Sunday 5th June 2022 Yona Friedman, the first Honorary President of the No Man’s Land Foundation, would have turned 99, entering his centenary. To celebrate his birthday the Foundation has organized a day dedicated to him, with a rich programme of events hosted in its venue in the woods of Contrada Rotacesta, in Loreto Aprutino.
The pre-existing model of the Rifugio per tutti (2019) by Yona Friedman with Jean-Baptiste Decavèle will be expanded in collaboration with the Fond de Dotation Denise et Yona Friedman to become La Cité des Refugiés. The piece will be constructed based on a series of sketches that Friedman had drawn in 2018 on photos of the meadow of the Foundation, which already hosts a carpet of river stones by him.
The project includes the involvement of the Faculty of Architecture of the University of Pescara and the Academies of Fine Arts of Brera, Milan, and Rome. FromMay 23rd to 28th the students, chosen from a public selection, collaborate on the project, using 240 iron circles to construct 40 modules of living spaces, simple and adaptable solutions that, as Friedman himself wanted, will be developed without architectural or urbanistic plans. The cubes, in fact, require no foundation, being positioned directly on the ground, and their shape can be changed over and over, giving life to a true mobile architecture.
Coming down from Belgium for the occasion will be the car of the artist Honoré d’O, transformed into a vehicle for art and driven by the artist himself from Gent to Loreto Aprutino. Having comfortably exceeded 500,000 km, the artist decided during the lockdown to turn it into an instrument of sharing at the disposal of the community, thus becoming No Man’s Car.
The day will also be the occasion to present in public the piece My Private Moon by Leonid Tishkov, produced by Zerynthia for the Todi Festival in 2014 and now installed permanently at the No Man’s Land Foundation. This work is the emblem of the artist, who since 2003 has toured the world with his private moon, from Europe to New Zealand, by way of China and Japan, a kind of visual poem in movement.
The day will continue at 15.30 at an estate in the vicinity of Loreto Aprutino where there will be a
JAM SESSION in words and sounds for YONA streamed on http://www.radioartemobile.it
This will feature, one after another, in presence or via “pills” from around the world, brief interventions (of no more than 3 minutes) by artists, musicians, curators, philosophers and scientists to send a greeting to Yona into the universe, with contributions from Marianne Friedman Polonsky, Alvin Curran, Evelyne Jouanno, Leonardo Caffo, H.U. Obrist, Hou Hanru, Cecilia Casorati and many others.
No Man’s Land Foundation is inspired by the thinking of Yona Friedman with the aim of promoting cultural, artistic and didactic projects which revalue and reuse common assets. It aims to respond in a flexible way to the changeable needs of the various socio-cultural contexts of reference. Its mission is the direct involvement of the public, valuing the Friedmanian principles of autonomy, adaptability, sustainability and self-organization.
The Foundation already hosts the permanent installations of Yona Friedman with Jean-Baptiste Decavèle (2016 and 2019), of Alvin Curran (2017), of Jimmie Durham (2019), of Alberto Garutti and of Donatella Spaziani (2020), and of Fabrice Hyber (2021). Entrance to the Foundation, which is celebrating its first 5 years of activity, is free, day and night all year round.
PRESSOFFICE
Flaminia Casucci – 3394953676 – flaminiacasucci@gmail.com
Allegra Seganti – 3355362856 – allegraseganti@yahoo.it
Info: info@nomanslandfoundation.com – www.nomanslandfoundation.org
Leonardo Caffo™ 