30 Oct An interview to Mario Pieroni and Dora Stiefelmeier

Source Credit:  Content and images from Wall Street International Magazine by .  Read the original article - https://www.meer.com/en/84559-an-interview-to-mario-pieroni-and-dora-stiefelmeier

Just finished the second edition of Cantiere Aperto, an exhibition of contemporary art, music, and poetry promoted by the No Man’s Land Foundation, curated by Zerynthia, Associazione per l’Arte Contemporanea OdV, in collaboration with Aware, Bellezza Resistenza, and the patronage of the Municipality of Loreto Aprutino. This edition saw the participation of Bruna Esposito (Golden Lion at the 1999 Venice Biennale, Italian Pavilion), Michelangelo Lupone with Licia Galizia, Jonida Prifti (poetry), Filippo Balestra (poetry), Ana Spasic (poetry), Malix (music), Gennaro Spinelli (music), Gipsy Rufina (music), Linbo (music), and Gaia Mobilij (music).

Cantiere Aperto is the most representative event of an intense annual program of No Man’s Land, which presents itself as a model of social and ethical change, repeatable anywhere in the world. The idea of the No Man’s Land (NML) project in Rotacesta, Italy, is the result of a long conversation between Yona Friedman (the architect of realizable utopias) and Mario Pieroni and Dora Stiefelmeier (Zerynthia). The NML Foundation (of which Friedman will be the first honorary president) was born in May 2016, in approximately two hectares of agricultural land: a place of freedom, sharing, art, and nature. Following Friedman’s philosophy, project participants create an open dialogue through interactions and artistic interventions by sharing ideas, needs, and thoughts.

This hamlet of Loreto Aprutino, among the olive groves and vineyards of the Pescara hinterland, hosts the No Man’s Land Foundation, the land that belongs to no one because it belongs to everyone. No Man’s Land is a project of site-specific interventions in which international artists have taken part over the years: Alvin Curran (2017), Gianfranco Baruchello (2018), Jimmie Durham (2019), Yona Friedman with Jean-Baptiste Decavèle (2019/2022 installations), in addition to “Stone tapestry” and “Museum without walls” created in 2015 with the contribution of the ARIA Foundation, Alberto Garutti (2020), Donatella Spaziani (2020), Fabrice Hyber (2021), Leonid Tishkov (2022), Honoré d’O (2022), and Gülsün Karamustafa (2023).

It was an honor to meet Mario Pieroni and Dora Stiefelmeier (Zerynthia) and ask some questions.

When and why were the project and the No Man’s Land Foundation born?

To be honest, we actually proceed contrarily. We have ideas, often developed together with the artists, that sometimes materialize into projects, and then later it can happen that we decide to organize ourselves differently. This happened in the transition from the Pieroni Gallery to the Zerynthia Association, but also with RAMradioartemobile, which was initially a Zerynthia project and later became autonomous. We have recently created an online magazine, which aims to involve the public in all phases of our activities. It is an independent and regularly registered magazine. The No Man’s Land Foundation started from a project by Yona Friedman for a place in the Loreto Aprutino countryside at the time owned by Mario Pieroni, a project initially born in collaboration with the ARIA Foundation, then under the artistic direction of Cecilia Casorati.

What is the concept behind this project, and why is it important to you?

That project fully reflects the founding values of the Friedmanian way of thinking: autonomy, adaptability, sustainability, self-organization, and self-planning. As Yona Friedman said, “No man’s land belongs to everybody,” which includes the concept of gratuitousness but also of responsibility on everyone’s part.

How did you meet Yona Friedman? With which part of his way of thinking do you have the greatest affinity?

Hans Ulrich Obrist introduced Yona Friedman to us years earlier in Paris, and we were immediately fascinated by his multifaceted personality. Yona was a highly cultured and multilingual man. He was informed about everything in almost real time. At the same time, he was a delicate, kind-hearted person. Over the years, several collaborations took place with him, both with the Zerynthia Association and with RAMradioartemobile. The No Man’s Land project was a point of arrival for us.

Friedman is famous for the concept of “Feasible utopias,” and No Man’s Land follows this trend. Thinking about your path in the world of art and culture, what are the utopias you have created, and which ones would you like to create in the future?

“Feasible utopias” is a term created by Yona. It’s obviously an oxymoron. We prefer to talk more about his great visionary nature, which was in unison with his radical criticism and with precise indications of how to solve problems on both a conceptual and practical level. If we had to indicate a concept that is and has been the basis of the many projects we have carried out, it would be that of sharing combined with a desire for conviviality. For us, the last project is always the most beautiful one because it is still in progress. We like to look forward.

I really believe in continuous training because experience teaches us that we forget too quickly. What is the relationship between NML and the training and education of young people but also of adults?

Educational work, at various levels, is fundamental to No Man’s Land. Helped by precious traveling companions, both in the Academies and Universities and in the compulsory schools of the region, it went in parallel with all our activities. It is important to create involvement not only on a cognitive level but also on an emotional level. In the current historical moment, dominated by the Internet, it is necessary for children to have a physical relationship with things and enjoy full immersion.

Who will be the artist who will create the next installation in Loreto Aprutino?

We have an ongoing project with Bruna Esposito. There is no precise timing, and for now, we would not like to anticipate its features.

Is there already an idea in progress for the next edition of Cantiere Aperto? Could you tell us something?

We can anticipate that there will be and that we will do it again in collaboration with the AWARE Association, but we have not yet made a choice of the poets and musicians to involve.

Source Credit:  Content and images from Wall Street International Magazine by .  Read the original article - https://www.meer.com/en/84559-an-interview-to-mario-pieroni-and-dora-stiefelmeier