TLmag Monthly Digest April 2020 - Togetherness & More
TLmag is an international biannual print and online magazine dedicated to curating and capturing the collectible culture. It has evolved for a decade with creative influencers that have shaped the contemporary art and design scene. www.tlmagazine.com
The Words For A Better Future Richard Sennett, "Homo Faber"
& The Social Triangle
courtesy of nendo
'"Ritual's role in all human cultures is to relieve and resolve anxiety, by turning people outward in shared, symbolic acts; modern society has weakened those ritual ties. Secular rituals, particular rituals whose point is cooperation itself, have proved too feeble to provide support... Today, the crossed effect of desires for reassuring solidarity amid economic insecurity is to render social life brutally simple: us-against-them coupled with you-are-on-your-own. But I'd insist that we dwell in the condition of 'not yet'. Modernity's brutal simplifiers may repress and distort our capacity to live together, but do not, cannot, erase this capacity. As social animals we are capable of cooperating more deeply than the existing social envisions, for Montaigne's emblematic, enigmatic cat is lodged in ourselves, "
Extract by Richard Sennett, Together, The Rituals, Pleasures & Politics of Cooperation, 2012,
ed. Penguin Books Publishers. Richard Sennett is part of our upcoming issue TLmag 33 PE/SS 2020 which will hopefully come out in June 2020. He is also author of the world celebrated essay: The Craftsman, in which he is highlighting "Man As His Own Maker"
"Giving people a small ” ! ” moment. There are so many small ” ! ” moments hidden in our everyday. But we don’t recognize them and even when we do recognize them, we tend to unconsciously reset our minds and forget what we’ve seen. But we believe these small ” ! ” moments are what make our days so interesting, so rich. That’s why we want to reconstitute the everyday by collecting and reshaping them into something that’s easy to understand. We’d like the people who’ve encountered nendo’s designs to feel these small ” ! ” moments intuitively. That’s nendo’s job.” - @nendo_official(JP)
"The Kiss" by Bela Silva is part of her solo show, Season XIV- Despierta Corazón Dormido at Spazio Nobile, which will be prolonged until the end of the summer. This spectacular sculpture echoes the iconic "The Kiss" by Gustav Klimt, the archetype of tenderness and passion. This shimmering, colorful, love scene of two faces and bodies embracing each other evokes also "Le Baiser" by Rodin as well as the ultimate kiss given by Friday Kahlo to Diego Rivera. She wrote in one of her letter with her lipstick as signature: "I love him more than my own life".
Ceramic artist Bela Silva’s first solo show at Spazio Nobile (BE) is the perfect occasion to (re)discover her poetic works and universe. Inspired by the artist’s recent trip to Mexico, the exhibition prolonged until the end of the summer celebrates Latin-American culture, its history and diverse craftsmanship in a cycle of drawings, ceramic works and a Codex Mexico. Read more... Interview by Sarah Schug
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TLmag Monthly Highlights
Making is Thinking, An Ability to Question Society
By focusing on craft and materiality as a common fabric, curator and writer Glenn Adamson’s practice hopes to cross cultural and language barriers alike. TLmag spoke to Glenn to learn more about his extensive research on material culture, his thoughts on distributed authorship and the need for designers and artists to create curiosity in fraught political times... Material culture is really strengthened by its cross-disciplinary intellectual background. "The field was originally developed by archaeologists, anthropologists, and decorative art historians all working together. In my own work as a craft historian, I have seen a similar phenomenon – insights drawn from anthropology and art history mix freely in that space, alongside ‘statements of practice’ by makers," states Glenn. Read more... Interview by Lise Coirier
Wednesday April 22nd: Leo Orta and Victor Miklos Andersen (OrtaMiklos), a partnership formed at the Design Academy Eindhoven in 2015, who are finding explosive energy in the combination of objects and performance.
Friday April 24th: Ron Arad, a leading figure in international architecture and design since 1981. Arad will speak to us from London about his wide-ranging and adventurous career, at the intersection of sculptural form, advanced technology, and poetic expression.
Monday April 27th: Libby Sellers, the leading independent design curator, will discuss projects including her 2019 show An Accelerated Culture, and share thoughts on autonomy and creative practice at times of disruption.
Wednesday April 29: Alexandra Cunningham Cameron, curator of contemporary design at the Cooper Hewitt, National Design Museum, will take us behind the scenes of her new exhibition project Willi Smith: Street Couture.
Friday May 1: James Wines, a living legend in the combined fields of art and architecture, will conduct us on a wide-ranging tour of his work with SITE (Sculpture in the Environment), established five decades ago in 1970.
Glenn Adamsonis a curator, writer and historian based in Brooklyn, who works across fields of design, craft and contemporary art. Currently Senior Scholar at the Yale Center for British Art and Editor-at-Large of The Magazine of Antiques, he has previously been Director of the Museum of Arts and Design, New York. His book, Fewer Better Things: The Hidden Wisdom of Objects, was published by Bloomsbury in August 2018.
TLmag caught up with last year’s La Triennale di Milano’s curator Paola Antonelli to learn more about her focus on restorative design, how she sees the future of human-made design and the inspirations behind the immense exhibition. By reflecting on the relationship between humans and the natural environment at all scales – from microcosms to the cosmos – the exhibition questions social, cultural and natural ecosystems with a critical eye. Broken Nature: Design Takes on Human Survival, highlights the concept of restorative design and studies the connection of humans to planet Earth. In exploring architecture, design objects and concepts at all scales, and in all materials, the exhibition celebrates the designer’s ability to empower people to turn their planet into a positive energy.Read more... Interview by Lise Coirier
As part of the #StayHome campaign, Ascona-based Archivio Luigi Pericle is proposing a series of encounters devoted to the life and work of Swiss artist Luigi Pericle, after the success of the exhibition hosted at the Fondazione Querini Stampalia during the 2019 Venice Art Biennial. A panel of European art historians, critics, curators, journalists, and philosophers will bring to life the virtual pages of the Archives through short thematic video clips (with English subtitles). The talks will dive into Luigi Pericle’s art, as well as on his studies of theosophy and anthroposophy and his interest in Oriental philosophies, esotericism, astrology and alternative spirituality. Pericle was a complex, versatile figure, sometimes elusive in all the various aspects of his life and work. In these online conversations, his work is brought into a new light while bringing together different voices of the art world as they go through archival documents and significant pieces that are a part of the ongoing research on the Swiss artist.Read more...
Interview by Rachel Morón
Starting on the 21st of April and airing on Tuesdays and Fridays, the programme includes the participation of acclaimed names in the world of art including Andrea Biasca-Caroni, François Barras, Luca Bochicchio, Fabrizio Cassinelli, Angelo Lorenzo Crespi, Federico Crimi, Marco Pasi, Carla Schulz-Hoffmann, Anna de Fazio Siciliano, Chiara Gatti, Carole Haensler, Susanna Koeberle, Desirée Maida, Martina Mazzotta, Fabio Merlini, Nicoletta Mongini, Stefania Portinari, Michele Tavola, Italo Tomassoni and Piero Tomassoni.
Taking things one day at a time, Norwegian ceramic artist Ann Beate Tempelhaug has been creating large scale ceramic objects for over thirty years — with some of her pieces in collections from institutions like National Museum Oslo. In a practice to which she has dedicated decades of her life to refine, the artist’s freely shaped and sculpted ceramic objects are painted completely by hand on both their surface and borders — a testament to her curiosity and dedication to finding the beauty in everyday colours and shapes... Having recently exhibited with our sister gallery Spazio Nobile, TLmag caught up with Ann Beate to talk about the influences behind her work, the act of looking and her journey in further moving the boundaries of ceramic art.Read more...
Interview by Rachel Morón
Ann Beate Tempelhaug, Return, 2019, stoneware porcelain, ca 112 x 176 x 20 cm, Spazio Nobile Gallery
"As the ceramic oxides, stains, glazes and embodies the work, colours seem to have endless varieties and ranges in terms of gloss, transparency, tactility, and depth. When I’m painting, I have to “translate” the colours continuously; they fade into shadows of themselves, in their wet and especially in their “dry” state... I have been working with big wall pieces for more than thirty years, with some pieces — like RETURN —taking me ten years to achieve. I am constantly challenged by the freedom and the sense of place it gives me, and my desire to break and move the borders of my ceramic works continues to drive me, as it still remains to be an exciting journey to be on," states Tempelhaug
One of Finland’s most internationally renowned ceramic artists, Kristina Riska’s first solo show with Galerie Forsblom showcases two series that each reflect on the artist’s methodology of bringing unknown or looked over ideas into the spotlight. Getting its name from the ancient Greek word “Physis”, a theological, philosophical, and scientific term usually translated into English as “nature”, Kristina Riska’slatest exhibition brings together two series of works.Read more... Interview by Rachel Morón
In an effort to keep the exhibition open to the public, Galerie Forsblom has created a 3D environment which invites anyone interested to take a virtual walk through their space. You can check out this innovative concept here: https://tourmkr.com/G1yy50QZoJ. The exhibition’s dates have been extended and will be on view until Spring 2020.
Kristina Riska, atamomentlikethis, 2019-2020, hand coiled ceramic sculpture, H. 73 cm, Galerie Forsblom
Swedish visual artist Åsa Jungnelius is widely known for her playful and colorful work, with critical undertones concerning relations. TLmag speaks to Jungnelius in light of the uncomfortable and unusual circumstances caused by the COVID-19 outbreak. Especially now, her methodology and materialization sparks interesting perspectives and discussions.Read more... Interview by Mechteld Jungerius
"It is too early to know how I, as an artist, should interact with this crisis. Personally, I spend more time with myself in the studio, as I’m practicing social distancing. This means I have very little social contact with people, and as I see it, this is never going to work. What I mean is, as humans we cannot survive alone because we need one another. We need each other as a group of people, which gives me hope that this crisis will make us more tolerant. I think the binary way of thinking has to stop. These are thoughts I have had for quite a while, and I think this situation makes us see this in a wider perspective. We have to be more open. In this sense, I believe we should care for each other more. It is impossible to avoid each other and lock ourselves in, as it proves itself as impossible. Perhaps we all need to rethink caring relations, and what these mean," states Åsa.
#glassistomorrow
For four generations, the Croonenberghs family has shared their passion for marble with architects, designers and lovers of fine materials and stories through their family business. Now, Isabelle Croonenberghs and her brother Bruno are orchestrating the future of Cromarbo, whose warehouse in Rhisnes Wallonia is filled to the brim with gorgeous marbles, granites and natural stones. "Gris des Ardennes, the Rouge Griotte and the famous Noir de Mazy, a rare and very pure marble extracted from an underground quarry located in Golzinne, near our showroom, are part of our heritage. Given their high price, they are the province of true enthusiasts, but as it is now fashionable to highlight local assets and talents, it makes sense to include these treasures extracted from particularly difficult-to-access quarries. Belgian marble is an invaluable gift that we want to champion at all costs," states IsabelleRead more... Interview by Marie Honnay
Photo by F. Raevens
WBDM – Wallonie-Bruxelles Design Mode is closely collaborating withTLmagfor interviewing a selection of Belgian talents in fashion and design from Wallonia and Brussels, in order to promote them on the international scene. Read more articles on WBDM News Feed and on TLmag Online Edition Wallonie-Bruxelles Design Mode
