseum Basel, Museum für Gegenwartskunst and Museum Tinguely, but for the past 45 years it has also been hosting a massive art fair, the most important one on the Planet. Here some datas about the undiscussed supremacy: http://www.artlyst.com/articles/art-basel-45-retains-its-supremacy-in-the-art-marketplace.

So what’s special about it? The quantity? The quality? The events and sub-fairs around it? All of it. It is a very nice way to spend a weekend, believe me. I saw so many good artworks my eyes were hurting. I especially loved a Jaume Plensa’s sculpture…

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or this Sterling Ruby’s spray painting..

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and many more. I am going to try and give you the general feeling with the pictures I took with my phone (sorry for quality). Enjoy.

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Hulk has a personal bodyguard, did you know?

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That’s Amore, Michael Delucia

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A room walking on rainbow paper leaves

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A very natural pose

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An artwork with a cheeky hole to look at the other side

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An entire wall of sea landscapes, to feel inspired and see-sick at the same time. Powerful work, anyway.

 

June Highlights!

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Hello June, welcome Summer!

And hello to you, beautiful creatures here reading. June has come and gone, and now things are getting real: half of 2014 has happened already. Seriously. It was like a quick time-lapse movie, I know, but take this time to consider if, so far, you have done enough of what all the good new year’s resolutions?

I haven’t, but I am excited because on the good way, and not stopping. Join me on the positive vibes, now!

Let’s start with music and a brand new playlist:

Click on the picture now to start the playlist and see all the other monthly favourites!

Click on the picture now to start the playlist and see all the other monthly favourites!

 

What to expect more? Just few topics from my very personal list of favourites, selected and explained just for you:  Flowers – Film – Book – Radio – Tv series – Artist – Photo –  Food …

Just click on the pic/album to start!

Enjoy and bring joy with you, always.

Val

 

P.S. Question of the month: who’s gonna win the World Cup???? Leave me a comment below if you want!

May Highlights!

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Here we go friends, the highlights are here and for real! The weather this month across Europe has been ideal and inspiring, I got my groove back thanks with my shiny, now all fixed, bike and some new exciting activities at work. Good vibrations don’t come alone neither for you: stay positive with a brand new Playlist!

In it, a mix of love and wandering, a quite British one, with some old classics plus new entries from my beloved Damon Albarn (did you know he was my first teen crush? Read “Maybe kinda obsession“), Bombay Bicycle Club…have it a go!

On my monthly highlights, some juicy favourites, like a Kiwi tv-series you might not know, an iconic picture I snapped with my mobile camera, a new cake and many many others. Come on board, just click here to the right page!

Enjoy and bring joy with you, always. Val

Oslo treasures: Henie-Onstad Art Centre

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I will never stop ceasing people to go visit a museum of arts or an art collection.

It might be my degree in Arts, but I am firmly convinced that the time you invest visiting a museum or just watching artworks, graffitis, installations or just an exhibition allows your soul to recharge, be inspired to think and imagine but, simple as that, to have something to talk about: I deeply resent the only use of ‘like’, ‘share’ and ’emoji’ in these modern times, since there is a lot to see, think and share. Art is the boosting vehicle to do it.

Bar the lecture, Oslo is a vibrant city in term of arts, as the Wall Street Journal explains in this interesting article: online.wsj.com/news/.

If you have some spare time I recommend  the national museums -a daily ticket gets you to 4 museums! Sunday free entrance too!!-, the Stenersen Museum – Tuesday is the lucky day to get into for free!- and related to that the Munch Museum -mainly drawings and prints, highly promoted to tourists, anyway worth to go once. Keep in mind: ticket is average expensive than the other places, but if you buy it and then visit Stenersen Museum you will have a 50% discount on the Stenersen ticket (but not way round? d’oh)-. A new pearl at the end of Aker Brygge, in Tjuvholmen, is the Astrup Fearnley Museet. The structure is a pure jewel of the Fjord City urban renewal program, planned by architect Renzo Piano – tickets fairly pricey, but every Thursday they have interesting lectures if you fancy something more along-. #FYI Next to A.F.M. there is the Hotel ‘The Thief’, which has a lovely panorama rooftop bar!

These above were my suggestions for the city centre, but I have one more if you feel audacious: Henie-Onstad Art Center (HOK), in Høvikodden, South-West of Oslo.

Entrance

It is an art centre, meaning along with a collection there are also temporary exhibitions, concerts and more. The key-word for HOK is: Location. At the top of a fjord, the building, a mix of wood, concrete and glass, is surrounded by woods and sea. I found the collection quite limited, the ticket a bit expensive, but the combination art centre-location is the top. If this is not yet enough appealing, Frank Zappa played there. John Cage too. A-m-a-z-i-n-g.

Poster of the events at HOK

 

I took some pics with my mobile, and glued together for your infotainment (yeah yeah yeah, low quality pics resolution due to my crappy phone. Please feel free to invest in me, I always accept donations for a new one). Hope you like’em!

 

The Collection

The Collection

The Collection

The Collection

Architecture and View at Høvikodden

Casual Banana and U Sculptures

March Highlights!

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I have a kind of soft-spot for March.

Yeah you know, it’s the kind of month you start seeing the sun more, consequentially you start loving everything around you, to then realise you love everything except the fat that is partying hard in your weak, pale body since the frozen days back in December January and February but hey nevermind you still have 10-15 days to go out and get fit before rainy April start. Story of everybody’s in a continental climate’s life.

Oh, and for me March means business. Birthday business. So the list of favourites is pretty special, starting from the playlist. Spoiler, it gets super boosting-up:

Here’s the link to the full list, https://valanzo.com/playlist/ some juicy favourites to interact with (click on all the bold words and links to get more info). Highlights? True Detective, Stephen King, Macarons…

Enjoy and bring joy with you, always.

Val