L'Italo-Americano

L'Italo-Americano THURSDAY, JANUARY 26, 2017 www.italoamericano.org 4 LOS ANGELES ITALIAN COMMUNITY I t a l i a n f i g u r a t i v e a r t i s t , A l b e r t o B u r r i ( C i t t à d i Castello, province of Perugia, Umbria 1915 – Nice, France 1 9 9 5 ) , t o o k a d e g r e e i n Medicine and served as a mili- tary doctor for Italy's Army dur- ing WWII. Painting started as a mere pastime, during his internment at t h e w a r c a m p i n H e r e f o r d , Texas, and, eventually, turned into his full-time career, once he returned to Italy. B u r r i - w h o , s i n c e 1 9 6 3 , spent every winter with his wife u n d e r t h e w a r m s u n o f L o s Angeles' Hollywood Hills for almost thirty years – was deeply inspired by Death Valley's time- less and primitive landscapes. Forty years ago, Burri donat- ed one of his monumental works w i t h h i s t r a d e m a r k c r a c k s , G r a n d e C r e t t o N e r o , t o t h e Franklin D. Murphy Sculpture Garden, at UCLA campus, and symbolically to the geographical area that had inspired him. By a curious coincidence, f o r t y y e a r s a g o , f i l m m a k e r Giuseppe Sterparelli was born in the same town, Città di Castello, where the avant-garde master came from. On January 9 th , the world premiere of Sterparelli's short f i l m , V a r i a z i o n i . A V i s u a l P o l y p h o n y – a m u l t i m e d i a exploration of fire as a connec- tive primordial element that tied Burri to poet Emilio Villa - offi- cially kicked off the symposium B U R R I P R O M E T H E I A , t h a t UCLA Department of Italian and the Italian Cultural Institute of L.A. jointly put together, in com- m e m o r a t i o n o f t h e f o r t i e t h anniversary of the meaningful gift by Burri. I've had the chance to have a chat with Giuseppe about this unusual and fascinating project. Please, introduce yourself. What's your cultural back- ground? What are your previ- ous artistic experiences? I was born forty years ago, in Città di Castello, in the province of Perugia, Umbria. This Italian town with its rich artistic her- itage has certainly infused a cre- ative spirit in me. I have supervised several cul- tural projects, particularly in the art history arena, but I've always combined the intellectual inves- tigation with a more straightfor- ward approach, able to awaken people's interest. I've applied this method in a p r o j e c t o n L u c a S i g n o r e l l i , Italian Renaissance painter who inspired Raphael himself, in Città di Castello, as well as in the case of artistic expressions more "pop", the likes of Street Art and Post-Surrealism. Tell us more about the gen- esis of your short, Variazioni. A Visual Polyphony. How did you get fascinated by the idea of combining poetry, music, figurative art and cinema? The idea behind Variazioni was to tell an untold story - even shrouded in mystery - that occurred in figurative artist, Alberto Burri's life. That is, the s m a l l b o o k b y p o e t E m i l i o Villa, printed out in 1955, in less than one hundred copies by a small print shop. It is a visionary poem with a very strong reference to images. Indeed, Burri illustrated some print copies with his original works, among which also his first "combustions" on paper. My short is an attempt to turn those words and images into something even more alive and captivating, through multi- m e d i a , 4 K t e c h n o l o g y , a n d poetry reading in a voiceover combined with electronic music. The underlying theme of the eternal cycle of life, death and regeneration was relevant to both artist Alberto Burri and poet Emilio Villa. In what w a y i s t h i s p h i l o s o p h i c a l investigation relevant to you? Both Burri and Villa shared the same philosophy, motivated by their independence, almost "ethical," from cultural trends a n d t h e m a r k e t . T o b o t h o f them, an artwork had an exis- tential meaning, and could not be deemed "commodity," but rather moral expression. Burri rediscovers beauty in the poorest and most worn-out materials (woods, metals, tex- tiles) and makes constructive (not destructive) the element of fire. Villa, fearless in the face of the unknown, makes a similar rediscovery with words, com- bining modern languages with dead ones. I like how you executed in y o u r s h o r t t h e d i a l o g u e between dead languages and living ones, with the aid of t h r e e v o i c e a c t o r s . P l e a s e , elaborate on that. Burri's artistic creations, as well as Villa's poetry, seem to be independent from any time reference, they are simultane- ously primitive (for instance, f i r e f o r B u r r i , S u m e r i a n f o r Villa) and very current. The idea to set the film in the Death Valley, is not only due to the fact that Burri himself was inspired in the realization of his Cretti ("Cracks") by it, but also because it is a landscape stuck in time, never changing, despite millions of years have gone by. The three voiceover in the film belong to a man, a woman and a child. At the same time, they represent the three human ages, to underline the cyclic ele- ment of concurrent completeness and diversity. To what extent your trips to the Death Valley did inspire you for this project? D e a t h V a l l e y , w i t h i t s Badwater Basin - the point of the lowest elevation in North America – its mountains sculpt- ed by wind at Zabriskie Point – as in the film of the same name by Italian director, Michelangelo Antonioni – and its Ubehebe Crater - sacred to the Native Americans – contributed to rein- force my film's message, as well as its tie with Burri's radical and very suggestive artworks. How did it start your col- laboration with awarded cine- matographer, Lisa Rinzler, and what did she bring to your work? I h a d s e e n L i s a R i n z l e r ' s v i s u a l w o r k i n E d H a r r i s ' , Pollock (2000), and read about her early studies in painting and visual arts at the New York Tisch School of the Arts, so when I turned to her, I had no doubt that she was the right fit. Her will- ingness to work in an indie pro- ject sealed the deal. She was also very familiar w i t h B u r r i ' s a r t w o r k s a n d I believe her end result derives from being deeply in sync with t h e s u s p e n d e d a n d r a r e f i e d atmosphere of the desert valley stretched between California and Nevada. Your "Visual Polyphony" is n o t o n l y v i s u a l l y b u t a l s o musically experimental. What made composer Federico Visi stand out to you? Federico Visi is an Italian c o m p o s e r , s o u n d d e s i g n e r , researcher, with specialization at the Interdisciplinary Centre for C o m p u t e r M u s i c R e s e a r c h (ICCMR), Plymouth University. Burri's art collections in Città d i C a s t e l l o i n f l u e n c e d h i m deeply. At the same time, his musical versatility and expertise - spanning from electronic and experimental projects to more classical ones (including rock) - enabled him to enhance both the actors' voices and Villa's "mul- ticolored" verses. You premiered your short, Variazioni. A Visual Poliphony, at UCLA, and talked about your work at the IIC. How were the two experiences and the reception from the audi- ence? I a m v e r y h a p p y w i t h t h e audience's reception, but, above all, with having presented the short as part of the symposium on the "Grande Cretto Nero," which Alberto Burri donated to UCLA forty years ago. Among the public, there were artists, poets, critics and produc- ers, but I feel the biggest grati- t u d e f o r P r o f e s s o r T h o m a s H a r r i s o n , C h a i r o f t h e Department of Italian at UCLA, who never stopped believing in t h i s p r o j e c t , a n d f o r V a l e r i a R u m o r i , D i r e c t o r o f I t a l i a n Cultural Institute in L.A., who immediately embraced the idea of celebrating Burri in the city t h a t w a s t h e a r t i s t ' s s e c o n d home. Are you planning to work again in Los Angeles in the near future? Los Angeles - an actual melt- ing pot that combines serenity with energy – has immediately struck a chord with me for its great cultural and artistic open- ness, now more dynamic than in the past. I have true friends here and I'd love to keep in touch with the local cultural institutions and the city itself, to tell new untold stories and form new bridges between Italy and the United States. Filmmaker Giuseppe Sterparelli at Burri Museum. Photo by Stefano Giogli Giuseppe Sterparelli inaugurates Burri Prometheia in L.A. VALERIO VIALE

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