Thinking About the Real World

So as my internship here is more than 2/3 done (a depressing thought) I guess it's time to start contemplating the ways in which my experience here will apply to my studies when I return. I thought I'd do a post about it for anyone interested.

I'm going into my second year of my masters and intend on writing my thesis/MRP about graffiti and the movement of graffiti from the streets into the galleries. In other words, I want to examine what happens when there start to be gallery exhibitions (like one that I went to earlier this year in a swanky new gallery in Chelsea, Manhattan that featured French street artist Zevs). My general idea is that graffiti is no longer graffiti when it is removed from the streets, since its original context is such an intrinsic part of what it is (I would argue that graffiti is not just a final product, but comprises an entire performative process in which context/location plays an integral role).

At first, it would seem like working at a contemporary site-specific sculpture park in rural Tuscany would have little to do with my research interests. However, I'm finding it very interesting examining the ways in which ideas of site-specificity (as they apply to art like the sculptures here at Celle) parallel those that I believe to be crucial in the whole graffiti-gallery issue.

As an aside, if you're interested in seeing the pictures I shoot of graffiti during my travels in Italy and beyond, you can find them on my other blog here.

A couple other unrelated thoughts/stories for the day...

1) Italian transit officially has WAY too many strikes. This is getting ridiculous. At least I finally found the extremely obscure link on the TrenItalia website that gives strike info a day or two in advance.

2) Last night in Florence I had a very bizarre chance encounter. I heard someone call my name and turned around to find a Turkish friend that I went to school with in Florence 3 years ago! I was amazed that he even recognized me, seeing as I went from blonde to black hair since then. WHAT A SMALL WORLD!

Earthquake!

I know it's been a while since I posted... just sort of been waiting for something exciting to happen. 30 minutes ago I felt my first terremoto (earthquake)! So I guess that qualifies. According to my research, it was a magnitude of 3.6, so nothing dangerous, just pretty cool.

Things I Take For Granted

As I mentioned before, there are some required posts that I have to do while I'm away. I want to do most of them later, after I've experienced more, but I think I have enough "things I take for granted" to do a solid post about it. In no particular order:

-Hot water. More specifically, hot water all the time. Here, there is a hot water heater that, even when full, only permits one to have about a 5 minute shower (ie. the length of need of shower I need if I shampoo my hair before wetting it, and if I shave my legs with the water off. Maybe this is why Italian women tend to forego shaving?). Katie and I have to make sure we plan it out so that we shower at least 1 hour apart, as that's how long it takes for the water heater to refill. Also, since our electricity is so finicky, we usually have the water heater turned off because it takes up valuable corrente (power). Therefore, if you forget to turn it on at least an hour before you intend to shower, you're outta luck. This brings me to my next point...

-Electricity. Long story short, we don't have much. The other night while cooking in the dark (to conserve electricity because I needed both burners for the dinner I was making) I had to go flip the breaker 12 times in about a 20 minute period. At least I'm doing lots of stairs as a result...

-Microwaves. Do you know what it's like to want to quickly reheat something, but your only option is to put it in a pot and cover it with a plate, and then it takes longer and gets overcooked and the bottom burns? It sucks. It also means that at dinner, I tend to just eat everything I made, even if I made way too much pasta or something, because I really don't look forward to having leftovers. Leftovers are supposed to be source of joy! Not frustration...

-GPS and/or maps on my iPhone. Yesterday I attempted to find the locksmith in Pistoia using just a very zoomed-in google map printout from Miranda. I literally spiralled around the city, following the instructions given to me by various Pistoians (all of whom, for some reason, had serious speech impediments or lisps, so that was a huge challenge on its own). As an aside, I've decided that the best way to learn a language is by asking directions, and by chatting with your cab driver.

-My car. Well, I don't really take it for granted. I appreciate it even when I have it. But boy do I miss it. Although riding the bus between here and Pistoia means I get to do some fun people watching and have some quality iPod time, it's frustrating that the last bus from Pistoia to my place leaves at 8:10 pm, which is further complicated by the fact that restaurants do not, I repeat, do not open before 8 pm.

I feel like I should end with something more sentimental and less material, but at the moment I can't think of anything, so I'll just say ciao for now.

More Pictures!

Katie uploaded a bunch of her photos today, so I swiped a few off her. Enjoy!

Me outside our apartment

Me in my stylish ensemble outside Miu Miu in Florence

Us and S. Gori at the Buren fountain inauguration

Walking past the Florence duomo at sunset

Me in the windowsill, on the phone

Getting windswept, with Ponte Vecchio in the background

Outside of Santa Maria Novella

Us at the fountain inauguration. Katie says this picture prettymuch sums up our summer... half art, half amazing Tuscan landscape.

So much wind in Florence!

Flowers in Florence

Miranda and I walking up towards the Villa

Settling into a routine...

Not much new to report around here. Just been following Miranda on more tours all week... mostly students of arts colleges. Tomorrow and Friday I will have more to report as we'll be flying solo on those tours. Then on saturday we're going with Signor Gori to a fountain inauguration in Quarrata.

Today our bff housekeeper Elena left to go home to Romania for 3 weeks. I hope we can survive without her!! I think we'll be ok though...

Ciao ciao!

First Glimpse of Pistoia

So Pistoia's pretty great... definitely better than I had expected! We didn't think there would be much going on on a Sunday, but in fact several places were open, and the central piazza was quite abuzz with some sort of performance going on (including some talented teenage dancers, some hilarious kids performing an epically dramatic number from Cats, and a very cool group of drummers). The market also had quite a few stalls, and I'll probably go back soon to buy some pesto and olio di pepperoncino (spicy oil).

The visit to Pistoia was also my first chance to get a nostalgic glimpse of Italian guys... unfortunately I wasn't prepared with a snappy Italian response to "I'd like a piece of that". Next time...

We only spent about 2 hours there, and I'm excited to go back and explore more... fortunately the bus wasn't difficult at all. But now back to the work week.

Below are some Pistoia pics. Enjoy!

I'm not quite sure what they put in Italian Chupa Chups... looks intense!

Chillin' with Warhol, Barni, Penck, Gilbert & George

Yesterday morning Miranda began showing us the artworks around the main floor of the fattoria. Many of the rooms don't get shown to visitors because the visits are supposed to be of the site-specific works, and several of the indoor works are not site-specific. The collection is incredible! Room after room of a variety of impressive works. There are quite a few Sol Le Witt sculptures, a portrait of Signor Gori done by Warhol, as well as works by Roberto Barni, Enrico Cucchi, A. R. Penck, Vanessa Beecroft, Gilbert & George, Gerhard Richter, Christo and a fantastic piece by Guo Wei that you may have seen before. And these are just a small fraction of the indoor works on the property!

Lunch was, again, incredible. The housekeepers have a magical ability to make foods that i hate absolutely delicious. Artichoke risotto, artichoke frittata, and a plate of toasted bread topped with a mixture of roughly smashed cauliflower, tons of garlic, and tons of olive oil.

After lunch Katie and I followed our first (English) tour, although it was an abridged version. I now feel much more comfortable about the tours and am really excited! This morning we'll be following our first full-length Italian tour. Hopefully by the end of today we will have actually seen most of the art works here.

Baci!

Primo Giro (First Tour)

Yesterday Katie and I decided to spend our afternoon doing a walk around the entire property to see all the art (or as much as we could). Today we'll be tagging along for our first official tour, with an English-speaking group (led by Miranda of course). There really are no words to describe how incredible this place is, and pictures don't do it justice either... (fyi, you can click on images to make them larger

Olive Orchard

Bird of Paradise

Notte Due (Night Two)

Yesterday was my second day here, and after I had a much-needed hot shower and a delicious lunch of risotto di carciofi (artichoke risotto), Katie (the other intern) finally arrived from Virginia!

After settling in, Elena (one of the two Romanian housekeepers) drove us to a nearby grocery store where we bought la cioccolata, la pasta, i pomodori (tomatoes), il carne (meat), le patate, la mozzerella, and some other things (oh, and I stocked up on white wine since the fattoria Celle only produces red, which I am gradually learning to like, but am not generally a huge fan of). When we got back, we got to know each other over a few glasses of wine, and I set out to make dinner. Surprisingly, I made a decent spread of pasta & sauce and beef stew, considering I had no sharp knives, no cutting board, and only a hotplate that switched off every 2 minutes because the breaker kept going (or whatever electrical terminology is used in such a case... you all know what I mean though). The electrician is there today and we're hoping to have more reliable electricity now...

This morning we arrived at the office and promptly set out onto the property with Miranda (the manager and overall driving force behind the organization) because her daughter's 2nd grade class was doing a visit of the collection and she had to go say hi. The collection normally only offers entry to adults, but they've recently started a program where school classes are taken around the collection by a mime who presents opportunities for them to interact with the art works. It's pretty awesome, since it allows them to develop their own narrative surrounding the works, rather than simply hearing "this is the title, this is the artist, this is what it is". One morning next week Katie and I are hoping to go along with one of these mime-led tours.

Upon returning to the office, Katie and I learned some of the basics regarding requests for visits, responding to emails, scheduling, etc. We planned out our May schedule, and then broke for lunch. Lunch in Italy is sacred. No one works over lunch. No one. All the electricians and workers working on our apartment are super industrious, but in the late morning if they're asked to do something asap, they'll respond with "well... it's lunch soon. I can start it at 2:30". There are these brothers who recently opened a chocolate shop near the front gate of the property, and they've been talking to Miranda about working something out since morning visitors to the collection are usually famished afterward. But the brothers are reluctant to provide some sort of lunchtime service/snacks since, well, it's lunch! Personally, I thought it was fairly self-evident that if you are in the food service industry, you should probably expect to be working when everyone else is eating...

But anyways, back to OUR lunch. The housekeepers made us a fantastic lunch of homemade pasta (closest to tagliatelle... very wide flat noodles) with tomato sauce, spaghetti with pesto, pork, and potatoes. For the rest of the day we are going to do some reading about the collection, and maybe get out to take some more photos.

Below are a couple more shots I got of the property, just around the area near the villa/fattoria (btw fattoria means farm, not factory).

Ciao a tutti!

Miranda taking a photo of her daughter's class at il spazio teatro (theatre space)

Awesome view

One of the sets of gates

Mago, by Stephen Cox, on the outside of the fattoria

More of the fantastic view

One of the four fish sculptures on a fountain that's being restored. I love the face!

Getting Ready to Go...

In just 5 days, I leave for Italy and my exciting 3-month adventure/internship at the Gori Collection of Site-Specific Art near Pistoia, in Tuscany. The last few weeks have been a whirlwind of getting ready and trying to finish up my schoolwork for this semester. At this point, my 2 main concerns are 1) How can I finish my last essay when it's so much more exciting to prepare for Italy? and 2) How on earth am I going to fit 3 months worth of stuff into one suitcase?!

Stand by for more updates following my arrival in Italy on May 3rd...