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ONLY BE ROMAN
Only-Be Roman
The Tomb of Pope Innocent VIII
History, as we all know, is only the history according to the dictum of the present day. Each society carries out historical investigation according to the prevailing circumstances and interests of the time – it´s this to which history becomes subordinate. Dates and facts are organised and prioritised to create a determined past. Perhaps with this in mind, we shouldn´t immediately dismiss the curious investigation which led to Ruggero Marino (author of Cristóbal Colón: el último de los templarios) and Javier Sierra (La ruta prohibida y otros enigmas de la Historia) suggesting the possibility that Christopher Columbus was in fact a Templar knight, and that he in fact arrived in America for the first time earlier than the famous date (in 1492), with special guidance from the religious Order. According to economist Jacques de Mathieu, some of the knights of the Temple appear to have used and exploited the South American silver mines during the 12th and 13th centuries, having perhaps arrived on the trail of the lost tribes of Israel. This would certainly explain the large amount of templar silver money in Europe around that time, and the fact that the templars established the principle port for their fleet not via the Mediterranean, which would have been the obvious and natural choice, given the context of the period – but the Atlantic, in the Normandy area La Rochelle. A further piece of evidence for this interesting hypothesis might also lie in the left corridor of the basilica of San Pedro in Rome, atop the magnificent tomb of Pope Innocent VIII – who Ruggero Marino argues was Columbus´ true...
Nico Vascellari: a new exhibition at Rome’s MACRO
Italian artist Nico Vascellari is a master of eccentricity. His incredible installations are a complete mix up of painting, collage, video, performance and sculpture. His main reference points are folklore, nature and the alternative underground scene. Vascellari is one multi-faceted man – as well as being a contemporary artist, he also brings his rebellious spirit to music, singing in punk band “With love.” In 2007, Vascillari participated in Manifesta, one of the most radical, and interesting contemporary art biennales. His contribution – a large scale video installation – caught the eye of curators and art critics from all round the world. That same year, he won the “Young Italian Art Award,” and his work was included in hugely successful corporate art collection The Deutsche Bank Collection. 2007´s “Cuckoo” was one of his most daring projects yet; an installation which fused concepts of the ritual, iconography, rhythm, the church and sacrifice, and involved an impromptu performance by members of his punk band. Now showing at Rome´s contemporary art museum MACRO, Vascillari is one of Italy´s most exciting artists. Back in October of last year, he opened with exhibition “Blonde” a show which inspired by the museum´s curved walls. For more information about “Blonde” go to: http://en.macro.roma.museum/mostre_ed_eventi/mostre/nico_vascellari_blonde Heloise Battista If you´re interested in finding out about one of today´s most interesting emerging artists, rent one of the apartments in Rome and don´t miss out on Vascillari´s new exhibition at Rome´s MACRO, on until the 22nd of May Translated by: Poppy...
Europunk: Punk in Europe 1976-1980.
At the Villa Medici until the 20th March is exhibition Europunk, organised by the Academy of France in Rome, and centered around the visual element of the punk movement of 1976-80. Punk represented the atmosphere of irreverance at the end of the 1970s, after severe economic crisis had given rise to a boom in artistic expression. The exhibition revisits the socio-political roots of the era, and how they affected the development of punk countercultures, through a collection of 500 pieces, including clothes, fanzines, posters, flyers, paintings, collages, CD covers and videos. Europunk opens with the Sex Pistols during their first TV appearance (1976), on the “So it goes” show – the moment which is considered the birth of the punk movement – and ends with Joy Division at the BBC in 1979, passing through New Wave along the way. One of the pieces on show is the infamous poster of Queen Elizabeth II – her eyes and mouth covered with the slogan “God save the Queen,” a British flag in the background – a true subversion of British tradition and authority. Also included is the publicity poster for Sex Pistols release “Anarchy in the UK,” designed by artist Jamie Reid, and a true emblem of punk. Alongside all this will be a selection of clothes designed by Malcolm McLaren and Vivienne Westwood, as well as posters designed by Jon Savage for Joy Division and The Pop Group gigs. Though the exhibition starts with the United Kingdom, it traces the punk movement’s journey out to other European countries such as France, Germany, Sweden, Italy and Holland. We also learn about...
Valentine’s Day in Rome
When Federico Moccia published his acclaimed novel I Want You (Ho voglia di) in 2006, the reigns of the tradition of legendary bridge Milvio were handed over. After holding the weight of a quaint 2000 year old history, there arrived a new Roman ritual that spread like wildfire to cities all around the world, proving that bad taste knows no barriers. On Valentines Day, lovers place a padlock engraved with their initials around a streetlamp on the bridge, and passionately throw the keys into the river. The poor Milvio bridge, where it all started, has not only had to endure this humiliation, but, (and it seems unbelievable that this could happen in Italy of all places) its aesthetic harmony was further insulted when the mayor of Rome ordered that new steel columns be placed on the bridge, so that Moccia’s fans could continue their rites hitch-free. It seems incredible to me that the digital, Facebook generation might not see reasoning behind only being allowed to carry out this padlock ritual online, virtually. In spite of all this, Rome remains an ideal city in which to spend Valentines Day. Love is true, so the theory goes, if we see the name in the mirror – but, according to the ancient tradition, it must remain a secret. Revealing the name was once forbidden with the penalty of death, when in 82 BC poet and tribune Valerio Sorano was crucified for the monstrous crime of uttering the name in public and bringing a series of catastrophes upon the city. Though known that this phenomenon occurred with true love – the secret name revealed...
The Wombats concert in Roma
The indie alternative rock is now one of the most important musical styles around the world, but if there is a place where this movement is more important not only because there are so many people that follow it but also because there are many bands that are born it is in England. One of the most important representatives of this style is, undoubtedly, The Wombats. This group was founded in 2003 in Liverpool (home of no others than The Beatles) and is composed by Matthew Murphy, Dan Haggis and Tord Øverland-Knudsen. The three members met at the Liverpool Institute of Performing Arts and soon became friends and started to jam together. Obviously the results were much better than what they had imagined, and in 2006 they already released their first single, called “Girls, Boys, and Marsupials” which ended becoming an LP that was released only in Japan. This production began to attract attention but the top of his career was not until they released the single “Let´s Dance To Joy Division”. This song became famous around the world and started playing on the radio and clubs and was remixed by many artists. This song catapulted them into the mainstream and they were able to do a European tour which ended in a show at the Liverpool Academy, one of the places where most recognized bands in the world are presented. But as if this were not enough, they also managed to win the prize NME Best Dancefloor Filler with the song “Let´s Dance To Joy Division”. With this award under their possession, everybody started talking of them and...
Antony Gormley exhibits in the MACRO in Roma
British sculptor Antony Gormley is obsessed with the human body in relation to space. For more than 40 years of artistic career, Gormley has been exploring the connection body-space in his great scale facilities such as Another Place, Domain Field and Inside Australia. Most interestingly, Gormley bases on his own body and subjectivity, to invite the viewer to be part of that intimate perspective, and to give a collective projection. Gormley´s art has been exhibited in some of the most important institutions in the world such as the Tate and the British Museum in England, Kunsthalle zu Kiel in Germany and the National Museum of Modern History in China in Beijing. Now his riveting work arrives in Rome with his first exhibition at the MACRO entitled “Drawing Space”, which opened on October 26 and will remain open until February 6, 2011. Curated by Luca Massimo Barbero and Anna Moszynska, the exhibition presents approximately 80 drawings, which were devised since 1981, representing an important aspect in the career of Gormley, as well as four recent sculptures. Fascinated by the penetration of the human being in imaginative, emotional and concrete space, in these drawings the artist focuses on the human body as a starting point, and from there he explores how we relate and orientate to space. But Gormley also feels a strong interest in these critical moments in which human beings start to get disoriented and lost, when they feel that space pervades. More info at: http://en.macro.roma.museum/mostre_ed_eventi/mostre/antony_gormley_drawing_space Heloise Battista If you don’t want to miss the work of this important artist, we recommend you to rent apartments in Rome Until February...
Exhibition by Jamie Shovlin at the MACRO in Rome
The artist Jamie Shovlin is obsessed with that delicate and fragile line between reality and fiction, memory and history. Born in 1978 in England, he held his first exhibition in 2004; since then he has risen to fame thanks to his intricate and conceptual works that caught the attention of one of the most famous and controversial collectors of our time, Charles Saatchi. One of his most famous works is probably “Naomi V. Jelish”, 2001, an extensive and detailed archive of drawings and newspaper clippings of a girl of 13, who allegedly disappeared under very mysterious circumstances. A striking work because of its dark tale at first glance that seemed to be based on real events and then ended unveiled as an elaborate fiction by the artist. And it is this tension between reality and myth that has always attracted the artist and which uses as a base for all his works. The human being’s capacity of facing this alleged reality with the most absurd or noble idealism and its need to build narrative tissues, completely fictitious in its background and which form the basis of any identity, whether it be social, cultural or political. And that´s how Shovlin does in his work, based on constructing and using different materials and media such as video, photography, text to highlight the fantasy, history and memory are made of the same material: human imagination. On October 26 the MACRO in Rome celebrated the opening of “Hiker Meat”an exhibition that presents the latest feat of Shovlin. In it, the artist strikes again with an interesting audio-visual collage which, again, takes us into...
Away We Go. The latest movie by Sam Mendes
If you are restless and you like travelling the world….if you never seem to find the right place…then this movie by Sam Mendes might just be what the doctor ordered. With almost 2 years delay the movie is coming to Italy. A movie you could place somewhere between the aesthetic of indie movies and the big Hollywood productions. It is pretty hard to forget American Beauty and all the awards this movie won then. Not only for Mendes as the director but also Alan Ball, the talented script writer. But life and the filmography of this brilliant director continue. Movies like Revolutionary Road, another of his celebrated movies starring Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio or Jarhead and Road to Perdition. This time around he went without big internationally known actors: John Krasinksi and Maya Rudolph. If American Beauty was side blow against suburban America and the bourgeoisie and Revolutionary Road about the youth that sooner or later ends in a bourgeois life then Away We Go is again about the problems between the generations but this time from a modern point of view. From the eyes of a couple that is looking for a place to settle down. The viewer accompanies them on their journey discovering the most incredible places in the US. Sonia Teruel If you haven’t seen this movie yet, rent apartments in Rome and don’t miss this masterpiece by Sam Mendes, one of the most important directors of our time.? Translated by: salome...
Fast Food Diet
Obesity is one of the most frequent nutritional pathologies of our time and a chronic disease that’s closely related to the way we eat and the lifestyle we lead. For many years the industry is bombarding us with new diets that can’t seem to keep their promise of loosing weight. To confirm his theory about the best method to loose weight, nutricionist Dr Mark Haub developed the “Twinkie Diet” whose name refers to the All-American favorite snack. This is certainly one of the most frightening diets since the Atkins diet that recommended solely eating meat. With this diet he wanted to put an end to the never ending discussion about which method is better to lose weight: counting calories vs. eating healthy. With the “Twinkie Diet” Dr Haub wanted to prove that the only way to successfully lose weight is to count calories and therefore you should not have to abstain from fast food. 10 weeks long the expert ate the worst and most obscure foods, like the notorious Twinkie and potato chips etc. without exceeding a calorie intake of 1800 calories. And although he did indeed lose 14 kilos and his cholesterine levels improved, Haub wouldn’t recommend only eating fast food to anyone. Just because his weight is in a “normal” range doesn’t mean that he is healthier. Heloise Battista With all this contradictory information it’s the best to learn from cultures where people enjoy eating and food but everything in moderation. Rent apartments in Rome where you can enjoy a varied, healthy and delicious menu.? Translated by: salome...
