Zaha Hadid, 1950-2016

Zaha Hadid, una delle più famose esponenti dell'architettura contemporanea, è morta per un infarto oggi. Irachena nazionalizzata inglese, è stata forse la più famosa "archistar" dopo Gehry, e per questo oggetto di mille polemiche e invidie da una parte, e di "osanna!" dall'altra.
Abbiamo visitato il MAXXI di Roma, e riconosciamo un talento ed un coraggio che vanno oltre la semplice provocazione che a volte è sembrata avere. Zaha Hadid era di certo una persona capace.

Villa Malaparte nella locandina del Festival di Cannes 2016

Immagine tratta da Il disprezzo, di Godard

Resistance through art

Omar Barghouthi, Ilan Pappé, Mazin Qumsiyeh among speakers at Forum in April

In April 2016, The Freedom Theatre will celebrate its tenth anniversary with a six-day festival of Palestinian performing art and a forum on cultural resistance. The anniversary will bring together Palestinian theatre companies, performers and scholars, with the aim of exploring the role of the arts in the broader Palestinian popular struggle movement.  

Speakers at the Forum and Festival will include:

Alaa Hlehel: Post-colonialism and the role of culture
Alaa Hlehel is an author, playwright and journalist. He has an MA in Mass Communication and Fine Arts from Haifa University and is the chief editor of Qadita website for literature and culture. Hlehel is also a translator for human rights and cultural organisations as well as a translator of books and plays.

Moderator: Nabil Al-Raee, Artistic director of The Freedom Theatre, theatre director and playwright, actor and instructor, trained with Theatre Day Productions.

Hala Nassar: Cultural production and confusing agendas
Hala Nassar is a lecturer, researcher and writer on Arab/Palestinian theatre, literature and drama. She is considered the first Palestinian academic to focus on Palestinian theatre in Western academia. Her book on the history of Palestinian theatre is forthcoming and she is co-editor of Mahmoud Darwish; Exile’s Poet.

Moderator: Mervat Ayash, Artist and lecturer in interior design at An Najah University, member of the board of The Freedom Theatre.

Ilan Pappé: Culture confronting occupation
Ilan Pappé is a historian, professor at Exeter University and director of the university’s European Centre for Palestine Studies, author of among other books The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine, The Modern Middle East, and A History of Modern Palestine: One Land, Two Peoples.

Moderator: Gabriel Varghese, Co-artistic director of Sandpit Arts (UK), writer and theatre director, recently completed his Ph.D. at Exeter University on the history of Palestinian theatre after the first Intifada.

Khaled Katamesh: Art under occupation – experiences and common goals
Khaled Katamesh is the director of El Funoun Dance Troupe and a co-founder of the Popular Art Centre. He is a former dancer, instructor and choreographer.

Moderator: Ramzi Abu Radwan, Musician, composer and founder of Al-Kamandjati music society and Dal’ouna ensemble.

Mazin Qumsiyeh: Conceptual dilemmas about cultural resistance
Mazin Qumsiyeh is an author, professor, lecturer and researcher at Bethlehem and Birzeit Universities and director of the Palestine Museum of Natural History and Institute for Biodiversity Research. He has published hundreds of articles and talks and several books, including Mammals of the Holy Land, Sharing the Land of Canaan: human rights and the Israeli/Palestinian Struggle and Popular Resistance in Palestine: A history of Hope and Empowerment.

Moderator: Manal Tamimi, Activist in the popular resistance in Nabi Saleh, member of the Popular committee against the wall and settlements in Ramallah.

Omar Barghouthi: Effective popular resistance – the cultural boycott model
Omar Barghouthi is an author, researcher and human rights activist. He is the founding committee member of the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI) and co-founder of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement.

Moderator: Shahd Zakarneh, Youth activist, law graduate from Arab American University, member of Jenin Municipality and considered the youngest member of all local committees in Palestine.

Reem Talhami: Women, theatre and resistance
Reem Talhami is a singer and actress who has released several albums and is often featured in festivals around the Middle East. She is a former teacher at National Institute of Music in Jerusalem and Ramallah and performer with El Hakawati – Palestinian National Theatre and Al Kasaba Theatre.

Moderator: Eman Nazzal, Feminist activist leader in the Jenin area, coordinator of Palestinian women’s affairs technical committee, head of the women committee of Al Fatah in Jenin.

Sudhanva Deshpande: What’s next?
Sudhanva Desphande is an actor and director with Jana Natya Manch street theatre company, India, and editor with LeftWord Books publishing company.

Moderator: Faisal Abu Alhayjaa, Actor, theatre instructor and director with The Freedom Theatre and actor with Red Noses Clowndoctors Palestine. 

Roundtable discussion: The role of culture in unifying resistance
Ayman Yousef, Professor in Political Sciences and International Relations, Dean of Arts Faculty at Arab American University.

Alam Massad, Painter in plastic arts featured in local and international exhibitions, chairman of the board of Naqsh Troupe, activist in social and prisoner issues.

Iyad Staiti, Musician and director of Al-Kamandjati, music instructor, key figure in popularising oriental music.

Other speakers:

Baraa Sharqawi, Photography instructor at The Freedom Theatre.

Bilal Saadi, Chairman of the board of The Freedom Theatre, member of Jenin Refugee Camp Popular Committee and secretary for the Youth Centre in Jenin Refugee Camp.

Jonatan Stanczak, Managing director and co-founder of The Freedom Theatre, former producer at The Swedish National Touring Company, coordinator at The Palestine Solidarity Association in Sweden, and active in the BDS movement in Sweden.

Mustafa Sheta, Journalist and researcher, secretary of the board of The Freedom Theatre, coordinator of the Theatre Festival and Forum on Cultural Resistance.

Mohammed Moawia, Multimedia coordinator at The Freedom Theatre, filmmaker, photographer and graphic designer.

Performances at the Theatre Festival will include: 

The Siege by The Freedom Theatre, Searching for Handala by Yes Theatre, Confession by Quds Art, Taha by Amer Hlehel, 15 seconds in Gaza by Mo’min Switat, and a circus performance byThe Palestinian Circus School.

The program will also include theatre and dance workshops, photography and art exhibitions, film screenings, guided tours and much more.

TENTATIVE SCHEDULE.

Register & read more.

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CUANDO LA FOTOGRAFÍA COBRA VIDA

Alejandro Matzar

Fotógrafo profesional guatemalteco

11/03/2016 | 6:30 PM

AULA D-14, DE LA UNIVERSIDAD

CENTROAMERICANA

"JOSÉ SIMEÓN CAÑAS" (UCA).

Kazuo Shinohara’s Houses

via Misfitsarchitecture
The 1950s in Japan were a time of rediscovery and renewal in art,



graphics,



furniture,



photography,



ceramics,



woodblock prints,



cinema,



literature,



textile design,



and architecture.

Kazuo Shinohara was a Japanese architect who lived 1925–2006. This is his first house, House in Kugayama, completed 1954.

Lorenzo e Jacopo Salimbeni, Crocifissione

E' il racconto della crocifissione di Gesù come fatto che riguarda il tempo: accade nel contemporaneo di chi lo ha dipinto, come si osserva dalle vesti e dai volti dei personaggi; e accade mentre accadono tante cose di minor importanza, come bambini che scappano dalle madri o cani che si spulciano. E mentre le donne si disperano e si strappano i capelli, altri non mostrano nessun segno di attenzione. Il centurione che pronuncia: "Davvero questo è il figlio di Dio" è specchiato rispetto a Longino; l'uno solenne e cosciente di aver detto qualcosa di rischioso, l'altro impaurito e dubbioso. Insomma, questo avvenimento così decisivo, da cui dipendono così tante cose, non obbliga l'intelligenza di nessuno; davanti al fatto ognuno reagisce diversamente.
Sopra le scene umane, accadono quelle divine, dipinte in modo molto intellegibile: l'anima di un ladrone viene portata via dal diavolo e l'altra anima viene presa in custodia dall'angelo; e sopra la croce fiorisce una pianta dove si trova il nido del pellicano, che si strappa la carne per nutrire i suoi figli.

A brand new musical instrument

Swedish musician Martin Molin has long had experience with esoteric instruments like the glockenspiel, traktofon, or Theremin, but he may have topped his musical prowess with the invention of his own new instrument: the Wintergatan Marble Machine, a hand-cranked music box loaded with instruments including a circuit of 2,000 cascading steel marbles. As the devices cycles it activates a vibraphone, bass, kick drum, cymbal and other instruments that play a score programmed into a 32 bar loop comprised of LEGO technic parts. The marbles are moved internally through the machine using funnels, pulleys, and tubes.
Molin began work on the marble machine in August 2014 and hoped to spend about two months on the project. Its complexity soon spiraled out of control as all 3,000 internal parts had to be designed and fabricated by hand, a time-consuming process that eventually took 14 months. An early version was designed using 3D software, but it was easier for Molin to create parts on the fly leading to it’s Frankenstein appearance. The musician shared much of his progress in regular video updates that he shared on YouTube.
Despite the extreme interest an oddity like the Wintergatan Marble Machine is bound to generate—especially on the internet—don’t expect to see it on tour anytime soon, as the contraption has to be completely disassembled to move it. Molin hopes to build additional music devices, some smaller, or perhaps more suited for transport. You can read a bit more about it on Wired UK.

Le città estive quando non è estate

Sugar Hill in Manhattan

With the price of real estate so dear, every new building in New York comes with big expectations, but this one more than most. The $84 million subsidized housing complex in Upper Manhattan called Sugar Hill Development has outsize ambitions.

It has been conceived to serve some of the very poorest New Yorkers, who will move into anything but a run-of-the-mill building. Designed by a marquee architect, with no concessions to timid taste, the project aspires to must-see status.

Jeanne d'Arc Le procès de Rouen (21 février-30 mai 1431)

Au cœur du procès qui condamna la Pucelle d'Orléans, Maître Jacques Trémolet de Villers, plaideur des plus importants procès politiques de ces dernières décennies, décrypte les paroles échangées et nous livre, en voix off, son commentaire jour après jour. 

Il introduit son lecteur dans la salle, lui fait comprendre les convictions des parties, et surtout lui fait saisir le courage sensible du personnage de Jeanne. 

En librairie le 18 janvier (éditions Les Belles Lettres)

Le 21 février 1431 s'ouvre l’un des plus fascinants et décisifs procès de l’Histoire : celui de Jeanne d’Arc.

Cette jeune fille de 19 ans, prétendue analphabète, hallucinée, hérétique, sera en moins de cent jours condamnée à être brûlée vive.

Dès le premier interrogatoire, les juges, Cauchon en tête, assènent les coups. Ils sont abbés, docteurs en théologie, familiers du droit canon, décidés à la faire plier.

Dès sa première parole, Jeanne, seule à la barre, déjoue les pièges des hommes d’Église et de loi. Elle fait preuve d’un ton libertaire, habile et plein d’humour qui les déstabilise par la force de sa sincérité.

Les voix, puisque c’est là l’essentiel, portent.

Cent jours durant, va se jouer, en cette froide salle d’audience, l’éternel combat de la vérité.

Tout procès se conclut dès la première audience. Jacques Trémolet de Villers, plaideur des plus importants procès politiques de ces dernières décennies, décrypte les paroles échangées et nous livre, en voix off, son commentaire jour après jour. Il introduit son lecteur dans la salle, lui fait comprendre les convictions des parties, et surtout lui fait saisir le courage sensible du personnage de Jeanne, jusqu’à craindre l’issue… ll y a du bon dans la procédure. Elle conserve, comme des pierres précieuses dans une châsse, un véritable trésor, et demeure en dernière analyse la seule raison sérieuse d’organiser la justice des hommes. 

Le texte intégral du procès, seul témoignage à faire véritablement entendre Jeanne, a été élaboré, de façon minutieuse, à partir des actes authentiques (les minutes conservées en latin et en français), vérifiés aux meilleures sources et complétés par les dépositions du procès d’annulation.

Jacques Trémolet de Villers a plaidé de nombreuses affaires civiles et pénales à caractère politique, idéologique et médiatique. Écrivain, il a publié une biographie du célèbre avocat du XIXe siècle Pierre-Antoine Berryer, Aux marches du palais, de même que Heureux qui comme Ulysse, commentaire de son anthologie de la poésie française Vingt-quatre poèmes que nous devrions savoir par coeur pour les dire à nos enfants. Il poursuit son travail avec cet « Évangile selon Pilate » qu’est le procès de Jeanne d’Arc.

Alcune architetture

Agli studenti del primo anno di architettura a Roma, fino a qualche anno fa, veniva tenuto un corso teorico da Franco Purini, famoso architetto e teorico (più famoso - giustamente - come teorico). In una delle prime lezioni, abitualmente, con un tono esaltante nonostante l'età, il professore si rivolgeva ai giovani dicendo: "Questa è l'ultima volta che vedete una strada, una casa o una città senza pensarci, senza una coscienza critica". 

Ed era vero, come gli studenti si accorgevano; in ognuno di loro negli anni si andrà formando un gusto; e una serie di letture, amicizie e cose viste si fonderanno nella loro "forma mentis". Così ognuno di loro ha la propria classifica di edifici visti per davvero o per immagini, da cui prendono le idee o l'aspetto per i propri progetti. Dopo un po', sono capaci di scorrere una rivista di architettura alla velocità della luce per trovare qualcosa che gli corrisponda, e, istintivamente, quando sono in città che non conoscono, analizzano ogni singolo edificio guardandolo dai finestrini del treno: questo sì, questo no...

Ecco alcune architetture che potete aggiungere alla vostra collezione di figurine:

La Pyramide, Abidjan, Rinaldo Olivieri

Premabhai Hall, Ahmedabad, B.V. Doshi

The Goodwood Residence, Singapore, WOHA Architects

Insediamento a Philadelphia, Louis Sauer

Cine Libertad, San Salvador

Mercado de Kinaxixe, Luanda, Vasco Vieira da Costa

Collegio della Vela, Urbino, Giancarlo de Carlo