Festival della Mente » 2015

Event #30

Festival della Mente — Sun, 06 Sep 2015 16:42:39 +0000

The event has been moved from Chiostro di San Francesco to Auditorium I.I.S. Parentucelli-Arzelà

A long and fascinating photographic voyage through Italy, as viewed through the privileged perspective of Mimmo Jodice. Guided by Roberto Koch, one of Italy’s most brilliant and important photographers will retrace the most significant steps in his career, which has been characterised by a constant attention for observation, by his inexhaustible calling for experimentation – also inspired by the work of painters such as Carrà, de Chirico and Magritte – and by a permanent regard for the classical world. Free to roam the horizon, as well as the maze of his own memories, Jodice has never stopped discovering and marvelling before the multi-faceted portrait of a nation, Italy, which thanks to his point of view, among others, has become a symbol of universal beauty.

Event #29

Festival della Mente — Sun, 06 Sep 2015 16:37:22 +0000

How mad has our language gone? Quite a lot, because we want to be linguistically trendy. Where’s the problem? We use too many English loan-words, a computer language that could be called “digitalian”, our left-wing jargon has turned right wing, the new economy rules, and Italian is a porno-emotional language… Can we still recover? Yes, by seriously playing with these words, and therefore with ourselves, and becoming more aware, and therefore responsible, of the thoughts we express “without our knowledge”. To train our minds – and our conscience – Luca Mastrantonio invents a “crazy” crossword puzzle with the help of the public of Festival della Mente; from “addicted” and “adoro” to “tanta roba” and “zombi”, not forgetting “piuttosto che” and “sapevatelo”, there are many terms void of sanity or sense to be analysed and placed in the puzzle’s boxes for the public to guess. A group therapy session for Anonymous Italianists.

Event #28

Festival della Mente — Sun, 06 Sep 2015 16:33:58 +0000

«Painters read newspapers, too», lamented Stendhal, while visiting the Paris Salon in 1824. He was bothered by the fact that twenty-six-year-old painter Eugène Delacroix had depicted a scene from contemporary history: painters of the time were commissioned historical paintings, sure – but it had to be ancient history, whereas Delacroix was slamming the public in the face with a Scene of the Chios massacres that had just been committed on the other side of the Mediterranean. The Greeks had risen up against the Ottoman Empire. Similar sparks were nestled beneath the ashes of the Restoration in Europe. Delacroix could not and would not remain indifferent: the wars of others are also our own. This is the story of a twofold revolt: the one fought on the surface of the Aegean island where Homer had once been born, and the one fought on the surface of the canvas by a young artist – both for freedom. Freedom of man and freedom of art, which have always been the same thing.

Event #27

Festival della Mente — Sun, 06 Sep 2015 16:29:35 +0000

Being borderline kids is like constantly living in a frontier land. A boundary-area where pain is not felt and where time, space and connections have no meaning. Statistically, borderline children face greater risks, and shorter life expectation: what can be done for them? The suppression of the experience of pain, the lack of generational interexchange, the decline in the authority of social institutions (the State, the school system, politics) and of fathers themselves create generations of young people who are no longer inclined to thought and tolerating frustration, and to a general weakening of society. However, we must not give way to pessimism: there are effective cures and remedies that can return humanity’s path to safe conditions.

Event #26

Festival della Mente — Sun, 06 Sep 2015 16:25:34 +0000

We are not, or should never be, monads with our doors and windows shut, but monads open to listening both to ourselves and to others, in a circularity of experiences that make us aware of our responsibility in determining the feelings and behaviours of others. Our ability, or inability, to recognize emotions in ourselves and in others conditions relationships in our daily lives, deeply influencing them. It is not a legal nor formal responsibility, but an ethical responsibility that allows us to better understand, sometimes sharing, the pain and joy, the sadness and guilt, avoiding painful wounds to the soul. No one knows themselves as long as they’ve only been themselves, and never someone else at the same time: for this, and for the consequences it can have on our way of living and with others, we are infinitely responsible, not only in psychiatry.

Event #25

Festival della Mente — Sun, 06 Sep 2015 16:03:45 +0000

Nowadays, we only seem capable of the sort of laziness that Roland Barthes calls “sullen”: that is, loaded with all the guilt our lives are rife with. We want to be competitive, and up-to-date with the world’s rapid pace. But where is it we’re going? Are we still capable of halting, without perceiving it as defeat? What have we lost, since discarding the pleasure of wasting time, and perhaps not just that? Setting off from Roland Barthes, who describes the pleasure of laziness, we attempt to reflect upon these issues in current society: time and laziness, hesitation and weariness, idleness, waste, and the meaning of time set aside for nothing at all.

Event #24

Festival della Mente — Sun, 06 Sep 2015 15:58:43 +0000

According to the Romans, every place was inhabited by a minor god, called genius loci, who safeguarded its uniqueness. The greatest danger for all ancient peoples and for the so-called “primitive cultures” was to live in a world that lacked sacredness – and therefore sense. Today, such locations are increasingly rare. Turned into trivial or functional spaces, lacking any affection, they allow no exchange between ourselves and the scenery that surrounds us. The garden – antique or contemporary, regal or working class, full of fruits or a place of pleasure – has always been a laboratory. We have used it to experiment different ways of inhabiting the world, midway between nature and culture. If it once condensed dreams of absolute beauty or cosmogonies, today it has become a seat of resistance. Because, though it is a good that may not be consumed, it defies market rules and places us in contact with the live energy of nature time and time again.

Evento n.23

Festival della Mente — Sun, 06 Sep 2015 15:44:25 +0000

Un violoncellista appassionato di montagna, lo scenario maestoso della natura e le note di uno dei più grandi geni della storia della musica: Mario Brunello suona le Suites di Bach in alta quota, nel silenzio delle Alpi Apuane, a Foce Rasori (1315 metri), in provincia di Massa Carrara, un palcoscenico di bellezza assoluta su una distesa di vette e valli fino al mare. Brunello e il pubblico saliranno a piedi, in un trekking nel pieno rispetto dell’ambiente, verso il luogo del concerto organizzato in collaborazione con Musica sulle Apuane e previsto per le ore 15.00. Due partenze in mattinata con le sezioni del Club Alpino Italiano di Massa e Carrara: da Vergheto, per escursionisti esperti, e da Vinca, adatta a tutti.
Informazioni, iscrizione e regolamento gita: CLICCA QUI

Event #57

Festival della Mente — Sun, 06 Sep 2015 14:33:56 +0000

Ages 5-8
60 minutes
maximum participants 25

Did you know that you can read without using words? In this workshop we’ll try out an unusual and fun method of communication, with scissors, glue and our imaginations, we’ll invent and share new stories using symbols and images.

Event #19 BIS

Festival della Mente — Sun, 06 Sep 2015 14:30:52 +0000

Deserted and lonely, having lost the bright-eyed perspective through which he’d believed he could understand himself and the world, Oedipus appears, at the end of one of the most famous Greek tragedies (Sophocles’ Oedipus), as the most unhappy of men. But what fault did he have? Which were his responsibilities? Destiny had orchestrated the worst possible lot for his life, for him who had always pursued honesty and propriety, to the point of being considered “the best of mortals”. Bearing witness to such a catastrophe of human knowledge from the seats of the Athens theatre, a well-to-do young man nicknamed Plato cried desperately. Soon after, having grown into a man, he would attempt to overturn the curse, proving that knowledge of good can only bring happiness. Yet his titanic endeavour did not reach full success. What prevented the greatest philosopher of ancient times from achieving his dream?