Galleria Nazionale d’arte moderna e contemporanea of Rome and AlbumArte
present
Birds Singing, Sandy Ground
by Domenico Mangano
Film screening and debate
Galleria Nazionale d’arte moderna e contemporanea of Rome
Saturday, 18th April 2015 at 11 a.m.
Galleria Nazionale d’arte moderna e contemporanea (GNAM) and AlbumArte, with the support of the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, are pleased to present the film by Domenico Mangano Birds Singing, Sandy Ground, to be shown in Rome for the first time on Saturday 18 April at 11am in the rooms of the Galleria Nazionale d’arte moderna e contemporanea of Rome.
During the period of his residence at the Kunsthuis Syb in Friesland (NL), supported by the Mondriaan Fonds, the Sicilian artist Domenico Mangano had the opportunity to spend five weeks in the specialized centre De Wissel (The Exchange) which hosts people with mental retardation and multiple disabilities.
Mangano participated in all of the activities of the community with the intention of creating a poetic testimony to his discovery of a timeless microcosm with its own special rhythms of life. The result of his stay was the creation of the film Birds Singing, Sandy Ground, a portrait of the daily lives of the inhabitants of a Dutch health centre that gives mentally handicapped people the opportunity to lead a more independent life. Through a series of associations between landscapes and portraits, we are presented with the vision of an autonomous reality, and a portrait of a ‘magic village’ immersed in a forest where time seems to stand still and where actions are repeated to the limits of the absurd. The debate that will precede and introduce screening of the video, will give the spectators the opportunity to reflect on the social role of art and museums, and in particular the relationships between welfare and creativity and the possibilities of using the cultural heritage to improve people’s health and well-being.
Galleria Nazionale d’arte moderna e contemporanea has always paid particular attention to these issues, also by developing a range of programmes and projects, often in partnership with institutions in the health-care and social fields that are dedicated to the so-called “special public” (these include The Memory of the Beautiful. Museums for Alzheimer’s Patientsand Their Caregivers and Museum-mental, an initiative dedicated to psychiatric patients). Since 2011 the GNAM has been part of a network of over a hundred museums coordinated by the MoMA of New York, which is actively engaged in activities aimed at these particular visitors.
On Friday 17th April a group of patients who habitually visit the GNAM, will have the opportunity to participate in a workshop with the artist directed by Martina de Luca.
On Saturday 18th April, in addition to the film screening and debate, the film will be screened again, in loop, from 2 to 6pm.
On 19th Sunday April the film will be screened in loop from 11am to 4pm.
Program of the day – Saturday, April 18th, 2015 at 11am
Chairperson and moderator:
Maria Giuseppina Di Monte, Head of Studies, Research and Promotion, Galleria Nazionale d’arte moderna e contemporanea
Speakers:
Maria Rosa Sossai, AlbumArte
Martina De Luca, Head of Educational Services of Galleria Nazionale d’arte moderna e contemporanea
Massimo Marianetti, Medical and Scientific Director of the Experimental Centre for Alzheimer’s Research of the “San Giovanni di Dio-Fatebenefratelli” Institute at Genzano (Rome)
Domenico Mangano, Artist
At the meeting there will also be a representative of the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands.
This will be followed by the screening of the film by Domenico Mangano Birds Singing, Sandy Ground (HD Video, 50′, 2014).Original language: Dutch, subtitles: English; courtesy of Domenico Mangano and Magazzino, Rome.
Next, the film will be screened in loop from 2am to 6pm and Sunday from 11am to 4 pm.
Domenico Mangano was born in Palermo (Sicily) in 1976, he lives and works in Amsterdam (NL). He established himself on the national and international scene at the beginning of the twenty-first century with his photographs and videos that are somewhere between surrealism and the documentary. The artist has always used this kind of stylistic approach in order to investigate the contrasts that are inherent in reality and the relationship that exists between philosophical and theoretical systems and everyday situations. Ever since he started out his artistic research has concentrated on issues of socialmarginality on a local level, the situation of outsiders, and alternative situations of resistance or freedom from social rules. The artist is interested in getting metaphorically lost in the details, so as to present a universal scenario which expresses the essence of humanity, despite the fact that it consists of particular languages and landscapes. Since 2000 he has taken part in the following exhibitions: 2015 Projections, Art Rotterdam,Van Nellefabriek, Rotterdam, NL; 2014, De Wissel, Kunsthuis Syb, Beetsterzwaag, NL; 2013, The Margulies Collection at the Warehouse, Miami, USA; Trip and Traveling, KCCC, Klaipeda, LT; Werk is Leven, Magazzino, Rome, IT; A Love Meal, Whitechapel Gallery, London, UK; 2012, Dotek / Touch, Futura, Prague, CZ; Wargame, LWZ Projekte, Vienna, A; Landscape on the Move, De Kabinetten van De Vleeshal, Middelburg, NL;2011, Social Identity, Italian Video Art Today, between Ethic and Esthetic, Crane Arts, Philadelphia USA; 2010, Others, Fondazione Puglisi Cosentino, Catania, IT; YOU-WE + ABLO videos from the Sandretto Re Rebaudengo collection, Rotonda di Via Besana, Milan, IT; Languages and Experimentations, Young artists in a contemporary collection, MART – Contemporary and Modern Art Museum of Trento and Rovereto, IT; 2009, Twinkle Twiddle, Monumental Complex Santo Spirito in Sassia, Rome, IT; 2nd Athens Biennale 2009, Heaven, GR; Passaggi in Sicilia: La Collezione di Riso e oltre, RISO Museo d’Arte Contemporanea di Palermo, IT; Italics: Italian Art Between Tradition and Revolution, 1968- 2008, Museum of Contemporary Art of Chicago and Palazzo Grassi Venice, USA/IT.2008, RevolvingBoundaries: Artist-in-residence-program, Aike–DellArco Gallery Shanghai, CN; Over the Blurring Shine, Hendrik ChristianAndersen Museum, Rome, IT; Worlds on Video – International Video Art, Centro di Cultura Contemporanea Strozzina, Florence, IT; Videocracy, Video Exhibition, site-specific and performance projects, Tina B. Prague, CZ; 2007, ISCP: International Studio & Curatorial Program, USA; Happy Ending, Magazzino, Rome, IT; 2006, Art Unlimited Video Section, Art | 37 | Basel, CH; 2005, 14th Quadrennialexhibition, Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Moderna, Rome, IT; 2004, Paesaggio Italiano, Videozone 2: The Second International Video Art Biennial in Israel, Tel Aviv, IL; 2003 Torino Film Festival – Sezione Falsi Raccordi. Turin, IT; Prague Biennale, Veletrzni Palac, Prague, CZ; Fame, Leggi in inglese Read in Italian, Premio Furlaper l’arte, Fourth Edition, Fondazione Querini Stampalia, Venice, IT; 2002, EXIT: Nuove geografie della creatività italiana, Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, Turin, IT; 2001, La Folie de la Villa Medicis: Villa Medici French Academy in Rome, IT; Areliers d’Artistes, Marseille, F. www.domenicomangano.com
Image: Domenico Mangano, Birds singing, sandy ground (videostill) 2014; 50’, HD Video; courtesy the artist and Magazzino, Rome
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