Pretty fabulous truck trailer created for Lago, an Italian furniture company! We saw it first on Notcot.org but you can read more about it on the Lago website as well.
Archive for May, 2008
31
May
Keep On Truckin’?
It’s Photo Friday! Here at the eCool Compound we’ve been hanging with Rachel Donadio, writer and editor at the New York Times Book Review and former resident of Rome (Rachel is seen on the right side of this photo taken by Susan Sanders). We’re excited to announce that she’s agreed to be our guest blogger for today! So, here’s the word on Rome from Rachel:
Buon giorno a tutti! Whenever I’m back in Rome, I try to visit a particular trattoria I used to frequent when I lived in Monteverde, a quiet neighborhood on the Janiculum Hill. Much about the restaurant is non-descript, from the florescent lighting to the peculiar wall decor. But one thing definitely stands out: Dorina, the proprietor, hostess and all-around cultural dynamo who runs the place (see photo above - Dorina is on the left). A ferocious consumer of culture who talks at approximately 45 rpm, Dorina is as likely to recommend books and movies as she is the specialties of the house. In both, her taste runs toward her native Sardinia. Dorina is an ardent champion of Sardinian writers, who have been experiencing a mini-renaissance in recent years. This time around, she suggested three books, all of which have been well received in Italy:
Sardinia Blues by Flavio Soriga, a post-modern novel that looks at the island known to the outside world mostly for its rough landscape, ricotta products, kidnappings and vacation homes.
L’Uomo che vuole essere Peròn by Giovanni Maria Bellu, a novel with three narrative threads: one set among Sardinian immigrants to Argentina in the late 19th century, the others in contemporary Sardinia.
La Questua by Curzio Maltese, an investigation into what happens to the public money — now 1 billion Euros a year — that the Italian state gives the Catholic Church each year. Under the Italian Constitution of 1946, the state pledged to give “otto per mille,” or 0.8 percent of personal income tax revenues, to the church. (In the 90s, the law was broadened to include the Jewish Community, Methodists, Seventh Day Adventists, Buddhists and others.) The book is based on Maltese’s articles in the center-left daily La Repubblica and remains on the Italian best-seller list.
The books sound intriguing, but I can’t say I’ve been doing much reading on my vacation. Mostly I’ve been busy eating, looking at art, catching up with friends, window shopping (thanks, lousy exchange rate!) and going to the movies. I recommend the two Italian films that just won prizes at Cannes: Gomorra, Matteo Garrone’s Altmanesque take on Roberto Saviano’s book about the Neapolitan Mafia, the Camorra; and Il Divo, Paolo Sorrentino’s Tarrantino-influenced portrait of Giulio Andreotti, the seven-time prime minister nicknamed “il divo Giulio,” or the divine Julius, for his Classical forbear and his ability to emerge unscathed from many of Italy’s darkest legal thickets.
The endless complexities of Italian politics — so much intrigue, so much stasis, so much corruption! — are enough to give anyone a permanent headache and an even worse heartache. The more I understand Italy, the more it unsettles and disarms me. Luckily, many things help take the edge off. For every political failure, for every over-crowded bus and irritable shop clerk, for every late train and poorly marked route, for every ill-lit painting in every mismanaged public musuem, for every heat spell and sudden rainstorm, I recommend, in equal parts: coffee, pistachio gelato, pizza bianca, fresh cantaloupe, aranciata amara, mozzarella di bufala, the smell of jasmine, the sound of seagulls, umbrella pines, bougainvillea, seventeenth-century sunsets. Not to mention: the Pantheon, the view from the Fontanone on the Janiculum, the Caravaggios in the church of San Luigi dei Francesi, the Via Giulia, and Bernini’s Apollo and Daphne, where the young god forever pursues his beloved even as her fingers sprout into bay leaves before our very eyes, as cinematic a sculpture as was ever made.
Italy is in many ways the opposite of America. Everything is impossible here — except for pleasure.
Alla prossima!
30
May
The Handy Man Can
Using a lot of paint, and a few simple props (a spongy ball, some google eyes), Italian graphic artist Mario Mariotti (1937-1997) transformed his hands into animals, athletes and musicians. His intriguing creations are well-documented in a book, Hanimations, that’s loved by kids worldwide–and for the next month or so you there’s an exhibition of his photographs here in Rome.
The exhibition is being hosted in the Casina di Raffaello in the Villa Borghese. On exhibit are some 80 photos of his handy-work, of which we show you just a sampling here. Take your kids–or your inner child–because there’s a workshop in which children can participate.
Animani. Le Mani di Mario. On exhibit until 29 June at the Casina di Raffaello. Viale di Casina di Raffaello, Villa Borghese. Open Tuesdays-Sundays from 9:00am to 7:00pm. If you’re planning to bring the kids and they want to participate in the workshop or “laboratorio,” be sure to read this information about the hours in which it is open to the public.
Great excitement spread through the worldwide press last week when the city of Rome announced that a fireworks display designed by Michelangelo would be staged at 10:30pm on Saturday 24 May in commemoration of the 500th anniversary of Michelangelo’s work on the Sistine Chapel Ceiling (Michelangelo signed the contract that bound him to paint the Sistine Ceiling on May 10, 1508).
The plan–as reported by websites and newspapers worldwide–was to reproduce Michelangelo’s Girandola, an elaborate fireworks display created by the artist for Pope Julius II, which was first staged from the heights of Castel Sant’Angelo in the early 16th century and repeated annually until 1834.
As many of our readers might imagine, we at the eCool Compound were extremely excited about the recreation of the Girandola. We did a bit of research. We discovered the color-washed etchings of the event (above) created by Francesco Piranesi and Louis-Jean Desprez in the 1780s (now in the New York Public Library and the Metropolitan Museum of Art), and we cleared our Saturday evening calendars in preparation for a fireworks extravaganza.
We were excited to see how Michelangelo’s fireworks display would differ from the modern fireworks that so often light up the Roman sky at night. And we were interested to hear that an historic fireworks expert, Giuseppe Passeri, had spent years studying ancient documents and finding ways to reproduce the fireworks-making materials of Michelangelo’s era.
In article after article, Passeri explained that unlike modern firework shows, the Girandola used few explosives and focused on transparency and color definition:
The Girandola was an unmistakably baroque event, an astounding play of colors wedded to its surroundings. It was a kind of elaborate game, like a fountain transformed into fire.
Yes! This would be interesting! And it would be made even more so by the fact that Renaissance fireworks production techniques were vastly different from modern ones, using entirely natural materials and relying heavily on the location to enhance the effect. According to Passeri, his team would do its best to reproduce the original shape of Michelangelo’s fireworks, which were meant to mimic a volcanic eruption on the island of Stromboli, off the coast of Sicily.
And so, on Saturday evening, we took ourselves to Castel Sant’Angelo. We arrived about 10:20pm and found an excellent vantage point on a nearby bridge. We stood there amongst Romans, tourists, and any number of lederhausen-clad oom-pah-pah bands (we can’t explain their enthusiasm for the event). We waited. And we waited. And we waited some more. But the Girandola never happened.
ADDENDUM: Since we first published this article some days ago, Jennifer and Hande, two intrepid residents of Rome, have written to tell us that Girandola DID take place. Despite being scheduled for 10:30pm, the fireworks actually went off early, about 9:45 or 10:00pm. We must not have been the only ones foiled in our efforts to photograph the event, for no images have appeared in the press.
Some information via ANSA
24
May
God Made Aliens Too
We’re a few days late in reporting this important news, but we know that those readers who missed it in the press, will be happy to acquire the information contained in this brief missive.
On Thursday 15 May, L’Osservatore Romano, the Vatican newspaper, endorsed the possibility that the universe could contain intelligent life beyond Earth, while insisting that aliens would be “our brothers” and “children of God” as much as human beings are.
The Pope’s astronomer, José Gabriel Funes, a Jesuit priest, told L’Osservatore Romano that there would be nothing surprising about the existence of intelligent extra-terrestrials. He said: “Just as there is a multiplicity of creatures on Earth, so there could be other beings created by God [beyond it].”
Via The Independent
23
May
Queen Kong
Italy’s dubbing industry is one of the largest in the world, meaning that it’s often quite difficult to find movies being screened in their original language. Or, at least that’s the case here in the Eternal City.
The practice goes back to the nationalistic biases of Mussolini and continues today, though, slowly, things are changing. It’s that change that’s attested in the advertisement above for Warner Village Cinema.
We see a giant Fay Wray holding a very small King Kong, while the tagline reads “A Translated Movie is Not the Same.” In this very clever way, the multi-screen mega-theater Warner Village announces that it will be screening original language films.
(By the way, we’ve just checked the newspaper and discovered that no original language movies are showing at the Warner Village. Ahhhhh….Rome)
Advertising Agency: D’Adda, Lorenzini, Vigorelli, BBDO Rome
Creative Director: Luca Scotto Di Carlo
Art Directors / Copywriters: Alessandro Fruscella, Letizia Ziaco
Photographer: Alessandro Bavari
Account: Andrea Brustia
Published: May 2008
21
May
Where-Wolf?
Wanna know where to find this wolf? Don’t go looking in a cave on the Palatine or even in the Capitoline Museums. This is a She-Wolf that’s hit the streets. You’ll find her painted on temporary walls in the pedestrian gallery on Via Tritone, where the Rinascente department store is currently staging a small street art exhibition meant to tempt us all to visit the larger Scala Mercalli exhibit that opened in the parking garage of Rome’s Auditorium yesterday evening.
We, of course, are partial to use of classical themes in graffiti, so we were especially pleased to see La Lupa sprayed on the wall. But she’s not the only ancient Roman to be featured, as the 7 Kings make a rare 21st century appearance in the Via Tritone exhibit as well. Click here to pay homage to their royal highnesses.
And for a spray-painted version of Rome’s ancient cityscape, click here.
20
May
7 x Kings : SPQR
The department store conglomerate known as Rinascente is leaving aside its stodgy image to sponsor the making of street art in Rome!
Last week, with the support of Rinascente, street artists set up temporary walls in the pedestrian gallery on Via Tritone and staged a street art exhibition called Scala Mercalli: The Creative Earthquake of Italian Street Art (it sounds better in Italian).
Artists like TV Boy, Ivan, Ozmo, Kayone, Zen Two, JB Rock, and Thero put on a public painting display and in doing so produced a large number of artworks still visible in the passageway. Naturally, we took a spin and shot some photos and we’re here to share them with you now.
Probably none of our readers will be surprised to discover that we’re entirely enamored of the 7 Kings graphic shown above, for it seems to make reference to the earliest history of Rome.
But, as seen below, there’s some other hot stuff on display as well. Stay tuned for more tomorrow.
Last week, Rome hosted the Internazionale BNL d’Italia–the Italian Open Tennis Tournament. For the second year in a row, Serbian Jelena Jankovic came out on top, defeating Alize Cornet, a young French qualifier in Sunday’s final match.
Even before the stars of women’s tennis hit the court last week, they hit the streets of Rome, filming an ad campaign that casts them as superheroes for the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour.
The number one ranking player, Maria Sharapova, wasn’t fond of the idea and made her thoughts known to the public. But, in the long run, she and some 30 other players shot video at six different locations ranging from the trendy Radisson SAS es Hotel to the stately Pantheon.The film shoot captured eight of the world’s Top 10 in varied scenes of a commercial film, directed by renowned French director Matthieu Mantovani. It will be launched at the Tour’s Wimbledon Player Party at Kensington Roof Gardens in London on June 19.
The campaign is designed to promote the Tour’s current and next generation stars, in their year-long race to the season-ending Sony Ericsson Championships - Doha 2008, where the Top 8 singles players and Top 4 doubles teams will do battle for season-ending glory.
Show above are:
top row: left, Ana Ivanovich at the Pantheon; middle, Daniela Hantuchova signing autographs; right, Venus Williams
bottom row: left, Jelena Jankovic; middle, Ana Ivanovich in Piazza della Rotunda; various players at a party at the Radisson SAS es Hotel
Via WTA website
Rome is currently playing host to the Internazionale BNL d’Italia–the Italian Open Tennis Tournament. The men played last week and Novak Djovokic was crowned “the new emperor of Rome” (as the Italian papers put it). This week the women have taken to the courts–but these aren’t your usual playing fields. In fact, over the course of the past months, Rome’s tried-and-true tennis stadium has been disassembled and a makeshift arena is home to the tournament during the construction of a brand new tennis center.
The makeshift stadium has been built over and above the early 20th century Pietrangeli arena (for photos, see here). Built by Mussolini as part of his Foro Italico, a complex dedicated to the cult of sport, the gorgeous Pietrangeli stadium is not large enough to house all of Rome’s tennis fans. Thus, a temporary stadium has been installed over its marble seats–and atop the marble sculptures of athletes that line its perimeter.
On this Photo Friday, Susan Sanders brings us evocative images of the Boys of Marble, now imprisoned by the stadium that rises above them. For more photos of Rome by Susan, visit her blog: Rome With A View.
