Events and Art Festivals: Le Settimane Musicali di Stresa e del Lago Maggiore, Italy

Oh August... you are by far the least eventful month for the visual arts. 

For those of you new to the art scene, this is the time of year when the gallerists, dealers, curators, and art event coordinators all take a break from the (art) world. And boy is it felt. 

I wish I had some über-exciting gallery or museum event to discuss. I know that for those of you in Texas, Sicily, and other areas of the world lying closest to the equator, going to a museum would be a welcome relief from the triple-digit temperatures (Fahrenheit). However, for the rest of us, the current climate makes it the perfect summer month for vacations. As the tourists flow into the major cities: New York, London, Madrid, Paris, Rome...you get the idea, the citizens of these locales escape the chaos and 'heat.'

Aside from this lull in the arts, I am incredibly fortunate to be living near the city where open-air music concerts enliven August nights.  As of nearly 5 weeks ago I have been living and working in a small frazione called Oggebbio. In the middle of nowhere as it may be, I am afforded beautiful views of the Swiss Alps and Lago Maggiore. Besides being known as the most northern point of Italy (a far stretch from my Sicilian roots), Piemonte also hosts a wonderful event every summer called Le Settimane Musicali di Stresa, roughly translated the musical weeks of Stresa. Stresa is a little town, not too far from where I am, that is known as a  little epicenter of culture flooded once a year by hosts of music enthusiasts, who come for the classical music and the ambiance of Lago Maggiore.

The Stresa Festival (in short) is a few weeks long classical music concert which begins with Musical Meditations from July 30th to August 7th. However the most critical weeks in Stresa are during the Visions concerts, which begin on August 22nd and last until September 5th this year. During this period there is concert every night (and on some occasions 2). The composers range from Beethoven and Strauss to Gershwin and Dvořák.

As far as international classical music festivals go, this is ranks in the leagues of the summertime festivities in Lucerne (Switzerland), among others. Unfortunately, regular concert tickets are not free and often sold out (opening night is fully booked). However, Groups (4+) and those under 26 can get tickets for a mere 5 and 10 euro, respectively. If you plan on going  you might be in luck to find an available non-balcony seat for 25 euro. I hope to score some tickets to Jokes, Bach's Sonatas + Partitas (I & II), New Worlds, or Il Matrimonia Segreto.

With or without tickets, I will still make it my duty to visit Stresa during the concert and hope some of the music floats to my ears. I know this is not going along with my usual theme, but if you feel a lack of art in your life during the summer months, then you very often have to think outside the box.  

Now if we could just do something about this rain...

Basel Recap: Satellite Fairs- Volta

Take the experience I had at Liste and consider its opposite: that’s what Volta turned out to be. Engaging, lively, and friendly. Perhaps because it is located in a difficult part of the city to reach, it was great to feel like my presence was welcome. And of course, the art also impressed.

The intersection between historical subject matter and contemporary issues seemed to prevail at the fair.  As seen in Nandipha Mntambo’s hanging relief sculpture as well as in Alexander Tinei’s painting which intersected well with the scientific in Herwig Weiser’s Death before Disko and Rafael Lozano-Hemmer’s The Company of Colours. Also the edition artist of the fair was Troels Carlsen. His work was set apart from the other galleries and artists and given its own wall, much like at Robert Montgomery’s installation piece at the entrance of the Scope fair.

Death before Disko was particularly spellbinding. As I stood in front of the noisy and bright glass container, I realized that within the central area the very cold hardware was moving. The liquid was pulsating and it became very alive in my mind. When intersected with the electric sounds from below the contraption and warmth emitting from the sides, it felt like I was in the midst of a Frankenstein experiment. This very technological work was coming to life before my eyes.

After a few minutes I broke free from my trance and asked the gallerist some questions. She explained that the black ‘goo,’ for lack of a better term, dimples and spins due to a dual magnet pull. The gallery describes that the piece is meant to “return to the foundations of hardware” to “show how our relationship towards technology is more often emotional than rational.” Considering my initial reaction, I think the piece is rather successful. 

Herwig Weiser, Death before Disko, 2006

speaker, plexiglas,motor, magnetic liquide, light-emitting diode, pc

Galerie Colletpark, Paris

Nandipha Mntambo, Title and Date Unknown, cowhide, resin

Brodie/Stevenson, Johannesburg

Troels Carlsen, View of Several Works at Volta 

Alexander Tinei, Haircut, 2010

120 x 100 cm, Oil on Canvas

Erika Deák Gallery, Budapest

Rafael Lozano-Hemmer, The Company of Colours, 2009,

Shadow Box 9, Edition 1 of 6, 1AP

High resolution interactive display with built-in computerized surveillance system

bitforms gallery, New York

Basel Recap: Satellite Fairs- Liste

Of all the art events during the Art Basel week, I was least impressed by the Liste art fair. Whether this is due to listening to the opinions of others prior to experiencing it, a particularly bad run-in with a gallery there, or the fact that I had all of 25 minutes to walk through the four-story labyrinth, I am not sure. All I can say is that I did not enjoy my time there. Unlike the Volta and Scope fairs that are still rather young and in the process of establishing themselves, but not as recognized as Art Basel, Liste celebrated its 15th anniversary and boasts that it is the fair for the young galleries and hip artists.

However, it would not be fair to say that none of it roused my interest. I was impressed by the limits that some of the galleries pushed in their spaces. Some of the galleries such as Harris Lieberman (New York), Kaskadenkondensator (Basel), Wilfried Lentz (Rotterdam) embraced and worked with the industrial design of the abandoned factory. This was not something I saw with regularity at Art Basel, Scope, or Volta.

Unfortunately, I do not have as many options for photographs as with the other fairs. This is mostly due to my lack of time, as I have mentioned. But also, I did not get the sensation that the galleries present were interested in answering questions or ‘dealing’ with a non-collector, non-curator graduate student who dabbles in blogging about art (read: non-journalist). So enjoy the limited images I have, form your own opinions, and if you have more questions take a look at Liste.

The following are some images I took of art spaces that were intriguing:

Oscar Tuazon, Title and Date Unknown

Gallery Unknown*

*Sorry Guys, I usually better at giving credit where credit is due, but I was in a rush to get back to work!