pietro mele - portfolio

Pietro Mele

Born in Alghero (I), 1976.Lives and works in Berlin (D).

last update: january [email protected]

Order for the protection of people and State, 2012

Order for the protection of people and State, 2012

The ‘Reichstagsbrand’ order

Detail of the installation

Order for the protection of people and State, 2012Wall painting, 280x150cm. Framed digitals prints, 47x33cm each one

Starting from the story of Marinus van der Lubbe, the aim of this project is to reflect on the gaps of the actual politic language through a historical event. Marinus van der Lubbe was a young, Dutsch communist accused by the National Socialist Party to have set the Reichstag building on fire. After this event, happened on 27 February 1933, Adolf Hitler urged President Paul von Hindenburg to pass an emergency decree (Reichstag Fire Decree). The vague language used in the decree gave wide latitude in interpreting the decree to Nazis, who tran-sformed Hitler’s government into a legal dictatorship. Consequently, the decree nullified many of the key civil liberties of German citizens. Similarly, the unclear and ambiguous language of the contemporary politics shows an oligarchical inclination in modern democracy.

The end of the process, 2012

The end of the process, 2012HD, colour, stereo, 11:12

Divided into three distinct narrative paths, the video is split into three stories that develop on a same plane and that, like intersecting lines, meet on a single point. The characters and situations are connected to each other by short references, recurring symbols and allu-sions to minor details. Linguistic micro-fractures interrupt the flow of the images without following a logic of cause and effect. A narrator explores issues such as duress and yield, inspired by one of Antonio Gramsci’s reflections from prison that here becomes a story which moves independently and that, in certain passages, deceives the viewer with an additional story within the story.

Every day, 2011

Every day, 2011HD, colour, stereo, 5:13

For the last 30 years, the everyday life of a shepherd meets the daily activity of one of the biggest NATO air bases in Europe. The video correlates two irreconcilable worlds by a progressive addition of information obtained through minimal events, pauses and slow camera movements. Just a week after the shooting, the air base has been used by the coalition for bombing Libya*.

* More info on military activity in Sardinia you can find below on the description of “Shooting, bombing, testing...”.

THE ISLAND PROJECT

The Island Project, 2011 (in progress)Multimedia project

I am going to start a campaign of fund raising so as to purchase the private Island of Budelli* for giving it to the Sardinian Government. De-spite the island is part of the highly protected La Maddalena Natural Park, currently it belongs to a private owner, who is selling it on the web for 4,500,000 Euros.I will try to involve 100,000 people and ask them to donate 45 Euros each one for reaching the requested sum.The project will be developed through a tour of presentations and talks in public spaces and art institutions/spaces in Europe in order to raise the necessary fund. The final work will consist of a multimedia installation including a documentary film in which will be narrated the story of the project, do-cuments regarding the history of the island (old photos, contracts of former owners and similar archive’s material), and all type of useful documents for describing the realisation of the project (contracts between me and the banks that will support the project, institutions donation’s receipt, pics documenting my touring presentations etc).The whole project is an articulated reflection on the role of art thinking at his social concrete utility in one hand and on the value of uto-pia in an art work when dealing with operations linked to social, politics and ethical categories on the other hand.

* The Island of Budelli is part of the Island of Sardinia (Italy), which is situated in the middle of Mediterranean Sea. The little island is also famous for a sequence of “Deserto rosso” by Michelangelo Antonioni (1964): www.youtube.com/watch?v=8xyS8UvkzKE.

The Island Project, 2011

The hole, 2011 Billboard, installation view

The hole, 2011 Billboard

The hole, 2011 Photographic documentation

The hole, 2011Billboard, blue back, 155x206cm

In the framework of my research on the military activity in Sardinia, I introduced myself illegally to the PISQ (the biggest NATO experimen-tal military range in Europe) and took a pic of a hole on an armored tank. Then I showed it to a former Army Officer who confirmed me that the hole was caused by a 30mm Depleted Uranium (DU) bullet. DU munitions are banned in Italy, but not in other NATO countries like USA, France and Great Britain. Those Armies use normally the PISQ range by paying about 100,000 Euros/hour, so it is understandably a great business for the Italian Government, which obviously keep on secret this grave abuse.This photography is a symbolic image and at the same time the real proof that the genetic defects birth occurred in a suspicious amount of children from the near villages were definitely caused by the military activity.As documentation follows a selection of other pics taken during my visit in the range (now partially impounded and accused of ‘civilians massacre’ from Italian Judiciary)*.


Über aller Welt Gewässer, 2011

Über aller Welt Gewässer, 20111000 posters distributed for free, 70x100cm

Through a stack of posters in free distribution I wanted to communicate to the audience, in a way as direct as possible, the abnormal mili-tary presence in the island of Sardinia.The map appearing on the poster is an original military document which shows visually the dimension of the phenomenon (the island has on its territory roughly 60% of the Italian military property).In order to clarify it is not just a local phenomenon I did insert a German sentence taken from an internal monument inside the Decimo-mannu NATO Airbase.It is a ‘motto’ from the German Air Force, which stations permanently at Decimomannu NATO Airport. Translation: Over all waters of the world the aviation is the best!*.


Before the end, after the beginning, 2011 Installation view

Before the end, after the beginning, 2011Found pictures, 9x11,5cm each

The project is based on a series of amateur photographs regarding a bourgeois family of Northern Italy. The selected photographs are from a trip this family made in Sardinia in the mid-70s. They place themselves in a crucial moment in the history of the island: the transition from the elite tourism to the mass tourism.

Before the end, after the beginning, 2011 Picture #2

Before the end, after the beginning, 2011 Picture #5

Near to you, 2011

Near to you, 2011Intervention, public art, billboard 300x600cm

In order to get public what the Italian Government would keep secret, I have affixed a large wall paper in a busy street of Sassari (Sardi-nia, IT). Doing that, the project should work as a sort of “information amplifier”.The original picture has been taken from a soldier during a big NATO Exercise* which took place in Sardinia. He published it illegally on a military forum, and I downloaded the photo. Military activity is a phenomenon for which Sardinian people pay in the form of genetic diseases, cancer, leukaemia and several other se-rious diseases because of a large use of experimental weapons.Obviously the operation has been an unauthorized action.


Near to you, 2011

Theoretical wealth, 2009-ongoing

Theoretical wealth, 2009-ongoingArchive. Digital-prints, variable dimensions

The constant presence of wind in Sardinia could be a big economical resource, and the multinational energy companies learned this very quickly. The work is a photographic archive that documents the uncontrolled proliferation of wind farms on the island. This fact has caused huge landscape and environmental damages besides the economic exploitation of the island energy resources to the detriment of the local eco-nomy and for the benefit of big companies of energy. Moreover the presence of Mafia has been discovered in contracts and concessions for the building of the plants.Ultimately the entire amount of the produced energy and related economic gain go to the “Peninsula” (i.e. Italy), while Sardinia has the higher unemployment rate of the country.

Verrà la morte e avrà il tuo Yacht, 2010Death will come and will have your Yacht

Verrà la morte e avrà il tuo Yacht, 2010Death will come and will have your YachtIntervention, torch’s light (documentation through lightbox, 130x195cm)

On Summer Porto Cervo (North-East Sardinia, IT) becomes the meeting point of the richest people of the world. They come by their Yachtes to show each other and to the whole world how rich and powerful they are.I did go to one of their private pier and wrote this luminous sentence by using a torch. The sentence comes originally from the poem “Ver-rà la morte e avrà i tuoi occhi“ (in English sounds something like “Death will come and will have your eyes“) by Cesare Pavese in which the poet images the coming of death. I changed the final word from “eyes“ into “Yacht“ converting the lyric tone of the poem in a dramatic and ironic mood more suitable for describing the real situation behind this colony of riches. The Island of Sardinia is one of the poorest regions of Italy, and most of people who work in Porto Cervo come from the small villages of the Island for working for a wretched wage.

Saeed Chmagh and Namir Noor-Eldeen, 2010 (in progress)Detail: drawing

Saeed Chmagh and Namir Noor-Eldeen, 2010 (in progress)35 drawings mounted on single panels, 1 digital print. Drawings 15x20cm, panels 32x45cm, digital print 20x27cm

On July 12, 2007 Iraqi journalists Saeed Chmagh and Namir Noor-Eldeen together with a dozen of civilians were indiscriminate slain by US Apache helicopters in Baghdad. A video, shot from an Apache helicopter gun-site, were released on the web. I reconstructed the event by drawing the frames from the video and building an “on the other way around” storyboard that tells the whole story using the narrative techniques of cinema.The storyboard is divided in three parts. The attack on journalists together with a group of civilians, the arrival of a rescue minivan and killing of relief aid workers, the arrival of ground troops and the discovery of two wounded children inside the minivan.At the end of the storyboard is placed the last photo by Namir Noor-Eldeen, an accidental shoot taken just before he was killed.Following the storyboard the viewer relives the story discovering it scene by scene and making it as his own experience. Just at the end the observer will “touch” the reality of the event seeing the last foto by Namir, the only real document in the work.

Saeed Chmagh and Namir Noor-Eldeen, 2010 (in progress) Panel

Saeed Chmagh and Namir Noor-Eldeen, 2010 (in progress) Detail: panel

Saeed Chmagh and Namir Noor-Eldeen, 2010 (in progress)The last photo by Namir Noor-Eldeen

Shooting, bombing, testing, experimenting: what about civilians?, 2010

Shooting, bombing, testing, experimenting: what about civilians?, 2010Digital-print on paper, 40x53cm

This picture has been taken from the NATO website. It has been shot during an enormous NATO Exercise called “Destined Glory 2005”, which took place in Sardinia during 2005.The Island of Sardinia has in its territory around the 60% of the whole Italian military area. We are talking about 24,000 hectares, appro-ximately the surface of the region itself. This discrepancy may be explained by the insularity, the low population density and the position of the island in the centre of the Mediterranean (absolutely crucial during the Cold War).The price which Sardinian people are paying for this non-requested specificity can be summarized in high incidence of genetic diseases, lack of alternative development and permanently environmental destruction. The sea, in addition to being an active area of exercises, is used as a dump of war remnants. Moreover, several researchers say that the civil population is being used as unaware guinea-pigs. Here some numbers:21: The number of inhabitants of the village of Quirra (South-East Sardinia) affected by Hemolymphatic system cancer among a popula-tion of 150 inhabitants.78: Total number of deaths among soldiers and civilians for diseases caused by military activity in the area of Quirra.14: The number of children born with serious genetic defects in Escalaplano (near Poligono di Quirra, 2,500 inhabitants) in the late 80s.170%: Percentage of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma among the inhabitants of La Maddalena (former U.S. base presence).300%: Percentage of incidence of diabetes in the village of Quirra compared the rest of Italy.100,000: Perhaps the most important fact, the one that could explain many things. It is the hourly price (Euros) at which the Poligono di Quirra is being “rented” to the NATO armies and to the arm companies by the Italian Government. The “Poligono” works 8-12 hours a day for 5-6 days a week.Note: the data reported above are almost exclusively related to the Quirra range only.

History, 2010

History, 2010Intervention, environmental dimensions

I wrote the word “history” on the floor of the exhibition room using a bit of water. This word by a quite complex meaning will disappear slowly leaving no trace of itself, except for a slight residual of limestone barely perceptible.The intervention refers to the recent Italian history. It is a reflection on the role and responsibility of politics on providing evaluation cri-teria and awareness to the people in the mechanism of reconstruction and rewriting of relevant still open historical facts (from coloniali-sm to the recent recostruction of L’acquila city after earthquake). Unlike other European countries, the concept of history in Italy seems to be always ambiguous, almost personal.

Local boys, 2009

Local boys, 2009HD, colour, stereo, 7:17

A portrait of province between boredom and latent violence. The gestures and glances of two friends drinking at an outdoor coffee-house reveal a communication made by unwritten codes that show hierarchies, roles and boundaries. The music is a quote from the well-known war film “Platoon”, it accompanies the dramatic slow-motion scene in which Willem Dafoe is being abandoned by his fellow soldiers and killed by the Viet Congs.

Ottana, 2008

Ottana, 2008HD, colour, stereo, 11:46

At dawn, a caravan of men on horseback is slowly swallowed by a poisoning factory. This video was set in Sardinia (I), and is a reflection on the impact of the industrial pole of Ottana (1960) had on the surrounding area, both environmentally and in a social point of view. Ottana is the name of a small village near the factory, in which every year many inhabitants die of cancer.

Sometimes I think I should stop thinking, 2008

Sometimes I think I should stop thinking, 2008HD, colour, stereo, 1:00

The inadequacy of human beings seen as a crossroad of external and internal landscapes.

Beautiful landscape #1, 2006

Beautiful landscape #1, 2006DV, colour, stereo, 1:46

The unexpected takeoff of a plane raises the question regarding the relationship between man and environment in the age of ecological catastrophes.

When modernity isn’t like eating a Danone low fat yoghurt, 2006

When modernity isn’t like eating a Danone low fat yoghurt, 2006DV, colour, stereo, 2:18

The contrast between tradition and modernity in Sardinia (IT) sometimes produces a comicality by the sad and bitter aftertaste.

PIETRO MELE

Born in Alghero (IT), 1976. Lives and works in Berlin (DE) and Ittiri (IT).

Curriculum Vitae

Education 1997-2002: Academy of Fine Arts, Florence, IT2009: What’s in an image, Workshop by Peter Friedl, Spinola Banna Art Foundation, Turin, IT

Awards2012: Senz’appello - Video Art competition: 1st Prize. GAMC - San Marino, San Marino, SM2008: 26th Torino Film Festival: Jury Special Award – Kodak Short Film Award, Turin, IT

Solo exhibitions

2012The end of the process, CHAN Art Space, Genoa, IT2011Another degree of normality, Placentia Arte, Piacenza, IT

Group exhibitions

2013The world has already been filmed. Now it is time to transform it, Italian Inst. of Culture in Istanbul, Istanbul, TR, curated by M. R. Sossai (cat.) (upcoming)Glocal tales, Motel B, Bergamo, IT, curated by Francesca Guerisoli (upcoming)2012Cavalli e cavalieri. Post Scriptum, MAN - Museo Arte Nuoro, Nuoro, IT, curated by L. Giusti (cat.)In the wintry thicket of metropolitan civilization, AR/GE Kunst, Bozen, IT, curated by L. Fassi (cat.)Far from where?, MACRO, Rome, IT, curated by M. R. Sossai (cat.)Il lato oscuro della luna, Jarach Gallery, Venice, IT, curated by A. BruciatiReverse, Exmà, Cagliari, IT, curated by M. DeianaPolitikaction. Il sistema è la crisi, Disturb Project Space, Scafati, IT, curated by S. TacconeSogenannte Umfeldaussagen, Motorenhalle, Dresden, DE, curated by N. BorsExtracurricular activity, Progetto Superfluo, Padua, IT, curated by D. Capra2011Artissima Lido, Artissima 18, with CHAN Art Space, Turin, IT, curated by C. Frosi, R. Leotta e D. Perrone (cat.)Dalla terra al cielo, Time in Jazz, PAV, Berchidda, IT, curated by G. Demuro (cat.)Io non ho mani che mi accarezzino il volto, Mole Vanvitelliana, Ancona, IT, curated by A. BruciatiContours, Otrascosas de Villarrosàs, Barcelona, ES, curated by G. GomezOpen #3, Magazzini del Sale, Venice, IT, curated by B. Theis and M. BaravalleThe Wall (Archives) (touring), Nosadella.due, Bologna / Reload Space, Rome / Archiviazioni, Lecce, IT, curated by P. Gaglianò

Generazioni glocal, Exmà, Cagliari, IT, curated by S. Borsato (cat.)2010Videoreport Italia 08_09, GC.AC - Museum of Contemporary Art, Monfalcone, IT, curated by A. Bruciati (cat.)Viaggi in immagini – Le Murate, Florence, IT, curated by F. di NardoAtelier, PACT Zollverein, Essen, DE, curated by I. KöhlerThe Wall (Archives) (touring), in the framework of Private flat, Different venues, Florence, IT, curated by P. GaglianòMy favourite things, Contemporaneo Gallery, Venice, IT, curated by Sottobosco (cat.)Actual fears: mixed gaps & vertigo, CAN - Centre d’Art Neuchâtel, Neuchâtel, CH, curated by M. Villemin & M. L. ZwahlenHow much?, Cyprus International University – Faculty of Fine Arts, Nicosia, Cyprus/Turkey, curated by N. OzlusoyluL’ospite desiderato, Sa Domo Manna, Sassari, IT, curated by S. Borsato, M. Cosseddu, L. Turtas (cat.)2009Visions in New York City, Columbia University, New York City, USA, curated by M. Pellegrin (cat.)WRO 09 - 13th Media Art Biennale, Wrocław, PL5 artists 5 videos, CHAN Art Space, Genoa, IT, curated by SottoboscoFrames from the real - 11 video investigations of society in our troubled times, In/Out International Videoart Festival, LAZNIA Centre for Contemporary Art, Gdańsk, PL, curated by G. FedeliKaunas in art, Meno Parkas Gallery, Kaunas, LTItalian Video Art, NamaTRE - Indipendent Platform for Contemporary Art, Academy of Fine Art, Trebinje, Bosnia Herzegovina, a project by Visual ContainerDocuments, Spinola Banna Foundation, Turin, IT, curated by P. Friedl2008Here We Are!, MACZUL - Museum of Contemporary Art, Maracaibo, Venezuela, curated by A. de CologneCMYK - I colori del mediterraneo, En Plein Air Gallery, Turin, IT, curated by C. Cravero and O. Gambari2006Big Screen, Yunnan Art Institute, Kunming, CN, curated by M. Damiani

Festivals/Screenings

2013This Is Not A Gateway, London, GB1work / 1room / 1night, Gitte Bohr, Berlin, DE2012A ciascuno il suo paesaggio, Teatraria Artivisive, Salerno, IT, curated by K. BaraldiTime in Jazz, PAV, Berchidda, IT, curated by G. DemuroI ragazzi formidabili, SRISA Contemporary Art Gallery, Florence, IT, curated by P. GaglianòSenz’appello - Video Art competition, GAMC - San Marino, San Marino, SMIs It Really Now?, ARTRA Gallery, Milan, IT2011Milano Film Festival, Milan, ITInvisible violence, Festarte – International Videoart Festival, Triennale di Milano, Milan, ITVideo Review Festival, Katowice, PLGreen Unplugged (on line International Film Festival, www.cultureunplugged.com), USA, a project by Culture Unplugged Studios

2010Hors Pistes, Centre Pompidou, Paris, FROut of tracks, Pera Museum, Istanbul, TR, curated by G. GomezVideoTime – Shorts: cameraVideo, Half Juni, Rotterdam, NLInvisible violence, Festarte – International Videoart Festival, MACRO Testaccio - Museum of Contemporary Art, Rome, ITCameraVideo (touring), Medionauta Project Space, Milan, ITArt zone, Circuito Off – 11th International Short Film Festival, Venice, ITDelhi International Arts Festival, New Delhi, India9 Easy Pieces, Lago Film Fest – 6th International Short Film Festival, Venice, IT, curated by SottoboscoMedienfestival - Plattform: No Budget #8, Tübingen, DELoop Festival – The Platform For Videoart, Barcelona, ESCameraVideo (touring), Sherwood Open Art, Padua, IT23rd European Media Art Festival, Osnabrück, DE2009Open Screening - 55th International Short Film Festival, Oberhausen, DEMADATAC – La imagen perturbada, Academia de Cine / Instituto Cervantes, Madrid, ESMicrowave - International New Media Arts Festival, Hong Kong, Hong KongTina B. – The Prague Contemporary Art Festival, Prague, Czech RepublicCinemambiente – 12th International Environmental Film Festival, Turin, IT19th International Videofestival, Bochum, DEMedienfestival - Plattform: No Budget #7, Tübingen, DEStrawberry fields, Souvenirs from Earth TV, Freebox 129, FR / Unitymedia and Kabel BW, DE (TV broadcasting), curated by A. Crichton6th Naoussa International Film Festival, Naoussa, GRCollateral territories, Transfera Media Arts TV – Canal Autor Channel, Madrid, ES (TV broadcasting), curated by I. LechAll Art Now - International Video Art Festival, French Cultural Center, Damascus, SYROù va la video? 02, March Foundation, Padua, IT (cat.)200826th Torino Film Festival, Turin, ITMedia Art Festival for Film and Video / Northern Film Festival, Leeuwarden, NLOptica, International Festival of Video Art, (itinerant) Gijón, ES, Madrid, ES, Paris, FRFestarte, Rialtosantambrogio, Rome, ITOù va la video?, Fondazione March, Padua, IT (cat.)ZooArt, Giardini Fresia, Cuneo, IT (cat.)2007Passaggi d’autore, Giovani autori sardi, S. Antioco, ITSulmonacinema Filmfestival, Sulmona, IT

Lectures20131work / 1room / 1night, Gitte Bohr, Berlin, DE2009What is contemporary art?, March Foundation, Padua, IT (w/ I. Tweedy).

Interviews VideoChannel, NewMediaArtProject (video art web site) www.vip.newmediafest.org/?page_id=127

BibliographyLorenzo Giusti, Cavalli e cavalieri. Post Scriptum, Silvana Editoriale, Milan (Italy), 2012Luigi Fassi, In the wintry thicket of metropolitan civilization, Mousse Publishing, Milan (Italy), 2012Maria Rosa Sossai, Far from where?, Prinp Editore, Rome (Italy), 2012Sonia Borsato, Generazioni glocal, Soter Ed., Sassari (Italy), 2011Guia Cortassa, Videoreport Italia 08_09, Edizioni GC.AC, Monfalcone (Italy), 2010Sottobosco collective, My favourite things, Grafiche Antiga, Treviso (Italy), 2010Lia Turtas, L’ospite desiderato, Soter Ed., Sassari (Italy), 2010Où va la video, Cleup, Padua (Italy), 2009Visions in New York City, Columbia University, New York City, 2009What is contemporary art?, Cleup, Padua (Italy), 2009Young blood, Next Exit, Rome (Italy), 2009

pietro mele - portfolio

Documents

protection of people

story of marinus

emergency decree reichstag

additional story

private island of budelli

ambiguous language

vague language

actual politic language