I am building a new website with my latest works, mostly video and performance. These works are not in my original website (www.claudiaborgna.com), where plastic bags are the main focus and actors.
The website is still under construction but do have a peek if you can: www.claudiaborgna.org
I will be here! Check it out:Dear all,
The Little House Gallery would like to invite you to the DON’T TRY THIS AT HOME! series, #2.
Date: Sunday, March 13th, 2016
Lara Hoad is a graduate of London’s Royal College of Art and has broad experience as an architect, designer and educator of noteworthy branded environments, exhibitions and experiences both nationally and globally. Lara oversees Design Direction at March Studio Branded Architecture as well as having her own small architecture and design practice Nuudel, which provides a platform for the exploration, through practice and education, of the role of brands and organizations in social and environmental architecture and design projects. Lara holds positions at OTIS College of Art and Design, and the School of Architecture at Woodbury University, where she teaches branding, architecture and design with a lens on social change and sustainability. http://www.nuudel.is/?page_id=18
John Hulsey is an artist, writer, cultural organizer, and educator who works in collaboration with grassroots organizations and community groups fighting for racial and economic justice. Since 2008, he has worked closely with City Life/Vida Urbana, an organization of homeowners and tenants in Boston fighting housing displacement through direct action, legal advocacy, and popular education. Together with a core team of artists and activists, John has developed public projects that intervene on sites of power and poetically reimagine our collective relationships to place through site-specific performance, public projection, low-power radio, and publication. His research and writing explores the ways in which cultural practices in North America have intersected with place-based strategies and struggles for neighborhood and community self-determination. He is currently an MFA candidate in Interdisciplinary Studio in the Department of Art at UCLA and a PhD candidate in Film and Visual Studies in the Department of Visual and Environmental Studies at Harvard University. www.jhulsey.net
We are looking forward to spend this Sunday afternoon exploring the subject with you while honouring our guest speakers. Hopefully the relaxed and homely environment will prompt us into creative discussions.
Celebrating and grafting, flowers and spaces, nature and art, art and people, Montalvo and Dolcedo ovens and piazze, parks and “carruggi.”
Inside the Communal Bread Oven of Dolcedo a magic field of “spighe di grano”grow out of the shade of history.
Grafted onto flower sprouts the imagination into a fantastic secret world of magic ear of corns, flames, brooms and whatever else you can perceive in that interconnected space between Villa Montalvo and the Bread Oven of Dolcedo.
Workshop In Dolcedo, outside the Communal Bread Oven we celebrate art, nature, art spaces and people to reclaim our public spaces.
This gallery contains 36 photos.
Siamo Fiori We are Flowers Emma – Tea – Filippo – Petra – Simon – Sophie – Morgan – Emma – Ludovico – Mariac – Petra – Joseph – Giulia – Tommaso – Matilde – Amedeo – Rachele – Willam – Francesca – Veronica – Johan – Minnie – Celine – Estelle – Eva – Gael – Rinaldo – Joelle – Michelle – Zaira – Nathalie – Ute – Marina – Chiara – Cristina – Diana – Monica – Donna e Claudia Grazie a tutti i fiori Thank you flowers
Please follow the anniversary celebrations on Instagram & Twitter by searching #Celebrate7510. See our blog at montalvoarts.org/7510, and the 75/10 Web Page here
Poster’s graphics by Donna Lee Corboy
Dear all und Carissimi amici,
Here in Dolcedo – Italy, we are celebrating Montalvo’s legacy and its 75/10 anniversary.
Dates are:
20th July from 9AM to 2PM – workshop open to all
24th July from 8PM onwards – festive gathering with art, music and refreshments.
Location:
The old wooden oven of Dolcedo / forno di Dolcedo.
STATEMENT:
MIGHTY LIKE A FLOWER!
From valley to valley, from Saratoga to Dolcedo, from the US to Italy: imagine, a world that for one day is all covered up with flowers!
Pollens and seeds crossing lands and oceans, vulnerable and ephemeral yet strong and resilient, they morph the spaces they find. Generating beauty, they oxygenate the air binding it to our hearts and minds.
A project commissioned in 2011 by the Montalvo Arts Center, Migthy like a Flower was a site-specific temporary installation set on the loan of Villa Montalvo, a public park surrounded by Redwoods. There, 500 giant flowers grew over a period of 2 months time mingling with nature and, to my delight, enjoyed by a keen and curious public. Through a series of workshops, volunteers contributed to the installation. I nostalgically remember my time spent with teenagers, mums and people of all ages and backgrounds gathered together making flowers out of plastic. The scent of Montalvo’s laurels breezes through arousing many beautiful memories.
Once a private villa set amidst the Californian hills breathtakingly overlooking the Bay Area, Montalvo had been donated to the public by its owner, senator Phelen. Thanks to art philanthropists’ and nature lovers’ support, for the last 10 years its magnificent grounds have been hosting the Lucas Artists Residency Program.
This year Montalvo has invited its past residents to celebrate their 75/10 anniversaries. Between 10th and 24th July, artists from all around the world are united. From each of their town the gift of time and space that Montalvo has been generously granting to hundreds of artists worldwide, will be celebrated in what in fact is the celebration of creativity and of nature.
Art and Artists are like bees, crossing spaces they link and bind bridging people, ideas and cultures – possibly the only positive aspect of globalization. So here it is, the link and an opening to new possibilities: transformations.
It is not just a historical and cultural connection the one between Italy and the United States. In many ways very similar to Mediterranean countries in climate, California is a prosperous land where Nature allows for vineyards and olive groves, almonds and citrus trees to thrive whilst creating a landscape that in spite of our white Europeans point of view, is witness of possibly the most and only positive aspect of man’s land colonization. In the era of corporative globalization where rampant privatization is appropriating – whether forcefully or by coercing people’s life styles – of all spaces: public, cultural and natural, we would like to disrupt the linearity of a habit and reverse that relentless process with a flower.
Inspired by Montalvo’s example of opening spaces up for the public to bloom, we want to plant the ancient seed for it to sprout, humble and mighty, and encourage what I call “flowers activism.”
The pollen of Montalvo, blown by the wind that carried a bee, crossed the ocean and landed here, on this soil, to become a “spiga di grano” – and many earn of corns grafted onto flowers. Montalvo’s celebration becomes Dolcedo’s occasion for “becoming” and to reclaim public space, in this instance: il forno di Dolcedo. Historical, symbolic and practical, the bread oven is the celebration of Dolcedo’s many potentials. Because beyond western abstraction of power, of man’s consumerist politics and of western commodified economy, there is nothing as mighty like a flower, mighty like a seed, mighty like water, air and fire: mighty like earth. The forno of Dolcedo is the meeting point of all those elements, embraced, respected and honoured by all.
Here in the forno di Dolcedo we plant the seeds of creativity, of solidarity and of awareness – a political but also poetic gesture. Art at the service of the people, art at the service of nature to remember moments of beauty, to commemorate what as a society we have been loosing. To remind us that as human beings we still need nature to survive and to question our real and fundamental necessities – and not just humans social priorities.
Through the ancient and forgotten bread oven of Dolcedo we aim at reclaiming healthy habits harmonious with nature. This will be a collective moment of creative communion between nature and cultures. To share and commemorate my experience at Montalvo we will engage in a little workshop, an art picnic, but also in a final festive presentation of “seeds” that celebrates our cosmic interconnected tenses.
Not just a beautiful metaphor, the aesthetic manifestation of seeds – flowers are agents of transformation.
This event is a joint venture and a volunteers collaborative effort between mum and entrepreneur Monica Orengo, Artist Donna Lee Corboy, Cultural association U Casu Novu, Il Comune di Dolcedo, Montalvo Arts Center and myself, Claudia Borgna artist and bee to be.
Italiano
MIGHTY LIKE A FLOWER! (Possente come un fiore)
Da una valle all’altra, da Saratoga a Dolcedo, dagli Stati Uniti all’Italia. Immaginare, che bello! Immaginare un mondo, che per un giorno è tutto ricoperto di fiori!
Pollini e semi che attraversano terre ed oceani, vulnerabili ed effimeri, ma anche forti e resistenti, trasformano gli spazi che trovano. Generatori di bellezza, essi ossigenano l’aria intrecciandola ai nostri cuori e alle nostre menti.
Un progetto commissionato nel 2011 dal Montalvo Arts Center, Migthy Like a Flower fu un’installazione temporanea impostata a fianco dei “Italian Gardens” di Villa Montalvo, un parco pubblico circondato dai famosi Redwoods, le sequoie rosse californiane. Lì, 500 fiori giganti crescevano, man mano mischiandosi per confondendosi con la natura, apprezzati da un pubblico curioso e da visitatori appassionati. Tramite una serie di laboratori, gruppi di volontari contribuirono alla crescita dell’installazione. Oggi ricordo con nostalgia il mio tempo trascorso con adolescenti, mamme e persone d’ogni età e provenienza, riuniti insieme per la creazione dei fiori di plastica. La brezza profumata alle foglie d’alloro dal parco s’insinua in quelle memorie.
Una villa storica, appartenente al Senatore Phelan, Montalvo fu donata dallo stesso Phelan al pubblico. Grazie al supporto filantropico di amanti dell’arte della storia e della natura, lo splendido parco fra le colline californiane con viste mozzafiato sulla baia di San Francisco, ospita anche il programma di residenza per artisti, il Lucas Artists Residency Program.
Quest’anno Montalvo ha invitato gli artisti che sono passati da li’ a celebrare il suo 75/10 anniversario. Tra il 10 ed il 24 luglio, artisti da tutto il mondo, sebbene lontani, saranno uniti. Da ciascuna delle loro città, il dono del tempo e dello spazio che Montalvo ha generosamente conceduto a centinaia di artisti di tutto il mondo, sarà celebrato in quello che in realtà è una celebrazione alla creatività, e alla natura.
Arte e artisti sono come le api, attraversando gli spazi intessono gente, idee, culture diverse – forse l’unico aspetto buono della globalizzazione – aprendo degli spiragli per nuove possibilità di trasformazione.
Quello tra Italia e Stati Uniti non e’ solo un legame storico e culturale; per molti versi simile a quello mediterraneo, il clima californiano consente alla Natura di prosperare con vigneti ed oliveti, mandorli ed agrumi, creando un paesaggio che è, al di sopra del giudizio di noi Europei “bianchi”, testimone di forse l’unico aspetto positivo della colonizzazione dell’uomo della terra.
Nell’era della globalizzazione corporativa l’instancabile processo di privatizzazione, che coercizza i nostri stili di vita, si sta man mano appropriando di tutti gli spazi sia pubblici, culturali o naturali che siano. Noi vorremmo invertire questo inesorabile processo per interrompere la linearità di un’abitudine con un fiore.
Ispirandoci all’esempio dato da Montalvo ad aprire gli spazi naturali e culturali al pubblico cosicché questo possa fiorire, vorremmo piantare un antico seme affinché esso si manifesti – umile e potente – germogliando in quello che io chiamo “Flowers Activism”, (attivismo dei fiori).
Il polline di Montalvo, soffiato dal vento che trasportava un’ape, ha attraversato l’oceano ed è atterrato proprio qui, su questo terreno, per diventare una spiga di grano innestato sul fiore. E’ qui che la celebrazione di Montalvo sollecita il nostro “divenire”, proprio qui, a Dolcedo, diventa un’occasione di recupero dello spazio pubblico, in questo caso: Il forno di Dolcedo. Storico, simbolico e pratico, il forno del pane è la celebrazione del potenziale Dolcedese. Perché al di là dell’astratto potere occidentale creato dall’uomo e dalle sue politiche economiche consumistiche, non c’è niente di più potente di un fiore, possente come un seme, come l’acqua, l’aria e il fuoco: potente come la terra. Il forno del pane di Dolcedo è il punto d’incontro di tutti questi elementi, che vengono finalmente e nuovamente rispettati ed onorati da tutti.
Qui, nel forno di Dolcedo pianteremo i semi della creatività, della solidarietà e della consapevolezza – un gesto politico, oltre che poetico. L’arte come servizio pubblico si mette a servizio della natura, per ricordare momenti di bellezza, per commemorare quello che la società del ventunesimo secolo sta perdendo. Per ricordarci che gli esseri umani hanno ancora bisogno della natura per sopravvivere, per mettere in discussione le nostre reali e fondamentali necessità – non solo quelle degli esseri umani con le loro priorità sociali.
Attraverso l’antico ed un po’ dimenticato forno riproponiamo una bonifica delle nostre abitudini per essere nuovamente in armonia con la natura. Questo sarà un momento collettivo di comunione creativa tra natura e culture.
Per condividere e ricordare la mia esperienza a Montalvo attiveremo un piccolo laboratorio, un pic-nic d’arte, che sfocerà in una festosa presentazione finale di “semi” che insieme celebra un futuro cosmicamente interconnesso.
Non solo una bella metafora, la manifestazione estetica dei semi, i fiori, sono agenti di trasformazione.
Questo evento è una collaborazione tra: mamma ed imprenditrice Monica Orengo, l’artista Donna Lee Corboy, l’associazione culturale U Casu Novu, Il Comune di Dolcedo, Montalvo Arts Center e di me stessa, Claudia Borgna, ape ed artista.
CLAUDI PIRIPIPPI 