Fondazione “La Fabbrica del Cioccolato”
Friday 2nd September 2016 | at 6.00 pm | Valle di Blenio | Canton Ticino – Switzerland
Roundtable about art and politics
With Federica Martini, Gerald Raunig, Oliver Ressler, Noah Stolz. Moderator: Franco Marinotti
On Friday 2nd September 2016 at 6.00 pm a roundtable about art and politics will take place at Cima Norma with the following speakers: Federica Martini, Gerald Raunig, Oliver Ressler and Noah Stolz. It will be moderated by Franco Marinotti and the main topic will be Oliver Ressler’s artworks included in Confronting Comfort’s Continent, at Cima Norma. The exhibition brings together several of the artist’s works including two large-scale multi-channel video installations that will be presented in Switzerland for the first time
Federica Martini, art historian and curator, worked at the contemporary art museum Castello di Rivoli in Turin, Musée Jenisch in Vevey and MCBA in Lausanne. Since 2009, she has been director of MAPS Master – Arts in Public Spheres – of ECAV.
Gerald Raunig is a philosopher and art theorist; he teaches at the university of at the Zürich University of the Arts, and the EIPCP in Vienna and he is the author of Art and Revolution: Transversal Activism in the Long Twentieth Century (2007).
Oliver Ressler is an artist and filmmaker who produces installations, works in the public space and films on topics such as economics, democracy, forms of resistance and social alternatives. His works have been shown in more than 60 solo-exhibitions.
Noah Stolz works as a freelance curator, producer and critic. In 2004 he founded La Rada, an independent space for contemporary art in Locarno, and was responsible for its programme until 2011. He currently works for the project Stella Maris and has been a member of the Federal Art Commission since 2009.
Franco Marinotti is an entrepreneur, expert in finance, CEO of riskart, former gallerist. Franco Marinotti counts on a precious family enterprise history started almost a century ago, besides being passionate about art. He has always focused on art and politics and has produced films and videos, creating PLAY platform. He is currently artistic director and vice president of La Fabbrica del Cioccolato foundation.
Each speaker will select one of the works from the exhibition Confronting Comfort’s Continent, discuss its specific them and contextualise it, both within the framework of Oliver Ressler’s wider artistic work and within the framework the general curatorial project’s theme Foreignness. The other participants are invited to comment the specific approach of their colleagues and create a debate, thanks to which the audience will have the chance to increase their understanding of Oliver Ressler’s artwork.
On 1st September 2016, at 6.30 pm, Oliver Ressler will be officially awarded the first Prix Thun for Art and Ethics Award in Thun. The prize was initiated by artist George Steinmann and aims at promoting artists who support a sustainable world, emphasising the relevance of dialogue and cultural sustainability.
The main idea of the exhibition “Confronting Comfort’s Continent” is to transform a (former) factory into a site for the production of knowledge and discussion of new social and economic models able to outrun the deadening capitalist realism on offer. Indeed, the chocolate factory Cima Norma used to be the heart of industrial development of Blenio Valley, thanks to its growing activity from the beginning of XX century until 1968, when it closed; the factory was then used for different purposes. La Fabbrica del Cioccolato foundation is now in charge of managing the cultural activities to be held in the factory. Foreignness programme started in 2016; it is a cultural project created by the artistic director Franco Marinotti as an analysis of the interaction between art and the territory, meant as evolving cultural, social and political heritage.
The term Foreignness involves different ways of feeling stranger, different, not belonging to a particular, changing context.
La Fabbrica del Cioccolato foundation has the following sponsors and technical sponsors: Banca dello Stato del Canton Ticino, Winteler, Cham Paper Goup, Dazzi Tipografia SA; institutional sponsors: Ente Regionale per lo Sviluppo Bellinzonese e Valli, Comune di Blenio, Organizzazione Turistica Regionale Bellinzonese e Alto Ticino, Comune Acquarossa, Comune di Serravalle; Media partners: Plug-in contemporary art and culture, Ticino Finanza and Metalocus.
Ongoing events at La Fabbrica del Cioccolato: Confronting Comfort’s Continent, by Oliver Ressler; Paper Building, by Daniel González, on Cima Norma main building’s façade, and CacaoCollective, by Ivo Rovira e Ana Ponce, open from Wednesday to Saturday, from14:00 to 19:00. Please always contact Mr. Franco Marinotti (f.marinotti@chocfact.ch +41 79 794 00 16) or Mr. Giovanni Casella (giocas@bluewin.ch +41 79 396 05 68).
The programme includes Il Pardo in Fabbrica – second edition: carte blanche to Carlo Chatrian with a selection from the programme of 2016 Locarno Film Festival; the Spanish artist Juan Lopez and the Swiss artist Fabrizio Giannini (October); the Israeli multimedia artist and composer Yuval Avital.
All information about ongoing and scheduled event are available on the website www.lafabbricadelcioccolato.org
The exhibitions at Cima Norma are open from Wednesday to Saturday, from14:00 to 19:00. Please always contact Mr. Franco Marinotti (f.marinotti@chocfact.ch +41 79 794 00 16) or Mr. Giovanni Casella (giocas@bluewin.ch +41 79 396 05 68).
General information:
La Fabbrica del Cioccolato foundation
what: round table about art and politics – progetto Foreignness [Estericità]
when: Friday 2nd Septembre 2016 at 6.00 pm
speakers: Federica Martini, Gerald Raunig, Oliver Ressler, Noah Stolz. Moderator: Franco Marinotti
artistic direction: Foreignness [Estericità]: Franco Marinotti
free entrance
information: info@lafabbricadelcioccolato.org www.lafabbricadelcioccolato.org
address: Stabili Cima Norma | Strada Vecchia 100 | CH-6717 Torre-Blenio
