Artworks by Edgar Martins http://www.edgarmartins.com

The Wapping Project Bankside is currently hosting, until the 30^th June 2012, a photography exhibition entitled “This is not a house”, commissioned by the New York Times Magazine.
The artist is called Edgar Martin, born in Portugal but grown up in Macau, China. In 1996 he moved in the UK, where he is still living, in order to attend an MA in photography and fine art at the Royal College of Art.

This is not a House is a project with an interesting social aspect, and it is evident that it had an important meaning to the artist despite the fact of being the result of a commission.
It all started in 2008, when the New York Times magazine asked the photographer to represent the crisis of mortgage industry as well as the collapsing impact on the real estate market in the States.

Edgar Martins then decided to analyse the problem by using an artistic point of view instead of taking a documentary photojournalistic approach. He uses fiction to explain reality. By setting out to photograph abandoned and ruined homes, golf courses, hotels, even banks to express the crisis. As he stated, his project can be defined as ‘a photographic intervention into a crisis, a crisis that is only in part economic’.

When “This is not a house” was first published in 2009, it created a feisty debate consequently to his way of reshaping with detailed digital techniques some of the images.

Edgar Martins exposed his artworks all over the world, recent exhibitions include the 54th Venice Biennale, Museum of Electricity, Lisbon, The New Art Gallery, Walsall, Belém Cultural Centre (Lisbon) and the Centro Cultural Hélio Oiticia (Rio de Janeiro).

After being hosted at the Wapping Project Of London, the exhibition will move in 2013 to the Tullie House Art Gallery & Museum and the Ffotogallery (Wales).

The 8th European Night of Museums will be held all over Europe on Saturday May 19th, 2012. During this night thousands of museums across Europe will open their doors for special late night events, the majority of which are free.
The Night of Museums is an occasion for visitors to rediscover museums through treasure hunts,
theatralised guided visits, sleepovers, special museums’ facade lighting, concerts and other surprising activities.
Find all the details at www.nuitdesmusees.culture.fr

Cultural Spring Rendez-vous

First launched in 2005 as an initiative of the French Ministry of Culture and Communication, the European Night of Museums spread through Europe over the following years and is now one of the most popular events of the cultural agenda. The event is held simultaneously in some 40 European countries with 3000 participating venues including 1300 museums in France.
The European Night of Museums is placed under the aegis of the Council of Europe, of UNESCO and of the International Council of Museums (ICOM).

Special Night of Museums events

This year, visitors can enjoy various activities designed specifically for this night. From kids to adults, music to theatre amateurs, and to adventure and surprise lovers – everyone will find something on Saturday May 19th.

In France
− Fluorescent games at the Museum of Sport, Paris
− Photo workshop for young visitors “Oh My Ghost” at the Petit Palais, Paris
− Mauve Night with the artist Pierre Ardouvin at the Museum of Fine Arts and other museums of Tours                                   − Special lighting of the King’s Grand Apartments and the Hall of Mirrors at the Château de Versailles                                        − Medieval games and hide-and-seek at the Museum of Cluny, Cluny

In other European countries
− Disguised party “Pirates of the Baltic” at the Museum of the Sea, Riga, Latvia
− Sleepover in the Egyptian Gallery of the British Museum, London, Great Britain
− Flashmob at the Museum of Modern Art in Moscow, Russia
− 1980s disco party at the Museum Satakunta, Pori, Finland
− Cutting edge contemporary music, installations and pop-up surprises at the National Museum of Scotland, Edinburgh
− Special events on the “100th anniversary of the Cinema in Estonia” theme in museums of Estonia
− Exhibition “Titanic, Reflections and Reactions, Queenstown 1912” at Cobh Museum in Cork, Ireland
− Treasure hunt and jazz music at the National museum of Art of Romania, Bucharest, Romania
− Jazz improvisations “Clic si suona” inspired by photographies at the National Museum of Capodimonte, Naples, Italy.

Image of the Night
For the 6th consecutive year Neuflize Vie, partner of the event, organised a competition among several artists to create the image of the Night 2012. This year the project of Le Gentil Garçon was chosen as an invitation to everyone to enjoy this European Night of Museums.

The European Night of Museums online

Follow the European Night of Museums online at :

www.facebook.com/nuitdesmusees
twitter.com/Nuitdesmusees // #NDM12

Find out photos and videos of Behind the Scenes of the event and of previous Nights of Museums at :
www.flickr.com/photos/nuitdesmusees
www.dailymotion.com/Nuitdesmusees

The event Information desk will be opened at the Ministry of Culture and Communication.
Opening hours :
Monday 14th to Friday 18th May 9am – 6 pm
Saturday 19th May : 11am – 10 pm
Address: 182 rue Saint-Honoré, 75001 Paris – Metro Palais Royal

editing & photos by Tobia Piatto (tobia.piatto@positive-magazine.com)

Everybody knows them for their wild-aggressive sound. And the fourth album is maybe more hard then the others.

The electronical music duo from Bordeaux (France) (Caroline Martial-voice, Oroin Bouvier- mixer) has released the new album and it sounds like a bomb: it’s similar to an old-style punk band with the addition of electronic sounds.  During the live Caroline give to the public all she can give, as always, jumping around, screaming and dancing till the end of the show, like there’s no tomorrow.

Devotion is such more “sophisticated” than the other albums, with more studied sound, but sounds always like an energy-bomb that makes people dance.

• 13 MARS PARIS – GAÎTÉ LYRIQUE
• 17 MARS BORDEAUX – ROCK SCHOOL BARBEY
• 23 MARS RENNES – ANTIPODE
• 24 MARS LIMOGES – LA FOURMI
• 29 MARS ROUBAIX – LA CAVE AUX POÈTES
• 06 AVRIL MORLAIX – FESTIVAL PANORAMA
• 07 AVRIL NANTES – CINETIC
• 12 AVRIL ROTTERDAM – ROTOWN
• 13 AVRIL NIJMEGEN – DOORNROOSJE
• 14 AVRIL AMSTERDAM – BITTERZOEK
• 18 AVRIL MILAN – SUBLIME
• 19 AVRIL TURIN – ASTORIA
• 20 AVRIL ROME – CIRCOLO DEGLI ARTISTI
• 21 AVRIL RAVENNE – BRONSON
• 22 AVRIL VENICE – POP CORN
• 27 AVRIL MARTIGNY – LES CAVES DU MANOIR
• 28 AVRIL YVERON LES BAINS – AMALGAME
• 30 AVRIL MULHOUSE – NOUMATROFF
• 5 MAI BRUXELLES – MR WONG
• 18 MAI MOSCOU – ARTPLAY DESIGN CENTER
• 19 MAI ST PETERSBOURG – SKIF FESTIVAL
• 24 MAI MARSEILLE – CABARET ALÉATOIRE
• 25 MAI TOULOUSE – LE BIKINI

KAP BAMBINO WEBSITE HERE

Giovedì 12 aprile ore 21, presso il Giorgione Movie d’essai a Venezia per la prima volta in Italia.

L’Associazione Metricubi presenta, in collaborazione con l’Assessorato alle Attività Culturali del Comune di Venezia e il Circuito Cinema Comunale, e grazie al prezioso contributo di The Match Factory, uno straordinario evento cinematografico: la prima italiana di The Future, l’ultimo film Miranda July, che si terrà giovedì 12 aprile, alle 21, nella sala grande del Giorgione Movie d’essai, a Venezia.
Il film, fino ad ora inedito in Italia, è stato presentato con successo nel 2011 al Sundance Film Festival, e successivamente ha raccolto i favori di stampa e pubblico con il passaggio al Festival di Berlino.

Miranda July, artista e scrittrice, oltre che regista, ha esposto i suoi lavori Museum of Modern Art, al Guggenheim di New York e a due Biennali del Whitney, ed ha partecipato alla Biennale di Venezia del 2009 con Eleven Heavy Things, un’installazione di sculture interattive. I suoi racconti sono stati pubblicati sulle più prestigiose riviste statunitensi, e il suo libro Tu più di chiunque altro (Feltrinelli) è edito in più di 20 paesi. Con The Future è tornata alla regia sei anni dopo il suo primo film, Me and You and Everyone We Know (2005) vincitore del premio speciale della giuria al Sundance Film Festival e di quattro premi al festival di Cannes, compreso il premio Camera d’Or.

The Future ha per protagonisti Sophie (Miranda July) e Jason (Hamish Linklater), giovane coppia che vive in un monolocale e passa la maggior parte del proprio tempo online. Decidono di adottare un gatto malato di nome Paw Paw che, come un neonato, avrà bisogno di cure costanti, ma nonostante le buone intenzioni, sono terrorizzati dall’incombente responsabilità. Nei trenta giorni che li separano dall’arrivo di Paw Paw, decidono di lasciare il lavoro – che odiano – per perseguire i loro sogni, trovandosi a vivere in due realtà sospese e diverse.
Unendo allo storytelling elementi provenienti dall’esperienza artistica di Miranda July, e incorporando fluidamente nella storia il linguaggio visivo della performance e della video arte, The Future è una rappresentazione intima e poeticamente surreale sulle infinite possibilità della vita, le incertezze dell’amore e lo scorrere inesorabile del tempo, la cui percezione secondo la regista segna l’inizio dell’età adulta e, talvolta, un problema. “Si può decidere di non fare nulla, di lasciarsi condurre dalle coincidenze, assecondando l’aspetto spirituale della creatività” – dichiara July – “oppure si può decidere di assecondare il lato interamente determinato dal desiderio d’attenzione e di riconoscimento. Il film parla di questo, della paura del fallimento e del vuoto, del desiderio si fuggire da se stessi e dell’impossibilità di farlo veramente; della difficoltà, delle cose che possono andare perdute e della vertigine agrodolce del vero amore, la prima cosa che mi ha portato a pensare alla finitezza del tempo”.

L’Associazione Metricubi è attiva sul territorio veneziano dal 2008, promuovendo un’attività culturale intensa e costante, fatta di laboratori, incontri, spettacoli teatrali e concerti, e dal dicembre 2010 si è costituito anche come circolo del cinema, distinguendosi per la ricercatezza, l’alta qualità e il carattere innovativo della proposta. Kino³, l’eclettica programmazione curata da Paolo Moretti, si è mossa nei territori cinematografici ibridi all’incrocio tra fiction, documentario, arti visive e performative, dando rilievo e visibilità ad una serie di film che, con la mescolanza di linguaggi e stili e con la ricerca creativa che li contraddistingue, rappresentano la complessità e la contraddittorietà del presente. Il programma ha presentato al pubblico alcune delle pellicole più interessanti degli ultimi anni, lontane per formato e durate dai circuiti di produzione e distribuzione tradizionali – come Amelia di Édouard Lock, Exit Through the Gift Shop di Banksy o The Arbor di Clio Barnard -, uno straordinario numero di prime nazionali, tra cui Trash Humpers di Harmony Korine, e ospitato alcuni dei più importanti registi attivi sul panorama internazionale, Gianfranco Rosi, Pietro Marcello, Laurin Federlein, il gruppo Flatform, Jean Gabriel Périot, Mauro Andrizzi, e Yuri Ancarani.

Giovedì 12 aprile
ore 21.00
Regia e sceneggiatura: Miranda July
Interpreti: Miranda July, Hamish Linklater, David Warshofsky
Produzione: Razor Film, GNK Productions, Film4, in associazione con The Match Factory e Haut at Court, con il supporto di Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg e Filmförderungsanstalt.
USA | Germania, 2011
v.o. inglese, sottotitoli italiano

Cinema Giorgione – sala A
Cannaregio 4612 – Venezia
proiezione unica
biglietto tariffa unica € 5.00
ingresso vietato ai minori 18 anni
prevendite presso la biglietteria del Cinema Giorgione a partire da venerdì 6 aprile

CONTATTI:
Paolo Moretti – curatore programmazione cinematografica Metricubi
335 1279642
Annalisa Grisi – responsabile comunicazione Metricubi
340 9695402

Metricubi
Campiello delle Erbe 2003 (Campo San Polo) – Venezia
ingresso riservato possessori tessera Arci
www.metricubi.org

Umberto Bossi Leader of the Northen League Party

BBC Reports: “Prosecutors in Italy are investigating the right-wing Northern League party – formerly allied to ex-PM Silvio Berlusconi – for suspected fraud”.

We wanted to show you the faces of the italian politics from this Party, that was accused to be xenofobic and racist many times also inside the European Parliament.

This is a selection of them, so just in case you find them by chance on the street, you have the choice to go straight or take another way.

Rosi Mauro, member of the Italian Parliament and Vice President of the Senate

Roberto Calderoli (born 18 April 1956) is an Italian politician and a member of the Senate of Italy. He was a Minister without portfolio for Legislative Simplification in the Berlusconi IV Cabinet. He previously served as Minister without portfolio for Reforms and Devolution in the Berlusconi II Cabinet (since 20 June 2004) and in the Berlusconi III Cabinet (until 18 February 2006, when he resigned following the so-called “cartoon crisis”). Roberto Calderoli is a leading member of the Northern League. He is usually seen as representing the component originating from the right wing and Bergamo, whereas Roberto Maroni represents the area originating from the left wing and Varese.

Role in the “Cartoon Crisis”
During the international crisis sparked by the publishing of the Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons, on February 8, 2006, he made statements favourable to usage of force against Muslims and asked for the intervention of Pope Benedict XVI to form a “coalition”, referencing the battles of Lepanto and Vienna.

On 15 February 2006, he announced he would wear a T-shirt with the Muhammad cartoons. Later that evening, just after the news broadcast on state flagship television station Rai Uno, during a live interview he said: “I am wearing one of those T-shirts even now”, and promptly unbuttoned his shirt, revealing a T-shirt with a caricature emblazoned on it. Though the press reported it to be one of the Jyllands-Posten cartoons, it was actually the cartoon published on the France Soir’s front page in the February 1st 2006 issue, the very day the same newspaper published the Jyllands-Posten cartoons. Actually, Calderoli did not show one of the cartoons that caused the international crisis.
The event was widely published in Libya (a former colony of Italy), and about 1,000 people gathered for a protest and began throwing rocks and bottles toward the Italian consulate in Benghazi which they set ablaze. In clashes with the police, at least eleven people died and twenty-five were wounded.
Subsequently, Berlusconi asked Calderoli to resign because his act was against the government’s political line, but, in an interview given to Italian newspaper La Repubblica, Calderoli declared that he would not resign. He eventually gave in to the massive pressure coming from all parties (and lack of support in his own), and resigned on 18 February 2006.

Roberto Calderoli and racism
Following Italy’s win against France in the 2006 World Cup Final, Calderoli criticized France for having “sacrificed its identity for results by fielding niggers, Muslims and Communists”.
These comments drew many protests from the French embassy, the Italian Green Party (who said that Calderoli is “no better than the Ku Klux Klan”) and the Party of Italian Communists among others. Calderoli’s politics seems based on the nothing, likely with the exception of techniques pretty common among liars, infused with hate speech and violence.
Moreover, Calderoli said the centre-left government “would very probably have supported this France with no identity and the headbutts of Zidane”.
In June 2008 Calderoli said in a TV interview: “It is obvious that there are ethnic groups and populations that are more inclined to work and others not. And there is greater predisposition for crime by someone over others.”

Comments on the Swiss vote to ban minarets
In November 2009, after a national referendum resulted in the changing the Swiss constitution so that it prohibited the construction of minarets, Calderoli told the Italian news agency ANSA that Switzerland had a sent a clear signal: “Yes to church towers, no to minarets”. He further stated that he wished Switzerland would act as a model for Italy in this regard.

Mario Borghezio – Wikipedia:
Mario Borghezio (born on 3 December 1947 in Turin[citation needed]) is an Italian politician from the Northern League. (currently suspended) He is a Member of the European Parliament, and sits with the eurosceptic Europe of Freedom and Democracy group.

In 1993, he was sentenced to pay a fine of 750,000 lire for violence on a minor. He forcefully held and turned over to the police a 12-year-old Moroccan unregistered street seller. Italian law does not allow so-called “Citizen’s arrests”, or otherwise taking the law into one’s own hands.

In July 2005, Borghezio was found guilty of arson, for setting fire to the pallets of some migrants sleeping under a bridge in Turin during a vigilante raid. For this he was sentenced to two months and twenty days in prison, converted into a fine of €3,040.

On 17 December, 2005, Borghezio was injured by some No Tav activists, who recognised him on a train from Turin to Venice. Because of the encounter, he had to undergo an operation for a fractured nasal septum. That morning, he had participated in a counter-protest against the No Tav movement in the Susa Valley.

On 11 September, 2007, he was arrested by Belgian police for participating in a protest against the Islamisation of Europe.

In May 2011, Borghezio made inflammatory remarks after the arrest of Ratko Mladic, the Serbian military leader indicted for war crimes at the Hague, including the genocide of 8000 Muslim men and boys at Srebrenica. Borghezio was quoted as saying that “Mladic is a Patriot” and “The Serbs could have halted the advance of Islam into Europe, but they weren’t allowed to do so.”

On June 9, 2011, Borghezio was arrested by Swiss policemen after attempting to join the 2011 annual Bilderberg conference at St. Moritz (Switzerland). He was banished from the Canton of Graubünden for the duration of the meeting. The Italian embassy in Berne lodged a diplomatic protest.

On 30 July 2011 he was suspended for three months by his party for praising several of the ideas in the manifesto of Anders Behring Breivik, the man who is charged with perpetrating the 2011 Norway attacks.

Roberto Maroni (born March 15, 1955) is an Italian politician from Varese. He is a member of the Northern League (Italian: Lega Nord) political movement. Since 1992 he is a Member of the Chamber of Duputies of the Italian Republic, always elected in Lombardy’s districts and costituencies. He was Interior Minister of the Italian Republic from 1994 to 1995 and from 2008 to 2011.
Maroni was convicted of resistance against a public official during a police raid of his party’s building in via Bellerio in Milan in 1996, and sentenced to 8 months (later changed into a fine), when police inspected his office.

An Article (In Italian, about the agression organized by Northen League Members against a waiter who was not italian)

Gentilini has worked as director at the legal bureau of the Cassamarca until his retirement. He has been mayor of Treviso for two consecutive administrations, from 1994 to 1998 and 1998 to 2003, with the party of the Lega Nord Liga Veneta. In 2003, Paolo Gobbo was elected mayor; Gentilini became deputy mayor, as current legislation prevents mayors from serving more than two consecutive terms. Gentilini’s support was decisive in the victory of Gobbo.

Name: Ivan Cotroneo – www.ivancotroneo.it

Ivan Cotroneo is a successful Italian director, screenwriter and writer. He was born in Naples in 1968 and studied cinema in Rome where he graduated in 1992. Since then his career never stopped growing, he published four novels and wrote or collaborated in a large number of screenplays for movies as well as for talk shows.

The film Kryptonite nella borsa (Kryptonite in the bag) has been adapted from his homonymous novel, written in 2007. He wrote the script from his own novel with the help of two other screenwriters: Ludovica Rampoldi and Monica Rametta. The film has been displayed at the CINE LUMIERE in London, for the second edition of Cinema Made In Italy.

The film is set in an intriguing and beautiful Naples, inside the rooms of a peculiar and bizarre family. The perspective is through the eyes of Peppino, a nine year old boy with a big pair of glasses and a special pure candour. During the film the little boy has to face a number of unpredictable facts: his mother Rosaria falls into depression because her husband (father of Peppino) is cheating on her, his cousin Gennaro who is convinced he is Superman dies under a bus, and he is left in the hands of his young aunt and uncle (Titina and Libero) who are freewill hippies. They take him to parties and lesbian demonstrations without looking after him enough. Following the death of his Super-cousin Gennaro, Peppino’s imagination recreates his character in reality whenever he has to face a difficult situation in finding his path to the adult world.

As a writer and a director, do you think the title of the film is important for viewers?

The title is crucial, and this is the reason why I chose to explain the meaning of this title in the very first scene, in the movie as well as in the novel.

Kryptonite is literally a mineral, and it scares (without logical reasons) Gennaro, the weirdo cousin of the protagonist (who believes he is Superman). The literal meaning of the title is immediately explained, but the allegoric meaning is developed in the duration of the film. Kryptonite is everything that hinders our happiness, everything that impedes us in expressing ourselves freely without being careful of what other people expect from us. Kryptonite is everything that could create a limit to our capacities. This is what Superman wants to teach to the protagonist: to be loyal to himself against any external obstacles.

When you are writing a screenplay or a novel, your inspiration comes from a story or from a character?

I must say from a character. Also as a viewer or as a reader, my favourite films and books are the ones in which the focus is on a strong character who is free, alive and real. If you have a good character in your mind, you will write a good story.

With this story, I started from the perspective of this young child, in a chaotic family, with his big and funny glasses, that uses the power of evocative imagination to face the difficulties of life. This little boy who is still of the age in which the border between reality and imagination is blurred.

Was it important for you to set the movie in your hometown, Naples?

I left Naples when I was 22, the typical age in which you need new places and new experiences. When I left I was having a really controversial relationship with my hometown. I was trying to pretend that I didn’t belong to her, to Naples. Of course it wasn’t true. Our roots are always a fundamental part of ourselves. I realised when I saw the film that I had made peace with my city, and that I was proud to show her beauty to the world on the big screen. Naples it’s such a fascinating city, but it’s also very obtrusive, and those are the two reason why I couldn’t get rid of it.

Was the Soundtrack your own choice?

Yes, when I gave to the producers the final version of the screenplay I sent them a CD as well. Every song in the film is an important song for me. Especially Changes by David Bowie in the last scene. I wanted the music to explain the feelings and thoughts of my characters. I chose Lust For Life, even if it was released in 1976 after the setting of the film, in 1973. For this reason I printed a special label for the LP which is called “Lust for life special pre-edition 1973”. I asked Planet Funk to make a special cover of “These boots are made for walking” for the film credits at the end.

There is a dialogue between the two hippie uncles, in which Libero says to Titina: “You have to promise me that we will escape from this country, we will escape to London. But we have to believe, otherwise we’ll never do it.” Is this a story of the Italian young generation?

When I think about Libero and Titina I am sorry for them, because I have the impression that they didn’t believe enough in what they wanted from their lives. Maybe they were too comfortable or lazy, maybe they were too bound to their situation. This film is about unfair fates, but also about characters that find the courage to rebel against their unfair fate. Some of them find a way to rebel, some don’t, like Titina and Libero. But this is a story about two characters, not about an entire generation. When I think about their story a tale from James Joyce, Dubliners comes to my mind. Eveline, the protagonist of this story, really wants to leave Dublin. She packs all her stuff, she goes to the harbour, the boat is ready to go. And, suddenly, she turns around, and she slowly goes back home. This is the fear, this is the Kryptonite. Fear of rebelling, fear of not being able to match other ones’ expectations, fear of leaving an old life for gain a new one. If I had a child, I would teach him not to be afraid, not to be scared in taking his own path. Like the young Peppino, who at the end is, in his own way, ready to face the adult world.

The second edition of Cinema Made in Italy, the Italian Film Festival in London opened last night and one of the first films was Isole (Islands).

It is curious to hear that the independently produced film that received great reviews abroad, is still to be screened in Italy. Independently produced, with a small contribution from the regione Puglia, shot in 4 weeks it is a clear example that the Italian Cinema is alive and well, thanks to young directors like Stefano Chiantini.

So much so that it intrigued internationally known actress Asia Argento to get involved as one of the main characters. The film is set in the context of current sociological issues, however this is not its focus The interest of the director is about two individuals who are perceived by the outside world as “odd”, the way they meet and recognise each other, their journey of discovery of one another.

The title and the location of the breath taking Tremiti islands symbolise the isolation and insularity of being different form the rest. The ending, without wanting to spoil it for anyone, is left open for everyone to imagine their own particular one, but in the eye of the director, mirroring real life, it is not necessarily a traditional “….and they lived happy ever after…”, because what is important for him is the journey of discovery and the newly acquired dignity of the two individuals.

For all the infos about the screening and the festival click here

Perché “Fare del Bene, aiutare” ci racconta il suo Presidente, Luca Bazzoli, “non è sinonimo di assistere né di compatire. La cultura dell’assistenzialismo ha generato solo un’altra forma di colonialismo, riducendo le popolazioni maggiormente bisognose di aiuto ad essere sempre più dipendenti dall’aiuto stesso che i Paesi ricchi hanno fornito loro nel corso degli anni”.

Lo scopo di Sensacional punta a fare in modo che le comunità presso le quali opera si liberino dal bisogno e raggiungano la completa autonomia: “Vogliamo che riescano a diventare indipendenti anche da noi”.

Per questa ragione la sensazionale ONLUS si propone come intermediario tra le comunità locali, parti attive nella proposizione di validi progetti per lo sviluppo ed il miglioramento delle condizioni di vita che le riguardano, ed i finanziatori, siano essi imprese o investitori sociali, al fine di aiutare a risolvere i problemi reali di queste popolazioni.

Nel panorama internazionale operano moltissime organizzazioni no profit. Dalla vostra esperienza, quali sono le principali criticità del sistema della cooperazione allo sviluppo?

Il sistema della cooperazione internazionale allo sviluppo è estremamente lacunoso. Queste mancanze, tuttavia, non sono casuali. In ogni circostanza, credo, la domanda opportuna da porsi è: cui prodest? A chi giova, cioè, che milioni di persone, ad oggi, ancora vivano in condizioni di estrema povertà, al di sotto di qualsiasi ragionevole soglia di sussistenza? Chi beneficia del fatto che queste stesse popolazioni non siano economicamente e socialmente autosufficienti?

Troppo spesso i progetti di sviluppo locale delle varie organizzazioni che operano a livello internazionale mirano a soddisfare le esigenze dei grandi finanziatori, piuttosto che le reali necessità delle comunità in difficoltà. Per non parlare degli spropositati sprechi di risorse e degli elevati costi di gestione che fanno assomigliare ormai le grandi ONLUS più a delle multinazionali che ad organizzazioni no profit.

In che modo Sensacional si distingue dalle altre ONLUS?
In primo luogo noi aiutiamo, non assistiamo. Siamo interessati alla risoluzione di problematiche reali e perciò proponiamo un approccio diverso, più attento e concentrato sulle concrete necessità delle persone, sulle questioni “micro”, piuttosto che sulle problematiche “macro”. Queste ultime sono infatti spesso di difficile soluzione se non vengono presi in considerazione i bisogni primari e concreti delle società svantaggiate. Chi meglio delle persone appartenenti a queste comunità è in grado di indicare quali siano le loro principali necessità? Sensacional collabora con le popolazioni locali sostenendo le valide idee di sviluppo che esse propongono, e che sono finalizzate al soddisfacimento dei loro bisogni concreti.
Abbiamo inoltre un approccio orientato verso il mercato, perché siamo convinti che sia realizzabile uno scenario “win-win”, nel quale le aziende traggano benefici dall’aiutare le popolazioni bisognose e queste ultime possano procedere nel loro percorso di sviluppo, sino a raggiungere una autonomia completa.

In che settori e in che luoghi opera Sensacional? Con quali metodologie di lavoro?
Sensacional opera nel settore della… trasparenza! Questo significa che di qualsiasi progetto ci si occupi, in qualsiasi parte del mondo, la priorità viene data alla gestione trasparente delle risorse economiche, ma anche all’arricchimento personale e professionale di tutte le persone coinvolte nei nostri progetti. In questo modo si favorisce la vera indipendenza a livello locale e le condizioni di vita delle persone migliorano tangibilmente ed in maniera duratura. Quello che Sensacional fa è fornire a chi ne ha bisogno gli strumenti per poter uscire da situazioni svantaggiate e contribuire alla crescita della società civile.
Il nostro approccio alle questioni sociali è quindi “dal basso”, cerchiamo di stimolare il cambio partendo da azioni mirate e concrete coinvolgendo e responsabilizzando le comunità locali. Questo metodo ha maggiore successo in America Latina, che vanta una storia in cui sono sempre state le persone a prendere in mano la propria vita, lottando per i propri diritti. Ma siamo presenti anche in Africa ed Asia, realtà in cui il nostro metodo ha grande successo.
I Paesi in cui siamo presenti al momento sono: Brasile, Argentina, Ecuador, Perù, Tanzania e Cambogia.

Qual è l’approccio di Sensacional alle aziende per lo sviluppo di azioni di CSR?
Concepiamo la collaborazione con le imprese come un modo per raggiungere una condizione in cui tutti gli attori coinvolti possano trarre vantaggi. La partnership con le aziende risulta uno dei nostri principali strumenti di azione, perché crediamo che il vero motore della società contemporanea sia il mercato. Alle imprese che decidono di investire su di noi e sui nostri progetti offriamo la garanzia della massima trasparenza e vantaggi concreti. Le politiche di Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) costituiscono infatti una scelta strategica per le imprese. Le aziende possono incrementare la visibilità del loro marchio attraverso il sostegno ad attività socialmente utili, contribuendo in tal modo anche ad accrescere la loro reputazione positiva.
Investire in Sensacional risulta inoltre conveniente da un punto di vista fiscale, poiché ogni donazione effettuata nei confronti di una ONLUS è deducibile o detraibile, secondo i limiti indicati dalla legge. Vogliamo dimostrare che dal mercato, dalla libera concorrenza, dalla globalizzazione è possibile trarre qualcosa di buono ed utile alla collettività.

Qual è invece il rapporto con le persone comuni, come fanno a sapere in che modo saranno utilizzati i soldi che vi donano e, più in generale, quali sono le vostre strategie di comunicazione?
La nostra politica di essere vicini alle persone ed operare nella più totale trasparenza rimane valida anche nei rapporti con la gente comune, con i nostri sostenitori in carne ed ossa.
Pubblichiamo i budget dei progetti che seguiamo e rendiamo partecipi coloro che ci aiutano della provenienza e dell’utilizzo dei fondi a disposizione.

Desideriamo che la gente non concepisca Sensacional come un ente astratto, ma che lo percepisca per quello che è: un gruppo di persone, appassionate e professionali, che operano al servizio di altre persone. Intendiamo coinvolgere chi ci sostiene ed avvicinare più gente possibile alle questioni sociali del mondo. Per questo sfruttiamo le potenzialità della rete, youtube o i social media ad esempio, per comunicare in modo semplice ed empatico con coloro che ci seguono o sono incuriositi da noi. Inoltre, partecipiamo ed organizziamo eventi aperti a tutti, cosicché le persone abbiano modo di conoscere direttamente, vis-à-vis, i nostri collaboratori.

C’è un progetto in particolare di cui ci volete parlarci?
Attualmente stiamo seguendo un progetto in Tanzania, in collaborazione con la Missione di Ilula. In questa piccola città la Missione ha creato il “Villaggio della Gioia”, un centro in cui i bambini orfani ricevono vitto, alloggio e cure mediche.
Assieme siamo impegnati nell’allestimento di un laboratorio di analisi cliniche per la prevenzione, la diagnosi e la cura delle principali malattie endemiche, come l’HIV, la tubercolosi e la malaria, estremamente diffuse tra la popolazione e fra le principali cause di morte.
Ci proponiamo, dunque, anche attraverso un percorso di formazione professionale specialistica e di sensibilizzazione verso pratiche igieniche e sessuali responsabili, di migliorare l’assistenza sanitaria del villaggio e ridurre così il numero delle vittime causate da queste malattie e, conseguentemente, il numero di bambini orfani e disabili.

photos & text by: Tobia Piatto (tobia.piatto@positive-magazine.com)

Pete Doherty: everybody knows him. He’s the correct example for the motto: sex, drugs and rock and roll. Born on March 12th 1979, he’s best known for being one of the frontmen of the group called “The Libertines”, in 2004 he formed a new band-project called “Babyshambles”. After lot of problems with drugs, alchool and the unlucky love-story with the famous top-model Kate Moss, he has abandoned the last group and has decided to start  a new solo-career.

Now in tour across the Europe, he’s proposing a mix of old songs and some new ones with a great response from the public.

(pics. taken at “New Age” club, Roncade, TV)

edit by Tobia Piatto (tobia.piatto@positive-magazine.com)

Nella perfetta cornice del nuovo spazio PopCorner (via della Pila, Marghera, VE)  prende vita un nuovo happening:

E-gual è una situazione creata per dare spazio a giovani emergenti e artisti di ogni campo, per esplorare forme d’arte innovative e progetti intraprendenti.

Sarà possibile godersi queste esposizioni immersi in un ambiente musicale che spazierà dal jazz ,ambient, Rock, in un clima atto a favorire l’osservazione e lo scambio d’opinioni.
Ecco come le sfere dell’arte e della musica si uniranno in una piacevole simbiosi con il tradizionale aperitivo accompagnato da un buffet mai uguale.
Una combinazione unica per un’esperienza alternativa, completa e all’avanguardia.
BE DIFFERENT/BE EGUAL
Hanno gia’ preso parte a questo happening:
THE JUICY
FINE YOUNG ARCHITECS
SARA GUATELLI E SIMONE NEDERSTATTER
MARA DE CHECCHI

(organizzazione a cura di Marco Miotto)