BLOGS IN FLORENCE – PART ONE (state of the art )
A blog created by a visual artist and a rock musician in Florence ? There are no limits to the many creative forms on the web, it’s up to the public to give due appreciation. Giacomo Costa and Alessandro Nutini’s blog, is a container for text and images made purely for recreational purposes.
The blog’s name is inspired by the well-known events relating to the Marsicano Bear, an animal species that risks extinction, which lives in central and southern Italy; an ironic metaphor for the contemporary artist who risks “extinction” as does the bear that lives confined in the parks and reserves in Abruzzo.
Costa, an internationally renowned artist, is an expert on social networks and digital technologies. His computer images are powerful and engaging. The Florentine artist, through his works, has pledged to launch alarming warnings to humanity which has gone mad and rages against the environment and builds indiscriminately in the name of development.
In light of this synthetic approach, on the post-apocalyptic future of his works which has a cathartic function, one can better appreciate his images from the “playful narrative” merged into a blog that is pure entertainment, as if it were a liberation of artistic “action”.
” Le pene dell’orso” (The bear’s punishment), is not only made of images but also written texts by the witty and polemic Nutini and the mad and surreal Costa, who alternate with another; the two companions have a friendly relationship that Costa considers “intense and symbiotic” and adds:
“the blog was created as an extension of facebook, he is a musician and I am an artist and these two aspects are not considered on a first person basis in our blog, anything goes… this is the reason why I don’t put any limitations in the activities that I do in my life! Criticism is legitimate… and I listen to it, quite willingly.”
The two friends who are in a way disappointed by the political events in Italy reflect on the fate of the PD (Italian Democratic Party) which appears more and more confused, and in part they are the victims of a society gone mad. These two fellow mates allow us to become part of a rickety and rambling life full of incoherent and surreal episodes, through ironic and poignant narrative language and a style that is enriched by brilliant images.
The photo published here was taken during the 2013 World Cycling Championships, which took place in Florence, and it is a quotation from a historical picture, which showed two famous cyclists, Coppi and Bartali, passing one another the water bottle (during the Tour de France). Costa asks: ” Who was the first one to pass the bottle to the other one?” But here, you will notice, that instead of a water bottle there’s a wine bottle!
” Le pene dell’orso” is emerging with a certain degree of success in the “global village square”, laughs are guaranteed but not without some useful reflections.
A.M.
Questo post è disponibile anche in: Italian