2011 : DOMESTICITY, PRAGUE BIENNALE 5

Lucie Fontaine : Domesticity

Domesticity / Communality / Domesticity / Here we are / Domesticity / Domesticity / Trying to live in a Country that is becoming the Disneyland of history / Italy / Domesticity is Riccardo Beretta’s use of the inlaid wood tradition coming from the furniture industry in Brianza, Northern Italy / Domesticity is throwing your laptop out of the window, going back to the studio / Domesticity is Lupo Borgonuovo’s attempt to make the language of sculpture anti-monumental, fragile, human scale / Domesticity is painting the white cube with vivid colors / Domesticity is Michele Chiossi’s irony toward the history of art / Domesticity is Patrizio di Massimo’s sophisticated research of the Italian colonial past / Domesticity is Cleo Fariselli’s natural experiments / Domesticity is using the gallery space as a living room / Domesticity is Enza Galantini’s studio practice, a mixture between the life of a housewife and a Kafka-like insect / Domesticity is a storefront in via Conte Rosso / Domesticity is Alice Mandelli’s ephemeral interventions – dry flowers from the Venice Biennale brought to New York / Domesticity is a music school in via Larga 6 / Domesticity is Marcello Martin’s soundtracks, to be embraced by the sound of passion / Domesticity is Alek O.’s abstract paintings made with unraveled wool sweater / Domesticity is the absence of a strategy / Domesticity is Matteo Rubbi’s puzzles and toys, his playful spirit / Domesticity is getting your hands dirty / Domesticity is Santo Tolone’s still life without the skin, a perfect metaphor of our current state / Domesticity is making artworks that are talismans / Domesticity is Alice Tomaselli’s neon Rebelot – mess in Milanese dialect – the keyword for the understanding of our uncertain present / Domesticity is making fun of Italy’s glorious past / Domesticity is Marcella Vanzo’s cutouts from a shooting made during a party organized by Valentino in Rome and published in Vogue Italia / Domesticity is the bond with my employees / Domesticity is Mauro Vignando’s abstract paintings where the house’s cleaning products become the artist’s palette / Domesticity / Domesticity / Domesticity/ Domesticity / Against the stream / We are here / Domesticity / Domesticity / Domesticity / Domesticity / Domesticity / Some domestic incidents / Domesticity / Domesticity / Domesticity / Domesticity / Domesticity / Domesticity / Domesticity / Domesticity / Domesticity / Domesticity / It’s a non sense / Italy / Domesticity / Domesticity / Italy / Italy / Italy / Italy / Italy / Italy / Italy / Italy / Italy / Is it worth to try? / Shall we all escape / Italy / Domesticity / Italy / My only passion / My only obsession / Italy / Italy

~

PIER LUIGI CELLI : MY SON LEAVE THIS COUNTRY*

My son, you are going to finish university; you have been good. I have nothing to complain about. You are finishing on time and in a good way, way more than what your mother and I expected from you. This is why I’m talking to you with bitter words, thinking of what will happen to you now. This country, your country, is not a place where it is possible to live with pride anymore.

You can only imagine the suffering I feel when I tell you this. My worries about the future end the sweet traditions of our time together, which for many years we have shared. But honestly, I cannot hide what I have pondered for so long. I know you well enough to see the strength of your sense of justice, of your desire to achieve results, of your capacity for friendship. And again, your belief that study is the only way to be eligible and reliable for the job you will encounter.

So look around you. What you see is that all of this has less and less value in a divided, quarrelsome, highly individualistic society, which is ready to betray values like solidarity and honesty in exchange for personal interest, for questionable profits; a society of ferocious careers based on fictitious merits (unless affiliation and the politic of clan can be considered merits.)

This is a country in which, if you are lucky, you will start earning a tenth of a flunkey, a cent of a Velina** or a Tronista*** and maybe a little bit more than a thousandth of what a big manager earns who is responsible for mishaps and failures he will never pay for. This is a country in which, if you wish to travel, you can only hope that Alitalia will decide to be a serious company, and will ask its employees to respect the schedule, because maybe all your flights will be cancelled for whole days, and you will waste your time waiting for information (or excuses) that will never come. After all, how could that be different? Since this is the only country whose national airline company, technically bankrupted and unable to survive the market, has been privatized, giving it a monopoly, paralyzing the leadership in the face of employees who can never imagine losing their jobs.

Believe me, if you look around, you will not find many reasons to cheer up. You will encounter the glorious destinies of people who, having worked as taxi drivers, are rewarded – for understandable reasons – with places on an administration board or who even, without knowing anything about electricity, gas or energy, float smoothly to the top of Multiutility SPA.**** Not having a criminal record will not matter, if you have good reason to be otherwise, you may push yourself to difficult tasks perhaps detrimental to the destiny of the industries of our country.

This is a country in which nobody seems responsible for paying for their mistakes; imagine if they will think of stepping out, they would rather desire a better spot, achieved through recommendation, in any task. I could go on, boring and depressing you.

For these reasons, suffering more than ever, my advice is that once finished with your studies, you will go abroad. Choose to go where loyalty, respect, recognition of merit and results are still important. Probably it will not be all roses, not even this. You will often feel nostalgic about your country and I hope that you will miss your parents. You will have to deal with that in order to do what you have prepared yourself for all these years. Listen to me: this country does not deserve you. I would have wanted it to be different and we failed – us too. You have the right to live differently without asking, for instance, if what you say or write will bother the mediocre people in power, and if you risk becoming their target, and you will marginalize yourself without knowing why. Now that I told you what I tried to avoid with all my strength, I imagine your reply. I know you and I love you also because of this. You will tell me that this is all true; that this is it; that you too are disgusted, but that you, for the same reasons, will not give up. That’s all. And I do not know, believe me, whether I should be worried about your stubbornness, or be happy that you found a way to avoid sharing my bitter feelings. Be ready to suffer.

Warmly,

Your father

* This letter was originally published November 30 2009 in the Italian newspaper La Repubblica.

** Velina is the showgirl animating the Italian famous show “Striscia la Notizia” a parody of the Italian TV news conceived by Antonio Ricci and Lorenzo Beccati in 1988 and still broadcasted on prime time by Mediaset’s Canale 5.

*** Tronista is the protagonist of “Uomini e Donne” a mixture between a reality and a talk show hosted by Maria De Filippi and broadcasted by Mediaset’s Canale 5.

**** Multiutility Spa is a registered company offering services concerning energy.