Lepota na Italijanski način

Intervju: CORPICRUDI

 

 

„Lepota je oblik genija, uistinu više od genija, jer nju nije potrebno objašnjavati. Ona pripada velikim činjenicama sveta, kao sunčeva svetlost. Nju niko ne može osporiti. Ona raspolaže božanskim sredstvom suverenstva”,  napisao je Oskar Vajld u jednom od svojih najpoznatijih romana. Razgovarali smo sa dizajnerskim duom iz Milana, CORPICRUDI, o njihovoj  platonskoj ideji o lepoti i traganju za apsolutnom harmonijom. Beogradskoj publici predstavili su se na Festivalu igre, osmislivši scenografiju i kostime za predstavu „Primo Toccare“, koreografa Matea Levađija.

 

 

Ispričajte nam kako je nastao CORPICRUDI, koja ideja vas je ujedinila?

 

CORPICRUDI (bukvalno “sirova tela” – www.corpicrudi.com) nastaje  spajanjem dve ličnosti i odgovarajućeg porekla: Samanta Stela (moderni ples) i Serđo Fracingaro (arhitekta i Dj elektronske muzike i producent). Mi smo rođeni i odrasli u istom gradu (Đenova,Italija). Naše prijateljstvo je počelo 1995. Krajem 2003 pozvani smo da izvedemo predstavu na otvaranju modne kuće u našem gradu zbog  zanimljive kombinacije naših načina i vizija. Uskoro smo stigli do žive forme, koristeći naša tela, i prikazali neke predstave u pozorištima i na festivalima scenske umetnosti. Shvatili smo da živi prikazi nisu jedini način da izrazimo naše vizije, te smo počeli da koristimo video i fotografiju i da primenjujemo druge elemente kao protagoniste naših projekata pod našom upravom.

 

Počeli smo da sarađujemo i sa ostalim umetnicima i prikazali širi projekat na našoj prvoj samostalnoj izložbi u istaknutoj galeriji savremene italijanske umetnosti, predstavljajući poznate umetnike kao što je Anton Korbin. Kompozitori, modni kreatori, stilisti, časopisi i različite medijske mreže bili su uključeni u ovaj projekat (nazvan LEPI NEVERNI LJUDI u čast jedne rečenice Oskara Vajlda). Iste godine  (2007) imali smo jos jednu važnu solo izložbu u organizaciji Luke Beatriče. Izložba (LUX AETERNA) nastala je u saradnji sa modnim kreatorom Alesandrom de Benedeti-em  i posvećena je starim slikama vanitas žanra iz 16-og veka koje prikazuju simbole kao što su lobanja (kraj života) i isečeno cveće (kraj lepote).

 

Izložbu je posetio Mateo Levađi iz Baletskog pozorišta u Torinu, koji nas je pozvao da pripremimo instalaciju za njegovu koreografiju i u izvođenju njegove baletske grupe. Rezultat je bio sjajan. White Lux, to je bio naziv instalacije (sastavljena od tri providne kutije od pleksiglasa koje je Serđo dizajnirao i dva prava nepomična ženska tela kojima smo mi upravljali u tim vertikalnim elementima), predstavljena je u vrlo sugestivnom pozorištu u Torinu. Bili smo impresionirani jakim estetskim uticajem koji je postigla ova saradnja (CORPICRUDI i Mateo Lavađi) pa smo odlučili da nastavimo u tom smeru. White Lux je postao prvi čin većeg projekta, nazvanog PRIMO TOCCARE:koreografija – Mateo  Levađi; scensko rešenje i dizajn – CORPICRUDI;  produkcija – Baletsko pozorište iz Torina. Ovaj rad  traje duže od tri godine obuhvatajući tri čina (Belo, Crno i Crveno). Ova velika avantura izvedena je na Beogradskom festivalu igre 2011, i postala je tema specijalne dokumentarne emisije koju producira i emituje Classica TV u Italiji, Nemačkoj i Španiji a počinje krajem maja. Tokom ovih godina CORPICRUDI je predstavljao svoje projekte u umetničkim galerijama savremene umetnosti i u muzejima i birani smo da otvaramo važne italijanske festivale i grupne izložbe.

 

 

Svoje estetsko viđenje izražavate kroz razne medije: fotografiju, video, instalacije, ples. Da li među njima postoji hijerarhija ili sve medije jednako primenjujete u svom radu?

 

Pa, svaki jezik koristimo samo kao način da izrazimo svoju viziju, bez obzira o kom se jeziku radi. U stvari, mi smo fokusirani na fotografiju, ali „živa instalacija“ ( kako mi zovemo instalaciju sa konstrukcijama, predmetima, nepomičnim telima i ponekad video snimcima – mi ne volimo da kažemo „performanse“) je verovatno naš osobit stil.

 

 

Esenciju vaših dela predstavlja nevina, neizveštačena lepota i istorijske vrednosti društva. Koji period istorije umetnosti preferirate i koji ima najviše uticaja na vaš rad?

 

Verujemo da je Lepota istorijska vrednost. Ne postoji određeni period na koji se odnosi naš umetnički rad. U našem projektu AETERNITAS ( posvećenom Aeternitas, starorimskoj boginji večnosti) kroz fotografije smo odali priznanje Pokajnici Magdaleni, divnoj skulpturi Antonia Kanove (iz 1796) koja je izložena u jednom muzeju u našem gradu.

U projektu PRIMO TOCCARE, koji radimo sa plesnom grupom dotakli smo tri različita razdoblja: Belo je posvećeno slikama vanitas žanra iz 16-og veka; Crno je posvećeno dobu hrišćanstva; Crveno staroj grčko-rimskoj tradiciji vajarstva.

Koristimo, takođe, istorijska mesta kao lokacije za naše događaje uživo, kao što su stari zamak nad moram ili stare tamnice u nekoj tvrđavi.Kada sa estetske tačke gledišta govorimo o telu bliži smo čarobnim pred-Rafaelitanskim likovima bele kože i svetlo-crvene kose...mlada ženska tela koja koristimo u našim projektima uglavnom imaju te karakteristike.

 

 

Koji je vaš omiljeni savremeni umetnik na koga se ugledate?

 

Mislim da nemamo omiljenog savremenog umetnika koji nam je uzor. Nas, isto tako, interesuju različiti umetnički jezici, ne samo savremena umetnost.. Izima Karou, Vanesa Bikroft, Ervin Olaf, Kandida Hofer, Nikola Hofer, Piter Grinvej, Dejvid Linč, Romeo Kasteluči i mnogi drugi umetnici, muzičari, režiseri.

Sarađujete sa modnim kreatorima. Koliko je moda bitna za vas i za umetničko delovanje vašeg projekta CORPICRUDI?

Ovih godina često smo sarađivali sa modnim kreatorom Alesandrom de Benetiem. Projekat LUX AETERNA  izvodi se u odeći koju je on kreirao kao homogenu kolekciju predstavljenu na PE2008  Milanskoj nedelji mode. Napravili smo seriju fotografija prikazanu u galeriji savremene umetnosti u Torinu, 2007 godine.).

Sarađivali smo i sa modnim kreatorom i fotografom iz Los anđelesa, Majkom Venselom (on je učestvovao u našem projektu LEPI NEVERNI LJUDI, 2007, a upravo smo s njim snimili novi deo aktuelnog projekta za vreme njegovog nedavnog putovanja u Evropu prošlog aprila). Moda je kao bilo koji drugi elemenat/jezik koji koristimo da bismo sklopili naše vizije.

 

 

Serđo, vi ste arhitekta i takođe se bavite muzičkom produkcijom. Sa kojim izvođačima ste sarađivali i sa kojima biste voleli da sarađujete u budućnosti u polju muzike?  

 

Pored mog bavljenja savremenom umetnošću kao deo CORPICRUDI-a, ja sam i DJ i producent u elektronskoj muzici, to jest imam i projekat elektronske muzike sa Danilom Sardelom (još jedan momak rođen u Đenovi gde i živi) pod nazivom LULA CIRCUS (myspace.com/lulacircus). Uglavnom nastupamo u Nemačkoj, ali poslednjih meseci približili smo se  losanđeleskoj muzičkoj sceni a već je zakazano novo izdanje za njujoršku scenu. Dakle, Amerika je naš novi cilj.

 

 

Beogradska publika je imala prilike da u okviru Beogradskog festivala igre pogleda predstavu „Primo Toccare“, koreografa Matea Levađija, za koju ste radili dizajn kostima i scenografiju. Kakav pogled na umetnost i život uopšte, treba da ima neko da bi sa vama ostvario saradnju?

 

PRIMO TOCCARE je delo rođeno u saradnji. To je pre svega moderni balet (u koreografiji Matea Llevađija) a takođe i oblik moderne umetničke instalacije prema scenografiji i dizajnu CARPICRUDI-a. Produkcija ( i sjajni plesači)  - Baletsko pozorište iz Torina, umetnički direktor Loredana Furno. Kako uvek kažemo, neme zajedničkog smera između koreografije i našeg umetničkog rada. Ali da, postoji zajednička vizija, koju zovemo „pogled na umetnost i život“. To je ključni elemenat koji ovu saradnju čini tako dragocenom i sa tako izuzetnim rezultatima: Mateo kao i Serđo i ja ima sličnu strast za umetnost, filmove, pozorište, muziku...Naša estetika je zaista rigorozna i pod kontrolom. Potrebno je da naši saradnici dele isto osećanje.Sve je pod kontrolom. I minimalno. I puno belog. Da bismo imali bolju kontrolu estetike kreirali smo kostime za igrače. Sve mora da bude u harmoniji. Oblik, boje.

 

 

Kako je protekla vaša solo izložba „Le Vergini“? Objasnite nam ideju projekta.

 

Le Vergini (Device) je novi projekat CORPICRUDI-a koji tek što je predstavljen na našoj poslednjoj solo izložbi u Guidi&Schoen galeriji savremene umetnosti u Đenovi (13-28 maj 2011). Ona obuhvata fotografski i video deo (sve snimao CORPICRUDI) i jednu umetničku knjižicu ograničenog izdanja sa likovima iz serije fotografija, sa vrlo sugestivnim tekstom Klaudije Atimoneli (sociosemiotika muzike, vizuelne kulture, proučavanje medija i modne teorije su među poljima njenog istraživačkog rada)  i sa uvodnom reči Masima Tandardinija, pesnika, pisca i izdavača. To je naš prvi crno-beli projekat.

Koncept je usredsređen na vrednost Lepote i njenu moguću osudu. Dva kultna filma bili su vizuelna inspiracija za ovu temu, Piknik na visećoj steni, Pitera Vira (1975) i Samoubistva devica, Sofije Kopole ( 1999), gde mladi protagonisti nestaju ili izvrše samoubistvo. To je metafora o prelazu iz života u punom cvatu, pre-tinejdžerskog doba obeleženog lepotom i mladošću, u doba svesnosti koje vodi ka smrti u njenom najsimboličnijem i najmisterioznijem smislu.

U oktobru 2011, Madame X, muzički alter ego modnog kreatora Alesandra de Benedetija, predstaviće njegovo novo izdanje uključujući i muzički snimak – Vergini di Luce – posvećen ovom projektu, uz video CORPICRUDI-a.

 

 

Jedan srpski slikar je rekao  „ružni ljudi su zli“. Da li mislite da je spoljašnja lepota odraz unutrašnje?

 

Ne mislimo o spoljašnjoj lepoti kao odrazu unutrašnje lepote. Mi na Lepotu gledamo kao na vrednost, kao simbol. Mi koristimo tela kao objekte u kompoziciji mrtve prirode. Lepota je kao platonska ideja koju pokušavamo da sačuvamo u stvarnosti  kristališući je.

 

 

Jedno od načela vašeg koncepta jeste sklad između Dionizijske i Apolonske filozofije. Šta za vas predstavlja savršenstvo?

 

Savršenstvo...to je nekakvo traganje za apsolutnom harmonijom, što je znamo, utopijska ideja. Ali potrebno je da se fokusiramo na taj beli univerzum čak i ako smo svesni svega crnog što se pruža unutar njega.

 

 

Imali ste prilike da se upoznate sa radom umetnika iz Srbije na Beogradskom festivalu igre. Kakvi su utisci?

 

Nažalost, naše vreme u Beogradu bilo je zaista kratko. Bili smo koncentrisani na rad u pozorištu i bilo je tako malo vremena da dođemo u kontakt sa drugim umetnicima. Ali rekao bih da sam otkria jednog vrlo zanimljivog umetnika iz Srbije. Za vreme kratke pauze u pozorištu istrčala sam sa Serđom u pešačku zonu u centru grada i pronašla prelepu knjižaru sa sjajnim starim knjigama i publikacijama. Ja volim stare knjige. Provea sam više od sat vremena u knijžari tražeći knjižicu koju bih ponela u Italiju kao poklon za posebnog prijatelja. Moj izbor je bio Đura Jakšić, mislim da je najistaknutiji srpski pesnik, slikar, pisac, dramski pisac, boem iz doba romantizma.     

The Italian way of beauty

Interview: CORPICRUDI

 

 

“Beauty is a form of genius, actually more than genius, for there is no need for explaining it. It belongs to great world facts, like the sunlight. Nobody can deny it. It disposes with divine means of sovereignty”, wrote Oscar Wild in one of his best-known novels. We talked with a duo of designers from Milan, CORPICRUDI, about their platonic idea of beauty and search for absolute harmony. They introduced themselves to Belgrade audience at Belgrade Dance Festival, by designing scene setting and costumes for the performance “Primo Toccare”, choreography by Matteo Levaggi.

 

 

Would you tell us how CORPICRUDI came into being, which idea joined you together?

 

CORPICRUDI (literally “row bodies” – www.corpicrudi.com) comes from the union of two personalities and relative background: Samantha Stella (contemporary dance) and Sergio Frazzingaro (architect and electronic music DJ and producer). We were born and grew up in the same town (Genoa, Italy). Our friendship started in 1995. It was late 2003 when we were asked to present some performances at opening events for a fashion store in our town because of the interesting combination of our moods and visions…Soon we approached the live dimension, using our bodies, and featured some performances in theaters and festivals of performing art. We realized that the live event was not our only way to express our visions, and started to use video and photography, and to apply to other bodies as protagonists of our projects under our direction.

 

We also started to collaborate with other artists and presented a wide project in our first big solo exhibition in an important Italian contemporary art gallery (Lipanjepuntin) featuring famous artists such as Anton Corbijn. Composers, fashion designers, stylists, magazines and various media networks were involved in the project (called BEAUTIFUL UNTRUE PEOPLE, a tribute to a sentence by Oscar Wilde). The exhibition (LUX AETERNA) came out from the collaboration with fashion designer Alessandro De Benedetti and was a tribute to the old XVI Vanitas paintings showing some symbols as the skull (the end of life) and cut flowers (the end of beauty).

 

The exhibition was also visited by choreographer Matteo Levaggi of Balletto Teatro di Torino, who invited us to prepare an installation for a choreography made by him and performed by his dance company. The result was great. White Lux, this was the name of the installation (composed by three transparent plexiglass boxes designed by Sergio and two real motionless female bodies directed by us inside the vertical elements), was presented in a very suggestive theater in Turin. We were impressed by the high aesthetic impact of this conjunction (CORPICRUDI and Matteo Levaggi) and decided to follow this direction. White Lux became the first act of a bigger project, called PRIMO TOCCARE: choreography by Matteo Levaggi, set concept & design by CORPICRUDI, production by Balletto Teatro di Torino. The creation spread upon 3 years including three acts (White, Black and Red). This great adventure was also performed at the 2011 Belgrade Dance Festival and become subject of a specific documentary produced and broadcasted at ClassicaTV in Italy, Germany and Spain starting end of May. During these years CORPICRUDI have presented their own projects in contemporary art galleries and museums and have been selected for opening events of important Italian festivals/group exhibitions.

 

 

You express your aesthetic view through different media: photography, video, installments, dance. Is there any hierarchy between them or you apply all media equally in your work?

 

Well, we use each language just as a way to express our vision, no matter what the language is. Actually we are focused on photography, but the “live installation” (what we call for installations with structures, objects, still bodies and sometimes videos – we don’t like to speak about “performances”) are probably our distinctive style.

 

 

The essence of your work is innocent, sincere beauty and historical society values. What period from the history of art do you prefer and which one influences your work most?

 

We believe Beauty is a historical value. There is no a specific period we are referring to in our artwork. In our AETERNITAS project (dedicated to Aeternitas, the old Roman goddess of eternity) we made a photographic tribute to The Penitent Magdalene, amazing sculpture by Antonio Canova (dating back 1796) which is exhibited in a museum here in our town.

In PRIMO TOCCARE, our project with the dance company, we refer to three different periods: White is a tribute to the XVI Vanitas paintings; Black is a tribute to the Christian age; Red to the old Roman-Greek sculptural tradition.

Also we use historical places are locations for our live events, like an ancient castle over the sea or the old prisons of a fortress.

And from an aesthetic point of view speaking about the body, we are closer to the marvelous white skinned and blond-red headed Pre-Raphaelites creatures….the female young bodies we use in our projects are mostly with this characteristics.

 

 

Who is your favourite contemporary artist that you follow?

 

I don’t think we have a favourite contemporary artist we follow. Also, we are interested in different languages, not only contemporary art…Izima Kaoru, Vanessa Beecroft, Erwin Olaf, Candida Hofer, Nicola Kuperus, Peter Greenaway, David Lynch, Romeo Castellucci and many others among artists, musicians, filmmakers…

 

 

You work together with some fashion designers. How is fashion important for you and artistic impact of your project CORPICRUDI?

 

In these years we have often collaborated with fashion designer Alessandro de Benedetti. The LUX AETERNA project was made with the clothes created by him in a homonymous collection presented at the PE2008 Milan Fashion Week.  We created a photographic series presented in a contemporary art gallery in Turin in 2007.

Also we collaborate with Los Angeles fashion designer and photographer Mike Vensel (he was involved in our BEAUTIFUL UNTRUE PEOPLE project in 2007 and we have just shot a new section of our actual project with him during his recent trip in Europe last April).

Fashion is like any other element/language we use to compose our visions.

 

 

Sergio, you are an architect and you also go in for music production. Who are the performers you have cooperated with  and who are those you would like to work with in the music field in the future?

 

Besides my involvement in contemporary art as part of CORPICRUDI, I am also a DJ and electronic producer, that means that I have an electronic music project with Danilo Sardella (another guy also born and living in Genoa) under the name LULA CIRCUS (myspace.com/lulacircus). We mostly perform in Germany, but in the last months we have become closer to a Los Angeles label and there is a new release scheduled for a New York label. So USA is our new target.

 

 

Belgrade audience could see, during Belgrade Dance Festival, your piece “Primo Toccare” of choreograph Matteo Levaggi, with your costume design and scenography. What kind of view over art and life in general, should a person have for working with you?

 

PRIMO TOCCARE is a creation born from a collaboration. It is first of all a contemporary ballet (with choreography by Matteo Levaggi) and also a kind of contemporary art installation due to the set concept and design created by CORPICRUDI. The production (and the amazing dancers) is by Balletto Teatro di Torino, artistic director Loredana Furno.

As we always say, there is no a common direction between the choreography and our artwork. But yes, there is a common vision, what we call for “view over art and life”. This is an essential element that makes this collaboration so precious and with so outstanding results: Matteo and both me and Sergio have similar passions for art, movies, theater, music….Our aesthetic is really rigourous and under control. We need our collaborators to share the same feeling.

All is under control. And minimal. And full of white. In order to have a better control of the aesthetics, we also created the costume design for the dancers…All must be in harmony. The shape, the colours.

 

 

How did your solo exhibition “Le Vergini” go? Could you explain the idea of the project?

 

Le Vergini (The Virgins) is the new CORPICRUDI project which has just been presented in our last solo exhibition at the Guidi&Schoen contemporary art gallery in Genoa (13-28 May 2011). It includes a photographic and a video section (all shot by CORPICRUDI) and an art book in limited edition with images from the photographic series, a very suggestive text by Claudia Attimonelli (socio semiotics of music, visual culture, media studies and fashion theories among her fields of research) and foreword by Massimo Tandardini, poet, writer and editor. It is our first black and white project.

The concept focuses on the value of Beauty and its possible condemnation. A theme visually inspired by two cult movies, Picnic at Hanging Rock by Peter Weir (1975) and The Virgin Suicides by Sofia Coppola (1999), where young protagonists disappear or commit suicide. It is a metaphor of the transition from life in its best season in bloom, pre-teens signed by beauty and youth, to the age of awareness that leads to death in its most symbolic and mysterious sense.

In October 2011 Madame X, the music alter ego by fashion designer Alessandro De Benedetti, will present its new release including a track  - Vergini di Luce - dedicated to this project, with a video created by CORPICRUDI.

 

 

A Serbian painter said “ugly people are mean”. Do you think that external beauty is a reflection of the inner one?

 

We don’t think at external beauty as a reflection of the inner one. We refer to Beauty as a value, as a symbol. We use bodies as objects in a still life composition.

Beauty is like a Platonic idea that we try to preserve in reality by crystallizing it.

 

 

One of the principles of your concept is harmony between Dionysian and Adonis philosophy. What is perfection for you?

 

Perfection…it is a kind of search for absolute harmony, that we know, it is a utopian idea. But we need to focus on that white universe even if we are aware of all the black spreading inside it.

 

 

You had a chance to get to know the work of artists from Serbia at the Belgrade Dance Festival. What are your impressions?

 

Unfortunately, our time in Belgrade was really short! We concentrated on the work at the theater and had little time to get in touch with other artists. But I can say I discovered an interesting artist from Serbia…During a little break from the theater I ran with Sergio in the pedestrian area in the center of the town and I found a little beautiful bookshop with amazing old books and publications. I love old books. I spent more than one hour in the shop looking for a little book to bring in Italy as a gift for a special friend. My choice was Dura Jaksic, I think he was the most important Serbian poet, painter, writer, dramatist, bohemian from the Romantic period.

Razgovarala: Aleksandra Janković

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