An evening of poetry and music!

Francesca Merloni will be appearing tonight in a poetry concert at the Teatro Palladium at 21.00 - Call 06.4200711 for further details.

Mimmo Paladino and Brian Eno at the Ara Pacis Museum

Richard Meier's dazzling white modernist building, which is both a museum housing Caesar Augustus's Ara Pacis (altar of peace) and an art gallery showing temporary exhibitions, took ten years to complete and was met with a mixed reception from Romans. I'm one of those people who actually really like the glass and travertine marble structure and have been therefore appalled by Rome's new mayor Gianni Alemanno's suggestion that he’ll be holding a referendum to allow Roman citizens to decide the fate of the Ara Pacis museum - if it gets the thumbs down the neo-fascist politician will take down the $24 million building and move it to the suburbs. Rather embarrassingly this outburst from Alemanno has made headlines all over the world - all of them posing the question He can't be serious...right?

Meanwhile, the current installation at the museum is a perfect demonstration of what works best about the structure and brings together the work of sculptor Mimmo Paladino and musician Brian Eno. Paladino fully exploits the crypt-like lower floor of the building with his recumbent figures and charred disembodied torsos taking on a distinctly archaeological feel as if surrounded by broken fragments of burial goods. Hints of something much darker, perhaps augmented by Eno's music, pervades the entire installation with associations with the Holocaust inevitable, particularly in the piece with hundreds of old wooden shoe lasts with small bronze birds attached to them which covered an entire wall. Brian Eno's music uses the auto-repeat and random-shuffle controls on numerous CD players placed throughout the exhibition to achieve infinite permutations of sound in space, with a variety of speakers installed - including Eno’s trademark speaker flowers.

The photograph show the upper floor on the beautiful sunny day I visited with sunlight streaming through the glass walls. It also shows how busy it was - in spite of Alemanno's protests, L'Ara Pacis is now the third most visited site in Rome.

M C Escher's Puzzling Art in Rome

Spring afternoon in Rome
Originally uploaded by Axel Antòn

Quite by accident yesterday I happened on a wonderful M C Escher exhibition at the Auditorium – Parco della Musica. It actually opened back in March as part of the Festival of Mathematics, which is undoubtedly why it slipped my attention. Entitled L’arte del puzzle e il puzzle dell’arte (The art of puzzles and puzzling art) the curator Federico Giudiceandrea has brought together 66 original linocuts, lithographs, etchings, and even watercolours which brilliantly take us through the Dutch artist's entire output and interests, beyond the widely known fantastical and often maddening architectural landscapes.

So much has been written about how these apparently decorative patterns are based upon mathematical concepts of the infinite, yet on seeing the original works I was surprised by just how beautiful they are. I particularly liked The Puddle (1952, lithograph printed from three blocks), Three Worlds (1955, lithograph) and Rippled Surface (1950, linocut) which all seem to have a distinctly Japanese influence. The symmetry drawings on squared paper in pencil and watercolour (Eagles) were also really lovely, as were the colour woodcut prints of tessellated animals, and the large and rather dramatic black and white woodcuts of beetles, ants, serpents and grasshopper.

Rome Celebrates Earth Day

After Rome (indeed Italy as a whole) distinguished itself by being one of the few European capitals to have totally ignored Al Gore's global call to action and last summer's Live Earth concerts, it's refreshing to see that Rome will instead be joining other cities across the planet to celebrate Earth Day with a free concert at Campidoglio featuring Cesaria Evora and Vinicio Capossela amongst others.

The concert will be transmitted live on LifeGate Radio

Happy Birthday Roma!

Natale di Roma
Originally uploaded by Daniele Muscetta

Probably more than any other city in the wold, the history of the city of Rome is apparent at every turn; after all, a stroll through Rome is rather like walking through an open air museum. It may come as no surprise therefore to learn that it's celebrating its 2,761st birthday today! Although the eternal city is probably much older, its foundation – il Natale di Roma - is officially noted as 21 April 753 BC. A series of events and concerts to celebrate the event will be continuing through till 9 May, 2008. Full programme available here.

An Evening with EELS | The Auditorium, Rome | 8 March, 2008

EelsYellow
Originally uploaded by fasterwallace

It's not often that one goes to a concert and instead of a support band the lights go down and the audience is treated to a BBC documentary about quantum physics! However, the acclaimed Parallel Worlds, Parallel Lives film about Eels front man Mark Oliver Everett and his relationship with his father, Hugh Everett III originator of the many-worlds theory of quantum physics , proved to be the perfect introduction to what was going to be an intimate Evening with Eels – after all, Mark Oliver Everett or 'E' has always used his music to process the family tragedies that have beset him over the years. What was surprising, perhaps, was just how warm and funny he was during the show, interspersing the heartbreaking intensity of the songs with mocking self irony – at one point he read his own fan mail and rave reviews. He was accompanied on stage by Jeffrey 'The Chet' Lyster , who switched with remarkable dexterity between drums, guitars and the musical saw (which sounded very much like a theremin) and also read excerpts from E's recent bestselling autobiography Things the Grandchildren Should Know. I've read recent reviews of this tour that described their on stage relationship as symbiotic – certainly their blistering Flyswatter in which they swapped back and forth between the piano and drums whilst never dropping a beat was an astounding feat of both musicianship and showmanship!

For an Eels fan it would be difficult to pick a best bit in what was quite simply a perfect evening which showcased the very best of E's song writing with the man, incidentally, also in excellent voice. The event was only slightly marred by the lack of an encore – after five minutes of applause, foot stamping in anticipation of a return to the stage by E and the Chet the lights in Sala Sinopoli suddenly came back on to an audible gasp of disappointment from the audience. Fan forums are abuzz with inside information that blame the Auditorium for curtailing the show because of time constraints... leaving us wondering which additional couple of numbers would have been added to the twenty song set list.

The full set list as follows – (thanks to Altoclef at Estranged Friends, an Eels fan forum.)
Grace Kelly Blues
It's A Motherfucker
Strawberry Blonde
The Last Time We Spoke
After The Operation
Souljacker, Pt. I
Elizabeth On The Bathroom Floor
Climbing To The Moon
My Beloved Monster
I Like Birds
(Fan mail readings and concert reviews spoken interlude)
(Chet reading excerpt from E's autobiography about meeting Angie Dickinson)
Jeannie's Diary
The Sound Of Fear
(Chet reading a further excerpt from E's autobiography about his neighbor seeing his sister's ghost)
Last Stop This Town
I Want To Protect You
Flyswatter
Bus Stop Boxer
Novocaine For The Soul
Good Times, Bad Times (Led Zeppelin cover)
Somebody Loves You
Souljacker, Pt. II

Chinese New Year Dragon in Rome

The Chinese New Year which officially began on 7th February was celebrated by Rome's Chinese community yesterday with a Dragon Parade along the entire length of a packed Via Del Corso passing Piazza Colonna and winding its way through the enthusiastic crowds to Piazza del Popolo.