Paris. Theatrical monologue by and with Jacopo Veneziani
Description
Paris. Theatre monologue by and with Jacopo Veneziani
Friday 11 October | 8.45 p.m. | Piazza del Sole, Bellinzona
Sconfinare Festival 2024
What alchemy caused Paris, at a certain point in history, to become a magnet for intellectuals, writers, musicians and artists from all over the world? What has allowed it to become the epicentre of world art, in a dense web of encounters and passages, deep rivalries and fortuitous collaborations? In short, what made it, as Gertrude Stein wrote, the place 'where you had to be to be free'?
Together with Jacopo Veneziani, a young art historian and populariser, we will take a journey back in time to immerse ourselves in the era of the avant-gardes and the ramshackle ateliers of Montmartre, which saw the birth of Matisse's fiery colours, Picasso's decomposed shapes and Modigliani's elongated figures. During the First World War, we will observe the proliferation of art in clandestine premises, open all night despite the curfew. We will re-emerge when peace is made and witness a memorable dinner at the Hotel Majestic, where - for the first and only time - Igor Stravinsky, Pablo Picasso, Serge Diaghilev, James Joyce and Marcel Proust gathered around the same table.
During the First World War, we will observe the proliferation of art in clandestine clubs, open all night despite the curfew. We will re-emerge when peace is made and witness a memorable dinner at the Hotel Majestic, where - for the first and only time - Igor Stravinsky, Pablo Picasso, Serge Diaghilev, James Joyce and Marcel Proust gathered around the same table. In 1940, in free and unrestrained Paris, a refuge for those fleeing Hitler's Germany, we end up in a nightmare: the Nazi occupation. We will sneak into the ateliers of the artists who chose to stay, peek into the museums, busy documenting the thefts of works by the Germans, and sit at the Café de Flore, where Jean-Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir gave life to that existentialism whose essence Alberto Giacometti captured in his graceless, elongated figures.
Jacopo Veneziani
An art historian and populariser, he lived eight years in Paris, where he obtained a doctorate in art history from the Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne. In 2020, he published #Divulgo. The histories of art history, in 2021 Symmetries. Observing yesterday's art with today's gaze and in 2023 La Grande Paris. 1900-1920: the golden age of modern art. For three years he edited a weekly column on art history in the programme "Le parole della settimana" (Rai3) and is now a regular guest on the programme "In altre parole" (La 7) hosted by Massimo Gramellini. He teaches "Communicating art" at the IULM University in Milan and is president of the Ricci Oddi Gallery (Piacenza).
Genre: contemporary art show
Duration: 1 hour and 30 minutes, without intermission
Text: Jacopo Veneziani and Nicoletta Lazzari
Set design and live painting: Gabriele Pino
Music: Antonio Rimedio
Direction: Pietro Grandi
Production: Corvino Produzioni in agreement with The Italian Literary Agency