This summer something different happened to the Villa Libano. An unforeseen event, on which no-one would have bet even one old Lira. After several changes of management and about six years of complete abandonment, it was brought back to life.
But the new life did not come with the usual tycoon who came from nowhere, and who, once the house was reconditioned disappears and only occasionally comes back to see her, like a beatiful and expensive vintage car parked in a garage.
Villa Libano was reopened for two weeks for Enojazz, the afterhours venue of the BargaJazz Festival(famous for its jam session until dawn) directed by Alessandro Rizzardi for its 26th edition, dedicated to Pietro Tonolo.
Enojazz, as every year, had been declared a thing of the past, as was the villa indeed, and so, why not try to put together two moribund things and see what would (could) be the consequence? Maybe they definitely would have disappeared together…. or perhaps not.
With only three weeks of frenzied work by a dedicated team – Tom McCluskey, the proprietor at Villa Libano, Walter Tognocchi from the Acchiappasogni the luxury bed and breakfast in Barga Vecchia, Riccardo Negri from the L’osteria in Barga Vecchia, Nicola Salotti and Lucia Morelli from the L’associazione culturale Venti d’Arte and the Barga Jazz Volunteers , the villa was reopened to the public.
Furthermore, from an idea of the local photographers Keane and Caterina Salvi, the Green Room (the ante-room for the musicians, which they didn’t use) was converted into a photo studio where, with the aid of a LED lighting installation by artist Marco Poma, they produced portraits of anyone who came in.
Conclusion: a great success and kilometres of queues.
The summer has been and gone, the autumn arrived and then left in a hurry and we’re once again back into the throes of winter but Villa Libano opens its doors again this weekend for a two day event: Slow Art, Tam Tam involving an exhibition of artists from Trezzano sul Naviglio, Milan and once again, with the Green Room at its heart.
Slow Art, Tam Tam
Slow art è la consapevolezza di una nuova dimensione e dell’arte diffusa e popolare.
Slow Art è la vera nuova energia dell’arte sociale, che non si preoccupa di limitare lo strapotere dell’arte della finanza.Mi preme chiarire una cosa molto importante: Slow Art può somigliare a una rivista d’arte,ma deve trarre la sua originalità, oltre al fatto che esiste soltanto in questo spazio virtuale, dal fatto che forse non parla semplicemente d’arte pur ispirandosi ad essa. Come Tam Tam non è una scuola, vorrei che anche anche SL. A. non fosse intesa materialmente e fisicamente come una rivista d’arte ma semplicemente un luogo immateriale dove sono analizzati e descritti comportamenti sociali, storici, politici in breve umani in modo totalmente libero, che mi aiuti a capire un momento di grande trasformazione (inutile speranza direte). Dunque non può essere un momento critico di selezione come sono sempre state tutte le riviste, quanto invece di conta su un fenomeno che sta trasformando anche la politica. Diciamo non siamo tutti splendidi ma sicuramente siamo tutti necessari. – Marco Poma
During the 15 days of Enojazz inside the green room more than 700 portraits were taken.
This time during the weekend of the chocolate festa here in Barga, it’s a slightly different game and the two photographers inside the Green Room are looking for a slightly different way of producing images.
This time the emphasis is on chocolate and our relationship with chocolate.
Is it a drug, is it a food, is it a luxury or is it a necessity ?
Once again the creative volcano which answered to the name of Marco Poma has come up with a specially designed and built lighting system for the Barga chocolate portraits.
His first light creation during the Barga Jazz festival was based upon music but for this event, no longer a series of rigid vertical slashes of LED lights marking out a kind of musical score (article and interview here) , instead he has created two voluptuous curves of light which can even change colour depending on the settings.
The two photographers, Caterina Salvi and Keane will be in residence for the all of the weekend keeping the Green Room active and moving.