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Apr

It’s…Over. (Ya. It’s Been For A Week.)

By Abby 1 Comment

Categories: Events

By now, I can safely assume that others are settled back into the routine workflow of classes and whatnot, but as for me, I find myself still having to come to terms with the fact that Spring Break is officially over. Maybe I just need a couple more days (or the end of this post) to find some closure. My Spring Break adventures were set in the charming cities of London and Paris, one a city I’ve always had a desire to visit and the other a city I’ve been in love with since childhood.

My accomplice, we’ll just call her J-Boog, and I arrived in London at the witching hour of 3:00 AM on Saturday at our hostel in the South Kensington area, after an extensive journey into the city center from Stansted Airport. Honestly, this was my first hostel experience, so I did not really know what to expect, but it was definitely interesting to say the least. After clearing up a booking mishap with the exceptionally accommodating administration of the hostel, J-Boog and I were able to settle in a room with our fellow classmate, who was also visiting London with her option studio.

The Hour Glass, a good place to get burgers if you are ever in South Kensington (left) & The Sculpture Above The Entrance Lobby of The Victoria & Albert Museum (right)

On our first day, we grabbed a late lunch of jackets (essentially a baked potato filled with “toppings”) and burgers at The Hour Glass and visited the Victoria and Albert Museum. Though London is generally a bit on the pricier end of places to visit, one of the best aspects of the city for a broke college student are the free museums (and the quality of these free museums). The Victoria and Albert museum not only had a bunch of artifacts from Medieval and Renaissance eras and varying regions of the Middle East and Asia, but also had collections of architectural models, drawings, and material explorations (exhibits looking at techniques used with different materials). That night looking for a place with good music to dance to, with a bit of advice from the chillest Australian guy who worked at the front desk of our hostel, we stumbled upon the area of Camden Town. At night (or at least that night) Camden Town is a hyperactive Thursday, Friday, and Saturday night of a college town (or wherever masses of college students are gathered) all combined in one, set in an abandoned-looking amusement park, if that makes any sense. Even though, we never found a dance spot with music to our liking, we did find an awesome place (the name escaping me at the moment) to eat some good doner wraps for a cheap price.

View of Camden High Street (left) & Street Art Behind A Street Vendor Stand (right)

Curious as to what Camden Town looks like during the day, we decided to spend the second day of our London adventures in the daytime version of Camden Town. Truth be told, daytime Camden Town is just as amusing as nighttime Camden Town. During the day, Camden Town is basically a large-scale open market, with not only permanent shops set up in the buildings that look like they’ve come straight out of a comic book but also open air stalls that are set up in each available empty lot. After several hours of street photography and haggling with the street vendors, we all headed to Trafalgar Square to try and catch the last bit of the St. Patrick’s Day parade. Sadly, once we got to Trafalgar, they were already cleaning up the remnants of the planned festivities; however, the people around us had only started their celebration. After a quick stop at a Caffé Nero for some mochas, cappuccinos, and a delicious slice of chocolate chip cheesecake, we walked the area and snapped pictures of the London Eye, the Palace of Westminster, the Westminster Abbey, Big Ben, and (many) of London’s infamous red phone booths. To end our night, we followed the locals and ended up grabbing a pint at a nearby pub, celebrating the end of the St. Patty’s festivities.

Trafalgar Square (far left), Locals Decked Out In St. Patty’s Gear (center left), The London Eye (center right), Big Ben (far right)

On the third and final day in London, we decided to visit the Borough Markets in Southwark for breakfast, sampling wild boar ravioli, spinach and cheese empanadas, and mini coconut pancakes. After we had our fill, we walked along the south bank of the Thames River under ominous rain clouds, visiting the More London development and the Tower Bridge. Before heading to the Tate Modern, we got caught under the rain and decided to have a cup of coffee in the café of London’s City Hall. Once the rain passed (for the moment), we made it to the Tate Modern, with an hour to spare before the museum’s closing. Never walked through a museum so quickly but well worth it, especially the installation and sculptural exhibits on the top floor. Exiting the museum, we were met again with the cold, relentless rain, as we walked across the Millennium Bridge to find some means of transportation back to our hostel.

Tate Entrance Space (left), Tate Exterior (center), & View On Millennium Bridge (right)

The next morning, J-Boog and I parted ways with out fellow classmate and headed for Paris, where we stayed with my crazy hospitable aunt (SHOUT OUT TO MY AUNT, even though I know she won’t read this…). Although, we had arrived in the early evening, the travel fatigue hit us hard and we both knocked out early.

After several hours of much needed rest, the next morning (more so early afternoon) we walked along the Champs-Élysées (stopping at Ladurée only take pictures, since the price for a macaroon was too steep for our meager budget) to the Arc De Triomphe. After spending fifteen minutes photographing the Arc and figuring out how to get to it without being run over, we got our free tickets (France also provides free or discounted admission to a lot of its museums and monuments for people under the age of 25) to ascend the Arc De Triomphe. From the crazy view at the top, we found our next destination to visit: the Eiffel Tower. Mapless, we descended the Arc de Triomphe and blindly walked in the direction of the Eiffel Tower. On our walk to the Tower, J-Boog and I had a conversation about getting around cities, like France and Rome for example, by means of locating monuments and simply walking in that general direction. This means of getting around cities you’re unfamiliar with can be frustrating for some but could also be a fun way of discovering places you wouldn’t have found if you had a direct and clear route to a destination, such as open air food markets or discount shoe and clothing stores.

L’Arc De Triomphe (left) & View From The Arc (right)

By far, my favorite structure ever is the Eiffel Tower and the views from the top are the best in Paris, without a doubt. Climbing the over six hundred steps and taking the elevator to the top was worth it, even with the freezing cold temperatures at the top balcony. Following our ridiculous photo session at the top of the Eiffel Tower, we spotted our final destination for the day: the Grande Arche de la Défense. Reluctantly, we descended the Eiffel Tower and headed back to the Arc de Triomphe, which would put us right on axis with the Grande Arche.

Eiffel Tower (left) & Views From 2nd Floor (center) And Top (right)

There is something to be noted about the setup of the distance of the Grande Arche de la Défense and the Arc de Triomphe: it may look walking distance, but it really isn’t. It is far, to say the least. Do not attempt this walk if you are not in shape. On our hour and a half walk to La Défense, we passed by the Palais Des Congress building and crossed over the Seine River. As we walked down the Champs-Élysées (which then turned into a highway as we got closer to La Défense), we noticed the drastic change from traditional French residential architecture to modern skyscrapers. Finally reaching the La Défense area, we realized it was an entire development of recent (or seemingly recent) structures for the business district of Paris. Besides all the existing structures and the ones under construction, the area was sprinkled with large-scale installations and sculptures, an unexpected revelation that was more interesting than the Grande Arche itself, in my opinion.

Raymond Moretti Installation (left) & La Grande Arche (right)

Day two of our Paris adventures ended up being a museum day, starting with the Louvre, which honestly needs a few days to go through the entirety of its collection. That museum is honestly doing the most. The highlights of our visit included: the indoor sculpture garden, Napoléon’s apartments, the crowded concert scene to view the Mona Lisa (seriously, seeing people’s determination to get through the crowds to see this painting was more epic than the painting itself), and of course I.M. Pei’s glass triangle. After a short, brisk walk to the mid-point of the Tuileries Garden across the way from the Louvre, we decided to head to the Pompidou Center. Of all the works in the Pompidou, the Soto (Venezuelan sculptor and painter) exhibit caught my attention the most for its ability to create depth with simple materials and methods.

Room In Napoleon’s Decked Out Apartments (far left), The Chaos To See The Mona Lisa (center left), Under I.M. Pei’s Triangle (center right), Soto Cube Installation (far right)

Our third day was a mishmash of different sites: starting with Corbusier’s Maison La Roche in the late morning; followed by a visit to the Memorial de la Deportation, the Pont des Arts (the bridge with the love locks), Notre Dame, the Jussieu Campus atrium, and Moulin Rouge, which spanned through the afternoon into the early evening.

Maison La Roche Living Room (far left), Memorial De La Deportation (center left), Pont Des Artes Love Locks (center right), Jussieu Campus Atrium (far left)

Notre Dame (left) & Moulin Rouge (right)

The following day we arose early to make the long journey to Poissy, France to visit Villa Savoye, a building that has been engrained in our brains by our professors. I would say something about the building, but honestly it wouldn’t do it any justice. I’ll just say it’s definitely a building to experience apart from all the texts and drawings of it. To end our day, we trooped up to Montmarte and Sacre Coeur, which I would say is the second best vantage point in Paris of the city. When we got to the top, we were able to enjoy not only the view of the city as the late afternoon sun transformed into early evening darkness but also the various spontaneous “street” performances.

Villa Savoye

Terrace View (left), View From Living Room To Stair (center), Possible The Most Comfortable Chair (right)

View From Montmartre

On our final day before returning to Rome, we spent the day at Versailles. The palace, as extravagant as it is, was a so-so experience, compared to the gardens (even in its bare state), which is just an obscene show of large scale landscaping. To get the full experience of the garden, we would need another several days (something we did not have) to get around the whole complex, which is stunt we were not going to attempt in half a day. So we settled to have a chilled out lunch in the cute restaurant on site, which I would say was an appropriate end to our exhausting Spring Break excursion.

View To Palace From Garden

As much fun as I had during Spring Break, it’s nice to be back in Rome. I guess I’ve gotten my closure…Maybe.

Feb

Terraferma: A film and Q&A with Emanuele Crialese

By Jake Rudin 0 Comments

Categories: Events

Today’s lecture at our beloved palazzo was on the film Terraferma by renowned Italian filmmaker and writer Emanuele Crialese. Emanuele Crialese, born in Rome in 1965, pays tribute to his Sicilian roots in this beautiful and breathtaking film. After attending NYU for filmmaking, he directed his first film, Once We Were Strangers (1997), in New York. The year was 1997, the film was in English and was awarded several prizes, including the Valenciennes International Film Festival Award. He then decided to return to his homeland and met international success (both in festivals and art houses) with his first Italian work Respiro’ (2002), shot on Lampedusa Island in Sicily in 2002, with Vincenzo Amato and Valeria Golino in her most ambitious part to-date. In 2006, his next film Golden Door (2006), once again with Vincenzo Amato but without Valeria Golino (Charlotte Gainsbourg was better suited to play an English-speaking emigrant), examined the question of emigration to the States at the beginning of the 20th century, more particularly from the perspective of poor Sicilian peasants.

The film is about a Sicilian family whose small island is disrupted when a group of immigrants arrive on the island. The first encounter with the immigrants is a testament to the civility of the family. The grandfather, upon seeing a raft with dozens of people, stops to assist those who are in the water, saving the life of five people and nearly risking his own. The family sees the immigrants to the shore and continue to care for the pregnant woman, Sarah, through the birth of her child. For doing so, the family boat is seized by the police. In a way, the whole movie is about the triumph of the laws of mankind over the laws of the government. The family continues to provide their help to the immigrant family until the end. I won’t ruin any of the details of the plot, but I found myself truly awestruck by the humanity of the film; mesmerized by the blue and black imagery of a tiny island community which – in spite of the many misfortunes that have befallen it – continues to do what is right over what the government demands.

After watching the film, we had a wonderful Q&A section with Emanuele. He discussed the film as both a personal and general observation. An example of the personal aspect, the woman who plays Sarah, arrived in Italy on a boat that was drifting away for three weeks with eighty people, seventy-five of which were dead. They kept the story away from the tourists, much as they do in the film. The woman was already dead, was placed in a bag, and was committed for dead until they saw movement from inside the bag. She showed up at the audition a year later and asked if Emanuele remembered her from their first meeting a year earlier. She was then cast into one of the main roles, re-living on screen a part of this tragic story. But as a general concern, Emanuele said he “felt every person deserves to know when family is lost, [Emanuele] wanted to do something new, something that was politico-social to get to the heart of this issue of global responsibility.”

The lecture was an incredible insight into the film and the characters. As a young adult, it was really wonderful to hear Crialese’s thoughts on the process of learning “right and wrong” and how our family and our fate affect our morals. I can give this film only my most heartfelt recommendation as a modern tragic drama, and a beautiful portrayal of the story in such a metaphorical and dream-like way. Andare a vederlo!

Feb

Photo(log): Winter Photo Update

By Jake Rudin 0 Comments

Categories: Architecture, Classes, Daily Life, Events, Field Trips, Photo of the week and Uncategorized

There has been quite the variety of activities going on here in Rome during the past few weeks: history class visits to numerous historical monuments, trips to southern Italy, museum visits to the MAXXI, a wonderful lecture from artist/photographer/filmmaker Giorgio de Finis of Metropoliz, and lots of time to get lost in the city. Here’s a short photo-style update on what some of these wonderful things have been like.

Sometimes a photo just says it all. Maybe it’s a simple shot of a landscape. Maybe it’s a “selfie” of you and a friend at the beach (remember to bend your elbow). And sometimes, the expression says it all.

It’s been a cold couple of weeks around here. Although Rome is relatively mild in the winter, the wind can be killer, especially along the Tiber. But that doesn’t stop us from bundling up and exploring the city. This photo was taken at the top of Castle St. Angelo. We were all freezing in the wind, but in a history class like Jeffrey Blanchard’s, you can’t stop taking notes (even if your hands are freezing).

In the end, the frozen note-taking is worth it because the professors know some of the best views in the whole city.

This Neapolitan’s take on staying warm — trash bags of piping-hot bread — is a tactic I had never seen before; but I imagine it will soon be popping up in spring fashion catalogs across Europe. Particularly France.

Sometimes we get lucky. One of my favorite feelings is coming out of a ruin to find that the sun has decided to grace us with its warming glow. Our visit to Herculaneum was a particularly nice day.

Calm and stoic Paestum.

Followed by a colorful reenactment of the first Greek Olympiad. Courtesy of Maria Paula and Manuela.

It’s times like these where everyone is happily lounging in the Mediterranean sun, that I wonder what ever possessed me to move to Ithaca.

The contrast of locations in Italy is incredible. Travelling with the program has so far yielded an incredible overview of the different types of geography around the country.

And plenty of walking to boot.

While in Rome we may not have architecture hewn from the living rock, there is always something new to be discovered. And when you discover something new, make sure you take a real hard look, because you may find there is more than meets the eye.

Other times… well there’s not a whole lot to do other than be amazed.

Nov

A Show in a Castle

By tsw38@cornell.edu 0 Comments

Categories: Classes and Events

So it seems that the semester is really coming to an end. I mean, we still have 3 weeks left until we have to pack up and board our planes back home, but it’s pretty much right around the corner. It didn’t really hit me until last Sunday when we (art majors) had to set up our final curated show in Genazzano…in a castle! Who get’s to say that they had an art exhibition in a castle on top of a hill in the Italian countryside?

It would be an understatement to say that it was a great experience, because it was way more than that. For a director of a museum to allow college juniors to have an exhibition in his museum, is beyond anything any one of us could have thought possible. And even though many of us have set up shows before, somehow this one was different.

For starters, the spaces that we potentially could have used were incredibly massive; for only 8 people, there was no way that all of us could fill in all that empty space. So Claudio Pisano, the director of the CIAC Museum, made the executive decision to place us all in the same room, and somehow we made it work. The space seemed to fit us all in it perfectly, Sara grabbed a corner, Anastasia, Izzy and Christine each procured a wall, Jacqueline and Joy each claimed the middle of two open spaces, Brooke appropriated the darkest part of the room and I took to one of the two archways in the room.
Christine and her paintings

Tyler Williams and Luana Perilli deciding on where to place a piece. Photo Credit: Sara Cha Photo Credit for above: Sara Cha

Izzy Greer leveling her piece

Photo Credit for above: Sara Cha

Setting up the show seemed like took a few long hours to accomplish our goal, but at some point during the preparations Luana and Claudio both disappeared and returned bearing food. I don’t know where the time went because it seemed to me that we had only just arrived. By the time we finished the food and went back to work, time seemed to pass entirely too quickly: by the time most of us were putting the finishing touches on our work it was already 5pm. That makes 7 hours to set up 8 works of art..How that happened…I dont know, but I guess it was a bit of stress, decision making, readjustments and panicking.

But after those 7 hours, our semester of living in Rome, going through school and field trips and classes and work and internships, finally seemed finite. We finished with a show in a castle, and we owe that entirely to the help of our professor Luana Perilli and director of the CIAC Claudio Pisano.

-Tyler Williams

Nov

Circolo degli Artisti

By Jackie Krasnokutskaya 0 Comments

Categories: Daily Life and Events

I am taking a class called Contemporary Rome with Professor Shara Wasserman. This class, like many Cornell in Rome classes, isn’t a traditional lecture. Instead, it consists of “site visits” to places in Rome that relate to a contemporary city, and specifically to the contemporary art scene, including galleries, museums, artist studios, and collectors’ offices. These make up the entire cycle of contemporary art, from the moment of its creation to the moment of sale and exhibition. Shara is so involved in the local art scene that she seems to know everyone in the places we visit. She also knows of interesting events and art opportunities in the city. Recently our class participated in an art exhibit with students from Temple University, where Shara also teaches, and Rhode Island School of Design.

The art exhibit lasted for one night and was held in a club called Circolo degli Artisti. Students from the other participating universities were doing so as part of their studio art classes, so they had a fairly rigid and traditional format to their artwork. Our class, on the other hand, was not a technical drawing class, and in fact we weren’t showing our work for class credit. This meant the each student could explore whatever concept they wanted. Our work included photography, painting, drawing, collage, and mixed media. Naturally, this wide variety was unplanned but it made for a fun exhibit, both to set up and to show.

I did a pen drawing on two wood boards of two ways to explore and navigate an unfamiliar city. Both boards were different representations of Rome. The first was a drawing of the “conceptual city”, which is completely rational and has straight streets connecting the important monuments. The second was the “perceptual city”, which is composed of seemingly disorganized streets and winding alleys. Navigating the conceptual city is easy: all it takes is following the main streets and staying in sight of landmarks. Navigating the perceptual city has to be based on inexact memories and instinct.

The idea for these drawings came from my experiences traveling this summer and fall, and from a general fascination with cities. The terminology of the “conceptual” and the “perceptual” came from my studio professor Jerry who used it to describe Venice during our visit there, saying that it is almost entirely perceptual with the exception of Piazza San Marco. On the other end of the spectrum is St. Petersburg, which I visited this summer. It is completely planned out, monumental, and transparent. Rome lies somewhere between the two extremes. Its “conceptual” structure is overlaid with a “perceptual” fabric, and the two endlessly compete for attention and dominance.

Aug

And so it begins

By tsw38@cornell.edu 0 Comments

Categories: Daily Life and Events
Tags: Abroad, architecture, Architecture Art Planning, art, cornell university, First Impression, Impressions, Rome, Study

Ciao tutti!

Allora, mi chiamo Tyler e sarò il vostro residente artista.

As much as I would love to write this entire blog in Italian, I think for both of our benefits it’s probably for the best that I refrain…At least for the time being.

So let me tell you a little bit about myself before I chronicle the next few months in Rome. I come from a very small town out in the middle of nowhere in southwest Florida, called Punta Gorda. I’ve got an older brother and younger sister, two really small really hyperactive dogs and two extremely supportive parents. Back when I was applying to colleges one of the most important things for me was to be able to study abroad; you see, because I’m a first generation college student, the only information that I was able to get on the subject was from TV shows and second hand stories from my friends’ older siblings.

As clearly jaded as I was, I kept an optimistic outlook for my future while in college. I was really fortunate to get accepted to Cornell, primarily because the last time a person from my high school got accepted into the university was 5 years prior to my own, so I thought my chances were slim-to-none.

I’ll just skip the first year, in short it was fantastic, eye-opening and freeing.

Last year I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to spend my spring semester in the AAP New York City program, and I can honestly say that it was the most fun I ever had…well, until now. It was really the first time I was able to live on my own, without much help from school and my parents. But now that I’m about 5500 miles away, being free is such an understatement. I’m living in an apartment with 4 other art majors, about a 15 minute walk away from all the studios, and I’m living in ITALY!!!!

How often do you talk to someone and they say “Oh yea, I spent 4 and a half months in Italy, and I got to go travel to Venice, Naples, Tuscany….etc”? Never. So I had to take it upon myself to be that person in conversations.

But in all seriousness, it’s been one of the greatest changes in my life, and I’m the happiest I have ever been. The food is fantastic, the buildings are beautiful and the history is just something you can’t forget while you’re strolling down one of the many cobblestone streets. The students this semester have the opportunity to study architecture or art, travel to monumentally historic locations you only get to read in textbooks and see online, and for a short time, be a part of something bigger than themselves. I’ve only been here since the 3^rd of August, but Rome has already started to become a part of me that I will never forget.

So that’s me in a very abbreviated nutshell, and if you’re reading this and have any questions or comments, feel free to shoot them our way and one of us bloggers will be more than happy to respond.

A Presto.
-Tyler Williams

Apr

gnocchi nite (a very delayed post)

By Becky Ashby-Colón 0 Comments

Categories: Daily Life, Events and Uncategorized

Let me first explain how excited I get about food. SO. EXCITED. My apartment-mates and I cook dinner together nearly every night. One particular housemate is a cooking genius (shout-out to Cynthia Baker!), and we always try to use different ingredients and creative recipes. At school in Ithaca, I live in a cooperative house in which all 30 members cook dinner five nights a week in shifts (and in bulk. You can only imagine). My very rudimentary culinary skills (and food appreciation) have absolutely benefitted from these different forms of food immersion. Now that we have that out of the way, let me explain how excited I was to learn that Anna Rita would be hosting two Italian cooking nights this semester. SO. EXCITED. The first of these mythical nights is devoted to gnocchi, a typical Italian pasta made up of potato, flour, and eggs.

After boiling, peeling, and pressing many kilos of potatoes, we separated them into piles of about 4-5 kilos each, dropped in the eggs and flour, rolled up our sleeves, and began the long kneading process. Next to me, Cynthia was working at a furious pace with her dough, which was slowly but surely mixing into a smooth consistency; Natalie Kwee, on my other side, was busy extricating her fingers from the sticky paste on her table, hurriedly adding flour. My own ball had the unfortunate texture of glue, coating the wooden cutting board as well as my own hands. It took me longer than the rest, but at last I was able to work the dough into some kind of usable form (with flour. Lots and lots of flour).

Rebecca Ashby-Colon (BFA '13, me), Cynthia Baker (BFA '13), and Natalie Kwee (BARCH '13) try their hands at making gnocchi dough! Photo by Jeffrey Kim.

When Anna Rita declared each student’s dough acceptable, we cut them into long strips and rolled them out lengthwise, as if we were in kindergarten again rolling clay caterpillars. Next, each caterpillar was sliced diagonally into smaller pieces, forming little rhombus-shaped macaroni. Using one or two fingers (I found my index and middle worked best), we rolled each rhombus onto itself from the middle outwards, creating the signature little shells of gnocchi. Some of the more adventurous students took it upon themselves to meticulously carve in the striped pattern using forks. In the end, we had quite a motley crew of gnocchi–plump, thin, patterned, and plain. My own were no match for Nat’s perfect examples; she was one of those gnocchi-striping fiends.

Kevin Yen (URS '13), Emma Pryzbylinski (BFA '13), and Elease Samms (BARCH '13) cut and shape their gnocchi. Photo by Jeffrey Kim.

While we gnocchi slaves rested our weary fingers, Anna Rita began to boil the pasta and dress it with the many different sauces she had already made (a true Italian mamma!). The first sauce was a kind of ragu, a thick red sauce chock full of meat and carrots. The second seemed to contain artichokes and porcini mushrooms; the third, rich red peppers. The fourth was my favorite: a simple, light butter and sage sauce that perfectly complemented the heavy, starchy gnocchi. I’m not sure if the final sauce was another meat variation or if it was leftover from the first round, but at that point everyone was so far into a food coma that we didn’t question it.

Our finished gnocchi, ready to boil! Photo by Jeffrey Kim.

The night was such a pleasant (and singular!) experience. Thank you to Anna Rita for organizing the event, cooking all the delicious sauces, and feeding everyone! To top everything off, three olive oil cakes (prepared in part by students as well!) were brought out at the end of the evening. At that point it just felt like overkill, but I went for some cake anyway. Obviously.

Feb

Our First Weeks in Rome

By Becky Ashby-Colón 0 Comments

Categories: Classes, Daily Life, Events and Field Trips

Our group gathers in Piazza del Campidoglio on Capitoline Hill.

After a whirlwind first two weeks of intensive Italian and neighborhood scoping, all the artists, architects, and planners have finally arrived and settled into Rome. Our new homes are in Trastevere, a beautiful region of Rome west of the Tiber River, a landmark which those of us living in the Dandolo apartments have the pleasure of crossing every morning to get to class. We were extremely relieved to discover that the weather is significantly milder than in Ithaca; while the native Italians hurry past in their winter furs, we bask in the Roman sunlight.

On Saturday, January 20, Academic Coordinator Jeffrey Blanchard led a walking and bus tour for all AAP students and professors that led us from our own Palazzo Lazzaroni to the Colosseum to San Giovanni in Laterno (St. John the Lateran) all the way to the Spanish Steps, with a picnic on the Appian Way in between. To describe it as overwhelming doesn’t quite do our tour justice; the span of our trek through the historical ruins of this renowned city, plus Jeffrey’s exceptional and thorough knowledge of Rome, made for a captivating, if physically exhausting, day. Needless to say, the cameras snapped away maniacally that day. We definitely played the part of eager American tourists, but as our knowledge of the language and of the city increases, we’ll soon be indistinguishable from our Italian peers. You’ll see!

The lovely view of the river at sunset in Trastevere.

Nov

Circolo Show

By Lauren 0 Comments

Categories: Events

“The Cornell in Rome art students, together with the advanced painting students from Temple University Rome, participated on November 6 in a one-night exhibition at the Circolo degli Artisti in Rome. This lively cultural center hosts the American students once a semester, allowing the Roman public to see their exceptional work, and offering the students the opportunity to exchange ideas and conversation with young Italians and fellow Americans. Works included individual drawings, photographs, and installations, and a DVD loop compiled by Liana Miuccio and the photo class. The evening was completed with a DJ and a band.” – Shara Wasserman, Cornell University Professor of Contemporary Art in Rome

Art Students Yi Li and Nicolei Gupit enjoying the opening

Temple student studying the work of Alessandra Castillo

Circolo Exhibition crowd

Architecture students Lauren Borah (me!) and Ashley Griffin at the opening

Art students Maddie Oliver and Maddie Bender in front of Maddie Bender’s artwork

One of Maddie Bender’s pieces

Artwork of Alessandra Castillo

Installation by Nicolei Gupit

Artwork of Maddie Oliver

Maddie Oliver’s photographs

Yi Lis work

Installation by Yi Li

The exhibition at the Circolo degli Artisti was very successful, with a large crowd coming to support the artists from both schools. The red walls of Circolo worked surprisingly well with each of the art student’s installations and created a nice contrast in the room dedicated to the Cornell show. We are very happy to have such talented art students with us this semester in Rome.

-Lauren

Nov

Venice Architecture Biennale 2010

By nmm39 0 Comments

Categories: Architecture, Events and Field Trips

Chris, Ryland and Deinte on their way to the Biennale (San Marco in background)

Of our two real days in Venice, one was almost entirely devoted to the Biennale exhibition in the Arsenale and the Giardini. As usual, we were completely rushed and had only a half-day to see what should be weeks worth of presentations, exhibitions and installations. This Biennale was packed with installations and projects, from a spiral pathway that brought you into the clouds to a horizontal fabric façade floating above your head.

My expectations for my first Architecture Biennale might have been a bit high, but I have to admit that I was a little unimpressed with the overall show. This may also be due to the many unbelievably great museums we have recently visited as well (and I dislike museums). I was discouraged by the abundant use of projected screens all over the place, most simply looping a short clip. In addition, I found that pavilions simply had too much, sometimes housing three or four separate projects. There was also many more lengthy texts, that had to be read in order to understand the idea, than I thought necessary. I thought that as a show celebrating architecture (experimental too), hosted and produced by leading architects, there would be more physical installations and spectacular objects- instead of the traditional and boring projection and poster presentations… I guess we just didn’t have time for the academics. Thankfully, there was plenty spectacle to go with it.

Façade made horizontal, suspended overhead in fabric

Strings and pencils, lots of them.

One of the more boring spaces...

By far, the material exhibited in the Arsenale was far more captivating than the projects and pavillions in the Giardini. The Arsenale, a former industrial 300-metere long series of huge spaces now transformed to accommodate the Biennale, was particularly engaging as it choreographed sound, light (or lack thereof in the case of Transsolar and Tetsu Kondo Architects’ space) and even smell as one moved from one installation to another. There was a room only lit by water splatter, suspended in the air, as strobe lights caught it shooting out of a dangling hose. Another room allowed you to plug yourself into hundreds of one-on-one interviews with famous figures.

I regret not having more time to spend at the Biennale and in Venice. The Biennale’s location in Venice is also fabulous in itself. On a bright sunny day, having lunch at a café on the Rive dei sette Mariri looking at Piazza San Marco in the distance was perfect.