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Interviste > Fabrizio Bellomo

Turn your computers off

a cura di Olena Corzetto and Gaia Moretti

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The viewpoint that has captivated me the most on the subject is to be found in a 1973 article by Pasolini written for the Corriere della Sera newspaper by the headline of “Contro i capelli lunghi” (7th January 1973). P.S. I wear long hair myself.Pasolini used long-haired people as an example to describe how the forces of dissent against lower-middle class stylistic features would be reabsorbed by the capital, a reabsorption that comes as a common epilogue to the most varied countercultural parables. Let’s say that, nowadays, the number of parables has simply grown: everything has exploded – in every way.

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There are countless signs and they are everywhere, but precisely because the stylistic features, counterculture’s distinguishing archetypes – even of the “ugliest, dirtiest and worst” ones – end up becoming economic speculation: reabsorbed by the system that was contested, they become further fuel with which to feed the capitalist machine.

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In good performances nothing has changed, all things when good, are classic in their own way.

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They are – still – a possible mode of expression.

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What I think has changed is the speed with which the ruling system reabsorbes the forces of dissent which still take place – through the emergence of other countercultures. Everything – as you well say in your question – is exceedingly faster.

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This question makes no sense. The only ones who have created – worthy – performances connected with the digital world have been Snowden, Assange, Swartz, people like that… Only those who really know this subject are able to refute it.

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I think it is certainly so for some, I think it is part of freedom of expression for peoples and nations, however I would rather talk of peculiar realities and resilience to homologation, which nowadays is more prevailing because of digital technology.

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“Pensieri Sparsi” is a paradox, I was paid to “use” writings on walls – which here became the material with which to smear Milan’s Fondazione Feltrinelli, pretending to smear Herzog and De Meuron’s architecture, as the paint in the cans was washable. I think that this action clearly shows the final stage of the reabsorption I mentioned earlier in connection with the progression of parables, which countercultures are intended for: the capitalistic and sensational reabsorption of everything. Something similar can be debated also in connection with works by other contemporary artists, I think for instance about some creations by Stefan Brüggemann… “L’Albero di Trasmissione” is, to use the words of journalist Pietro Marino, «…a story of resilience Bari-style». I made a film based on this story.

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Turn your computers off.

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Pasolini’s lines on the Valle Giulia clashes.

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Perhaps it was never born, or rather, it was never born with the ambitions we believed it had. Nowadays we could find ourselves studying the reasons why the countercultures have been the advocates – because they often are movements on a global scale – of the destruction of unusual, local, vernacular and provincial realities.

Fabrizio Bellomo

Turn your computers off

a cura di Olena Corzetto and Gaia Moretti

What has counterculture meant to you? And what is it nowadays?

The viewpoint that has captivated me the most on the subject is to be found in a 1973 article by Pasolini written for the Corriere della Sera newspaper by the headline of “Contro i capelli lunghi” (7th January 1973). P.S. I wear long hair myself.Pasolini used long-haired people as an example to describe how the forces of dissent against lower-middle class stylistic features would be reabsorbed by the capital, a reabsorption that comes as a common epilogue to the most varied countercultural parables. Let’s say that, nowadays, the number of parables has simply grown: everything has exploded – in every way.

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

There are countless signs and they are everywhere, but precisely because the stylistic features, counterculture’s distinguishing archetypes – even of the “ugliest, dirtiest and worst” ones – end up becoming economic speculation: reabsorbed by the system that was contested, they become further fuel with which to feed the capitalist machine.

What do you believe might have changed in the concept of performance from the 1960s up to the present?

In good performances nothing has changed, all things when good, are classic in their own way.

Are writings on walls still examples of counterculture in your eye?

They are – still – a possible mode of expression.

Given that nowadays everything is so fast and within immediate reach to what extent can we still talk about counterculture especially linked to the powerful digital age?

What I think has changed is the speed with which the ruling system reabsorbes the forces of dissent which still take place – through the emergence of other countercultures. Everything – as you well say in your question – is exceedingly faster.

Would the era of counterculture have been a good time in which to develop digital performances or would it have too much against the naturalist movement of the hippies?

This question makes no sense. The only ones who have created – worthy – performances connected with the digital world have been Snowden, Assange, Swartz, people like that… Only those who really know this subject are able to refute it.

Do you think it is still necessary to perform counterculture gestures and especially can still talk of counterculture?

I think it is certainly so for some, I think it is part of freedom of expression for peoples and nations, however I would rather talk of peculiar realities and resilience to homologation, which nowadays is more prevailing because of digital technology.

Could you tell us about your projects, and more specifically about “Pensieri Sparsi” and the film “L’albero della Trasmissione”?

“Pensieri Sparsi” is a paradox, I was paid to “use” writings on walls – which here became the material with which to smear Milan’s Fondazione Feltrinelli, pretending to smear Herzog and De Meuron’s architecture, as the paint in the cans was washable. I think that this action clearly shows the final stage of the reabsorption I mentioned earlier in connection with the progression of parables, which countercultures are intended for: the capitalistic and sensational reabsorption of everything. Something similar can be debated also in connection with works by other contemporary artists, I think for instance about some creations by Stefan Brüggemann… “L’Albero di Trasmissione” is, to use the words of journalist Pietro Marino, «…a story of resilience Bari-style». I made a film based on this story.

Any advice for us young future visual communication designers?

Turn your computers off.

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

Pasolini’s lines on the Valle Giulia clashes.

Who killed counterculture?

Perhaps it was never born, or rather, it was never born with the ambitions we believed it had. Nowadays we could find ourselves studying the reasons why the countercultures have been the advocates – because they often are movements on a global scale – of the destruction of unusual, local, vernacular and provincial realities.