La Dolce Vita art and culture in Italy

This article comes from the online journal, the Huffington Post,  always an interesting read on just about any subject, current or otherwise, you could imagine.  In pursuit of “the sweet life”, travel to Italy in terms of art, culture, cuisine, wine, design and beautiful people, will surely fit the bill and satisfy the heart’s desire.  Just a summary of this article follows.  If you want to read the rest and view the beautiful photographs within the article, you’ll have to drop by the Huffington Post.

Culture Zohn: Roman Holiday Meets La Dolce Vita — American Academy Style

“We all have a fantasy about taking off for six months or a year, getting away from the grind in order to have the time to muse and contemplate. We know we would be the better for it, our ideas sharper, our vision about our work clearer. We might even finish the thing we had started and put away in the drawer or begin the thing we had made notes on or sketches for and put away in the drawer, the famous drawer that like the Bocca della verita threatens to suck up whatever lies are put inside its cold, imposing mouth.

Most of us, alas, have not had the chance to do that.

Some very lucky, very talented people do, however. Though there are writers and artists colonies of all stripes, there could be none more achingly beautiful or more intellectually dynamic than the American Academy in Rome. Long a secret of architects and designers who were annointed early on in their careers with fellowships and who come back to occasionally to refuel, the Academy is gradually widening its net, this year including an engineer and a dancer and those of us who can only afford a month or a few months, yet want somehow to stop the world so we can get off.

As far back as 1666 when the French established their Academy in Rome, the city has been serving as a tutorial in all things classical, when the Grand Tour stop in Italy was the Alpha and the Omega of culture; if you walk near the Mussolini-style Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Moderna or the Villa Giulia designed by Vignola, you can see the enormous Academy buildings from many nations in all their faded splendor.

None come close to the splendor of the American Academy, founded in the early twentieth century and its magnificently restored Villa Aurelia.

The fellowships given each year are hotly contested and with good reason; you only have to spend an afternoon or a lunch at the long refectory tables dining on Alice Waters inflected cuisine or spend a hushed moment in one of the multi-storied windowed studios or take a walk in the sublime gardens or grab a Campari or espresso at the Bar to know that you have achieved paradise.”

Read the rest of this story here

European Cultural Exchange of Artists

The following news story on the new roles of artists comes from the Hurriyet Daily news.  The `My City`project, a project supported by the EC begins in Istanbul on Friday, giving Turkish artists the chance to create art in various cities in Turkey and for Turkish artists to work in various European cities.  This is sort of an artists exchange program which will benefit the artists and the viewer and audience of the artists finished work.

Underlining the role of artists in civil society

“My City,” a project supported by the European Commission as part of its “Civil Society Dialogue: Cultural Bridges” program, opened in Istanbul on Friday.

Implemented by the British Council and supported by the Garanti Culture Center, the project will make it possible for five European artists to create artwork in the Turkish cities of Istanbul, Çanakkale, Konya, Trabzon and Mardin. The program will also enable six Turkish artists to work in European cities Berlin, Dortmund, London, Helsinki, Vienna and Warsaw.
Speaking at a reception to introduce the project, Turkish State Minister and chief EU negotiator Egemen Bağış said the “My City” project, which he views as crucial, was initiated with British Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs David Miliband.

“The civil-society dialogue, one of the three legs of negotiations with the EU, continues with nongovernmental organizations. The role of artists is vital to a civil-society dialogue. Those countries with developed art scenes are also those with developed democracies and economies,” Bağış noted.

Mentioning that Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan supports related projects, Bağış said that six days before Turkey’s EU-accession negotiations began on Dec. 14, 2004, Turkey opened the Istanbul Modern. Whenever Turkish officials travel to Europe, they are asked about the venue, he said.

“Art is an important concept for Turkey’s promotion in Europe and the rest of the world,” Bağış said. Artists from Turkey and Europe will display the results of the project in September 2010.

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