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Interviste > Nando Snozzi

Learning for life

a cura di Giulia Ferlito e Giulia Milanese

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Learning for life. My counterculture started two years before attending the academy in Milan. I was an accountant by training, I knew almost immediately however that something wasn’t right: I wanted to draw and do this kind of job. Therefore I signed up for Csia (Centro scolastico per le industrie artistiche) and, later, the headmaster directed me to the academy in Milan, having sensed that my work had some potential. There in Milan, I underwent my very counterculture training, as the academy at the time was against the dogmas dictated by galleries, museums and society itself. Then I went to Paris and attended university studying Plastic Arts and Cinema. That was also good training ground in order to work out in which direction I should go and, especially, to understand that life is not just about certainties but also doubts. I began to love this subject matter and since then I have started the work that I’m still pursuing through painting, texts and collaborations with people who have put art at the heart of their existence. I’ve always carried out this survey on contemporary society and that is why I’m saying that I create art: I make use of it and its historic baggage to reflect on what is happening nowadays.

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I don’t know whether to call it so, what I regard as counterculture should be culture. Counterculture is born out of those who spread information which does not follow the dogmas of power. Not everything contemporary society offers is the kind of culture which has value through which people can secure a quality of life for themselves.

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Counterculture was a time that, starting in 1968, saw people choose to go against the establishment. Here in Ticino I personally worked alongside Franco Beltrametti and Pam Mazzuchelli. In France, too, I took courses with a number of philosophers (Foucault, who wrote “Histoire de la folie”, and others who were concerned with this kind of analysis on society). Furthermore, I’ve always been inspired by past artists such as Artemisia Gentileschi, Gauguin, Caravaggio, Hieronymus Bosch. The courses I teach with more than 50 students are developed on this philosophy: I do not set footsteps to follow but work on the creative potential. That is where the interesting side of culture emerges, each of us must succeed for what they are.

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Of course. The title of this work is “Passaggio nell’universo” (Passage across the universe) and these are the thoughts I had on the subject: “I picture the palace of memory where those who carry stories with them leave mementos of time to seek a place of hope. I picture the past as preparation for the present and home of the future. I listen to characters who whisper in the traces of history the wishes of the imagination, juggling among the austerity of documents passed down through the generations. I smile upon the Poetics of irony and the reliance of those who tell, gather and put history in order. I reflect upon a history eternally moving across politics, economics and culture, signs of war and hopes of peace. As certainty I have doubts that Lies and Truth clash in “time – passages” of those who demand power. I escort those human beings who fly in timeless colours, astride horses from different eras together with animal friends, seeking small facts to be brought into stories. I am an accomplice of those figures who bring out a small passage on planet Earth and live the fleeting moment of the PASSAGE ACROSS THE UNIVERSE…” The characters I portrayed in this wall painting are imaginary ones because the people who usually go to the council are too focused on real life and on how, sometimes, this may be burdensome. Every time I’ve been asked “what does this wall painting represent?” I’ve replied “look at those characters and make up your story”. This is counterculture, too, as I’ve turned upside down the way we usually think about this place.

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Not much has changed, we are not saviours or at least I don’t feel such. Through my art courses and a number of meetings I’ve had in my life I’ve managed to put my ideas across. I don’t see myself as a revolutionary, rather, at times I feel out of time and place to do these things.

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First of all, I would say not to follow fashion, but to come up with your own design and say that you believe in what you do. Try not to be dependent on the dogmas imposed by society. Think about the needs of the individuals, not of the people, because among people are those who spread hatred and racism. If you find a channel through which you can spread an interesting argument, grab it and make it your own.

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I’d say first of all the concert Pink Floyd held on the Berlin Wall. Nowadays counterculture is inherent in all the rallies that are now taking place to safeguard the climate. Look at Greta Thumberg, people say she’s been manipulated, but if this is done by people who are working on her very same issues then there is no problem. For the first time, ever since Greta’s has started her rebellion, people have begun to talk about a “Green wave”. I think all this is good because it’s about political counterculture.

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Nobody has. Counterculture is still here. There are still people working in that direction, as I said earlier Greta Thumberg, or Roberto Saviano o the philosopher Massimo Cacciari and all those who are against a kind of society based on the wealth of a few and the destitution of many, in my opinion, are still creating counterculture or, rather, a diverse culture.

Nando Snozzi

Learning for life

a cura di Giulia Ferlito e Giulia Milanese

What has counterculture meant to you?

Learning for life. My counterculture started two years before attending the academy in Milan. I was an accountant by training, I knew almost immediately however that something wasn’t right: I wanted to draw and do this kind of job. Therefore I signed up for Csia (Centro scolastico per le industrie artistiche) and, later, the headmaster directed me to the academy in Milan, having sensed that my work had some potential. There in Milan, I underwent my very counterculture training, as the academy at the time was against the dogmas dictated by galleries, museums and society itself. Then I went to Paris and attended university studying Plastic Arts and Cinema. That was also good training ground in order to work out in which direction I should go and, especially, to understand that life is not just about certainties but also doubts. I began to love this subject matter and since then I have started the work that I’m still pursuing through painting, texts and collaborations with people who have put art at the heart of their existence. I’ve always carried out this survey on contemporary society and that is why I’m saying that I create art: I make use of it and its historic baggage to reflect on what is happening nowadays.

What is counterculture today in your view?

I don’t know whether to call it so, what I regard as counterculture should be culture. Counterculture is born out of those who spread information which does not follow the dogmas of power. Not everything contemporary society offers is the kind of culture which has value through which people can secure a quality of life for themselves.

What are the signs of what was produced by counterculture and where can it be found nowadays?

Counterculture was a time that, starting in 1968, saw people choose to go against the establishment. Here in Ticino I personally worked alongside Franco Beltrametti and Pam Mazzuchelli. In France, too, I took courses with a number of philosophers (Foucault, who wrote “Histoire de la folie”, and others who were concerned with this kind of analysis on society). Furthermore, I’ve always been inspired by past artists such as Artemisia Gentileschi, Gauguin, Caravaggio, Hieronymus Bosch. The courses I teach with more than 50 students are developed on this philosophy: I do not set footsteps to follow but work on the creative potential. That is where the interesting side of culture emerges, each of us must succeed for what they are.

Could you tell us something about the wall painting displayed in Arbedo?

Of course. The title of this work is “Passaggio nell’universo” (Passage across the universe) and these are the thoughts I had on the subject: “I picture the palace of memory where those who carry stories with them leave mementos of time to seek a place of hope. I picture the past as preparation for the present and home of the future. I listen to characters who whisper in the traces of history the wishes of the imagination, juggling among the austerity of documents passed down through the generations. I smile upon the Poetics of irony and the reliance of those who tell, gather and put history in order. I reflect upon a history eternally moving across politics, economics and culture, signs of war and hopes of peace. As certainty I have doubts that Lies and Truth clash in “time – passages” of those who demand power. I escort those human beings who fly in timeless colours, astride horses from different eras together with animal friends, seeking small facts to be brought into stories. I am an accomplice of those figures who bring out a small passage on planet Earth and live the fleeting moment of the PASSAGE ACROSS THE UNIVERSE…” The characters I portrayed in this wall painting are imaginary ones because the people who usually go to the council are too focused on real life and on how, sometimes, this may be burdensome. Every time I’ve been asked “what does this wall painting represent?” I’ve replied “look at those characters and make up your story”. This is counterculture, too, as I’ve turned upside down the way we usually think about this place.

In an interview you once said: “We wanted a free world, but got bogged down on contradictions that were bigger than our ideas”. Would you say that now, through your creations, you’ve managed to overcome these contradictions?

Not much has changed, we are not saviours or at least I don’t feel such. Through my art courses and a number of meetings I’ve had in my life I’ve managed to put my ideas across. I don’t see myself as a revolutionary, rather, at times I feel out of time and place to do these things.

Any advice for us young future visual communication designers?

First of all, I would say not to follow fashion, but to come up with your own design and say that you believe in what you do. Try not to be dependent on the dogmas imposed by society. Think about the needs of the individuals, not of the people, because among people are those who spread hatred and racism. If you find a channel through which you can spread an interesting argument, grab it and make it your own.

Could you give us one or more examples of significant and essential events of the counterculture?

I’d say first of all the concert Pink Floyd held on the Berlin Wall. Nowadays counterculture is inherent in all the rallies that are now taking place to safeguard the climate. Look at Greta Thumberg, people say she’s been manipulated, but if this is done by people who are working on her very same issues then there is no problem. For the first time, ever since Greta’s has started her rebellion, people have begun to talk about a “Green wave”. I think all this is good because it’s about political counterculture.

Who has killed counterculture?

Nobody has. Counterculture is still here. There are still people working in that direction, as I said earlier Greta Thumberg, or Roberto Saviano o the philosopher Massimo Cacciari and all those who are against a kind of society based on the wealth of a few and the destitution of many, in my opinion, are still creating counterculture or, rather, a diverse culture.