The Egyptian Academy: A Breath of Modernism in Valle Giulia

High modernist buildings are rare in Rome, and when we saw that the Egyptian Academy of Fine Arts was on the lists of sites for the annual OpenHouseRoma event, we couldn't resist.  We had been there once before, for an evening film screening, but had not seen much except for an interior stairway and the auditorium.  This would be different.

And it was, and wasn't.

The Academy, as it looked in the mid-1960s

The Egyptian Academy was founded in 1929, and for most of the following 30 years was located in one of the Emperor Nero's palaces on the Oppian Hill (Colle Oppio), across from the Coliseum.  In 1966 the Academy moved to its current location, at via Omero 4, in Valle Giulia, onto what one might call "academy row."  At the time it was the only Arab-African Academy in Europe.

Berlusconi (left) and Mubarak at opening of the remodeled
Academy, 2010

Little information is available about that building, except that it was subject to an extensive
remodeling under Egyptian architect Hatem Said early in the new century, reopening in 2010 to guests that included Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and his Italian counterpart, Silvio Berlusconi.

We had parked our scooter down the hill and walked up, negotiating still another Rome stairway filled with trash.

The Academy facade, after an $8 million renovation.
Worth every cent.

The tour was scheduled to begin more than a half hour later, so we busied ourselves looking at a display of Egyptian modern art on the first floor.

The courtyard, from the interior

The remainder of our wait was spent in the superb, simple, square courtyard at the back of the building: grass, sculptures, places to sit, the frame of  rectilinear modernism recalling the Kennedy Center (1971) architecture of an earlier era.

As it turned out, the "tour" was of the Egyptian art we had already seen, as well as a subterranean museum of ancient Egyptian artifacts--not our fancy--not, at least, on this day.  We bailed out, headed for another venue.  And pleased to have experienced the pleasures of the Academy courtyard.

Bill

American Academy Open Studios - Art and Architecture in a Sublime Setting

The dwindling crowd at dusk at the McKim Mead and White building,
The American Academy in Rome

The American Academy in Rome's Open Studios are, for us anyway, a not-to-be-missed event. This year, the "Centennial Festival" on June 5 was no exception.  One cannot see these studios and have unlimited access to the Academy's Fellows except one evening per year, and that evening has just passed, but we think some flavor of the experience and the work is worth writing about, even after the event and perhaps in anticipation of next year.

LaBombard explaining her work on the greening of Rome's land.

The Fellows are strongly concentrated in architecture, including landscape architecture. So that influences what one sees in the studios.  We started at the top of this 3-story building to avoid the crowds - and the event does draw crowds, which seemed to be more Italian this year than in the past.   We were intrigued from the outset by Elizabeth Fain LaBombard's graphs and aerial photos showing the urbanization of Rome, and her efforts to bring more green space to the city and its suburban areas. Since we've walked and hiked in many of these areas, we were drawn to her photos and her work.

Newell's dark space photos

Down the hall, Catie Newell, also an Architecture Fellow, was focused on dark space.  Her photos were fascinating ["Those are the ones you want me to throw away, said Bill."  "Not quite," I replied.], as were her dark, tar-coated - perhaps - objects.

Noordkamp's film on Gibellina, a Sicilian city reconstructed in the 1980s
and perhaps killed by the good intentions of architects and planners of that era.

And on the same floor, Petra Noordkamp [Dutch Affiliated Fellow] drew us in with her film about Gibellina, a city in Sicily destroyed by the 1968 earthquake, reconstructed with buildings by well-know archiects - away from the original city - in the 1980s, and now mostly abandoned.  Our discussion with Petra led to her telling us of another short film she did that explores a church in Gibellina, by the famous architect Ludovico Quaroni.  Petra described his son as "my ex-lover who killed his mother."  We bought the dvd on the spot.

Wine, kids and views - along with the art.

The 3 Preservation and Conservation Fellows are fascinated by some of the same 20th century work as are we. Tom Leslie celebrated with us his love of Pier Luigi Nervi's Palazzetto dello Sport, which we've lauded on the blog.

One of Dobbins' puppet shows.

Reynolds' film of his artist-and-model

Among the visual artists, we particularly enjoyed the puppetry of Hamlett Dobbins that uses Futurist authors' [Marinetti, Depero, etc.] plays, and Reynold Reynolds' short film that riffs off the Durer etching of a man sketching a nude through a grid [ "painting made easy"?].

These are just 6 of the 16 studios we visited.  We also found time for the villa's spectacular views, and the free flowing wine and almonds.

Serving up the wine.

If you are in Rome at the end of May/beginning of June, don't miss next year's AARome's Open Studios.  A footnote - the concept of the Open Studios was begun by our friend Dana Prescott, then the Andrew Heiskell Arts Director at the American Academy in Rome, now Executive Director of Civitella Ranieri Foundation, which hosts fellows in a spectacular castle in Umbria.







To next year...  Dianne

We're always pleased to see Rome the Second Time

on an Academy bookshelf.

Another Triumph for Romanian Academy - new artists, new works, new approaches

[Note:  update on more "promenades" at end of this post.]

Get thee to the Romanian Academy (Accademia di Romania in Roma), by Friday, if you’re in Rome.  The current exhibit, Spazi Aperti X is the 10^th annual “open spaces” group exhibition the Academy has sponsored.  This year’s exhibition features 30 artists from a dozen academies and cultural institutes in Rome and has been given great reviews by art critics here, as it should.

Spazi Aperti closes this Friday at 7 p.m., with a finissage (we love the word – a take off on a “vernissage” – an opening event with extras).  The finissage will include music and sound performances from 7.30 p.m. to 12.30 a.m.   Besides the special events (see more below), the exhibition is open 4-6 p.m. Monday - Friday.

and you can too

go Kate!

in the Academy - collaboration of Marcel Saegesser
(Swiss Institute musician) and Claudia Zloteanu
(Romanian Academy)

Among our favorite works are the vinyl bubble in the outside courtyard by Ana Rewakowicz of Studio del Quebec a Roma.  You can help put it up and take it down (see photo) in the evening and several times during the finissage.  It needs to be protected at night and from winds that could blow it away.  We also were taken with the 2008 piece by American Kate Gilmore, who is physically kicking and poking herself out of a chimney-like box.  And I liked the rotting apples on the main floor.  And the artists at the Romanian Academy are great at using the Academy's more unusual spaces.

apples by Colin Darke, The British School

Today (Sunday, June 10) there’s a 6.30 p.m. performance and 7.30 video screening plus debate, and you can run across the street to The British School’s opening of the exhibit “Where you live now,” which is coordinated in times with the finissage.

Valerio, right, interviewing 2 artists and unidentified woman

We went to Saturday’s walk (“promenade”) in Villa Borghese with artist Valerio Rocco Orlando - most of it was in English because it involves artists from several academies.  Valerio is interviewing artists and questioning the role of the academy in today’s art milieu…more on that in a future post.  He’ll be doing a couple more walks this week.  When we get the details, we’ll post info on those as additions to this post; we highly recommend joining Valerio. [see end of post for update]

A dozen academies participated.  We don’t mean to be niggling, but where were the Americans?  Do they think they’re “above” group shows?  As we said, more on the whole academy experience in a later post. 

And kudos to curator Eleanora Farina.

More promenades - June 27 and 28, 5-7 p.m., meet Valerio at Piazza di Spagna in the Villa Borghese.  These are part of MAXXI's re-generation program. 

Dianne

Directions to the Romanian Academy: it’s in Valle Giulia on Piazza Jose’ de San Martin, just down the street from Rome’s modern Italian art museum (Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Moderna – viale delle Belle Arti), at the back (north) of Villa Borghese.  You can walk there from Piazza del Popolo – through the Villa, or take Tram 3 to Piazza Thorwaldsen (end of the line).  In the later evening hours, the M bus gets you close.

Enjoying Rome's Academies: Kabuki in Rome



Shibajaku Nakamura VII, one of Japan's most famous Kabuki actors

We're fans of the international academies in Rome, and scout the papers for their programs.  One day this year there was a promotion for a "Kabuki conference."  And, there was a big and expensive (as in too rich for our blood at Euro 100+ per ticket) Kabuki show in town.  So we decided to try out this free "conference,"  billed as complete with one of Japan's preeminent Kabuki stars and musicians playing tamburi and shamisen in costume. 

The Japanese Cultural Academy was packed with several hundred people and was SRO.  The "conference" turned out to be a Kabuki star explaining the Japanese drama form - in Japanese, translated into Italian.  We waited patiently through this; it was sprinkled with a bit of music from the traditional instruments. 

And then we were promised a demonstration of an actor getting into costume.  The actor in this case was a 20-something Japanese youth who set up his make-up table and proceeded to turn himself into a Japanese geisha.  The transformation was spell-binding.  In Kabuki, as in classical Shakespearan drama, men play all the roles, including the female ones.  And becoming a Kabuki actor who portrays females is passed down in the family.  When the young actor passed through the audience in mincing female steps and demeanor, we were in awe.

That's 55 year-old Shibajaku Nakamura VII in the photo, who explained the art to us, and also explained that he inherited the art from his father.  He is famous in Japan for the "elegance and expressive richness" of his portrayal of female roles. 

Hey, we were impressed!

Dianne

RST Top 40: #14, Villa Medici



From the Villa Medici gardens, St. Peter's dome at right in distance



The Villa Medici sits just to the north of the top of the Spanish Steps (which probably should be called the French Steps.) It is so close to the heart of tourism in Rome and yet for many people, so far. They just don’t get here, and they should – that’s why we’ve put the Villa #14 on our Rome the Second Time’s must-see list.



 

In trying to figure out how to succinctly capture this extraordinary property, with its layers of Roman history, archeology, art, water-works, etc., I found I couldn’t do better than what we say in Chapter Six of Rome the Second Time when we guide people to the French Academy the villa houses – so here it is in one paragraph:



Exhibit on the ancient aqueducts IN the Villa Medici's cistern



“This magnificent 16th century palazzo, with interventions by Michelangelo and extensive gardens, is near the top of the Spanish Steps, on the Pincio. The art exhibits are high quality and sometimes occupy unusual spaces, including the villa’s 6th-century cistern, constructed to store rainwater should the barbarians cut the aqueducts [which they did]. Musical performances range from jazz to classical. To get there, walk up the Spanish Steps, then left about 300 feet, via Trinita’ dei Monti, 1.”



Everything about the Villa Medici used to be free – you could walk in the villa, the gardens, the art exhibits, the music. Now everything seems to have a cost, e.g. from Euro 8 for a show to Euro 11 for show + guided tour of the gardens.



the "snail shell" stairs in the Villa Medici



Through December 16 there are special Thursday evening visits to the current art exhibit with some special features like tours with the artists. For me, it’s another run, don’t walk; definitely worth trying. The website, with lots of good information, is only in French and Italian. Here’s the Italian link, and you can try translating it with Google or another program: http://www.villamedici.it/it/home/.



We highly recommend going to an exhibit or music offering and walking through the villa (see., e.g., "snail shell" stairs in right photo) and garden on your own. The art spaces in the outbuildings are modern and interesting. The Roman statuary all around is stunning. The expansive view all the way to St. Peter’s dome from IN the garden is magical (photo at top).   And, for a pausa (literally a “pause,” but we would say a break), there’s a small café inside as well. Being in the Villa Medici makes you feel like you are on the Spanish Steps without being mobbed by tourists, hustlers and buskers (or people who are all 3).

Dianne

The Germans Occupy Rome--for an Evening

The Germans occupied Rome Thursday night. Yes, we were all, about 2,000 of us, occupied and entertained at Villa Massimo, the German cultural academy, just steps off Piazza Bologna. This year's rendition was special, a celebration of the 100th anniversary of the Academy, a space that had hosted Richard Strauss, Sophia Loren, Ingrid Bergmann, Renata Guttuso, Pablo Picasso and Pablo Neruda, among other luminaries.

But first we had to get in, and that proved more difficult than we had imagined while reading the 2-page spread in La Repubblica, which announced "Porte Aperte" (open doors). Indeed, the doors were open, but only for the press and those with invitations. Like others in the small, disaffected group adrift outside, we complained--"it was in the newspaper" and the newspaper had said nothing about invitations, was our argument--but only when Dianne mentioned that we had written a book about Rome that included mention of the Academy did the guard relent and allow us to progress to the next challenge: the press table, manned by three young women. I explained that whatever policy they were applying was "bad public relations," but it was Dianne's Patton-like tactic--brandishing the book, flashing a card with the cover on it (one of the young women actually knew of it)--that brought success, and in we went.

Phase I (the Germans, we found out years ago, don't do free-for-alls), during the waning hours of the day and into twilight, took us into the dozen or so studios of the fellows of the academy, all lined up in row along a wide lane of small stones. This was a no-alcohol phase (though Dianne later claimed to have found some Martini Rossi at one of the drink tables),
but there was lemonade and other bottled drinks, and plenty of salty french fries and chicken fingers served in small, waxy paper bags.

The art and music offerings seemed on the minimal side, a recyling of the avant-garde, new music sensibilities of the German TV serial "Heimat" in more than one studio, a recording of birds singing in another. One woman, interested in what changes could be wrought in the public sphere, had decorated some picnic tables in blue and on them had put bowls of lemons (see photo). Another project involved printing and framing all the newspaper articles written about a 1938 Rome meeting between Hitler and the Pope that never took place, and then there was the decorated saw horse.

One studio was almost entirely taken up with a boxing ring, where at 9 p.m. two young men dressed in the vestments of priests duked it out for 3 rounds until the one dressed all in white knocked out the one with the black trim. When it was over, Dianne said she was surprised that the spectators had clapped.

Our favorite artistic moment was a seductive and complex video by 42-year old Christian Jankowski, which took a TV/newsreel ("Tableau Vivant TV") approach to introducing the artist's work, which involved living tableaus featuring real people "frozen" at their work.
One of the tableaus featured the artist being interviewed (or, should we say, talked about, since he was locked in that pose) in a bathtub where he was coming up with ideas for future tableaus. I hope that's clear. Later we met the artist; Dianne did her networking thing, suggesting that Christian might be interested in Favretto's the 19th-century tableaus (getting pretty esoteroic here). Christian took it all down on his Blackberry, and Bill took this picture.

Phase II was dinner and, at long last, beer and wine, in which we fully indulged, having left the scooter in the garage, all in the dramatic setting of the Villa's main courtyard, its pines and cypruses lit seductively from below. One section of the courtyard was set aside for specially important people, which we knew was not us. The food was served at an enormous oval-shaped table with waiters inside. It was soon mobbed, 3-deep, "pigs at the trough," said Dianne, and it was 40 minutes before we could penetrate enough to grab a few chicken legs and, finally, some white soupy stuff that may have been fish. We spent much of the dinner hour people-watching over a glass of wine, standing on a small podium and leaning against a giant granite column, telling each other how much in love we were and what a grand time we were having (I kid you not).

We had somehow missed dessert, but the evening was not over. For Phase III we ambled over to a make-shift outdoor disco with a classic disco ball overhead, where (after waiting for "qualche minuto" several times), we joyously danced in semi-darkness, first with a bevy of energetic children, then with two tall gay guys, then in a conga line, finally in the full density of the crowded disco (I've been told the current word is "club").

Seldom have we been more, or better, occupied. Nice work, Germany! But next time, make sure the "porte" are really "aperte."

Bill