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21/03/2018

Foundation

The music of the ink: calligraphy and music at the Braidense until April 28th


"The music of the ink - Calligraphy of Luo Qi and Silvio Ferragina in dialogue with the Chinese funds of Braidense" is an exhibition that opens up the possibility for the spectator to embark on a journey to discover the ancient and fascinating art of Chinese calligraphy and its intimate connection with music within the majestic setting of the Maria Teresa Room of the Braidense Library.Protagonists of this unique experience are two eminent contemporary calligraphers, the Chinese teacher Luo Qi and the Italian Silvio Ferragina, who, through their rhythmic touches of brush, transform a silent art but with incomparable musical harmony, such as calligraphy, in amazing sheet music.In the exhibition, each of the two artists presents an unprecedented series of calligraphic-musical works in the form of long panels that cover the whole room in an enveloping and engaging melody of signs.

Luo Qi (Hangzhou, 1960), an internationally renowned artist and the greatest representative of the most important Chinese postmodern calligraphy movement, presents a series entitled The music of ink - Silent melodies in which, inspired by famous Italian songs, as "O sole mio "e" Volare ", and arias of operas such as" Rigoletto "and" La traviata ", translates these melodies into a concatenation of calligraphic signs inspired by the oldest Chinese musical notation system, dating back to the 10th century and consisting of ancient characters. To echo this series, there are the paintings by Silvio Ferragina (Milan 1962), a Western master strongly active in the calligraphic modernization movement. In his series entitled Ink - CHING: Musicalligraphy Divinations, he makes explicit reference to the oldest Chinese wisdom text, I-Ching, and translates eight of his hexagrams into musical notes recorded on a pentagram. The hexagrams are figures made up of horizontal lines, whole or broken, obtained by throwing selected coins. Passing through the characters that identify each of the eight chosen hexagrams, the artist transforms in notes the traits that compose these characters and he does so using a sophisticated mathematical system that he himself devised. Thus we pass from hexagrams to characters and, finally, to real music.

Through a very personal reflection on the continuity between calligraphy and music, Luo Qi and Silvio Ferragina are able to represent in these symphonies in ink the harmonious encounter between East and West, dialoguing in a space "resonant of culture" like the Braidense Library. A precious documentary-book selection from Chinese books of the Library will accompany the exhibition of these "musical calligraphy". In fact, in the windows will be visible some works that testify the interest for the Chinese east from the Jesuits, from which the collections of Braidense originate. Among these, there is a rare example of the Planisphere of the Jesuit Giulio Aleni (1582-1649), called by the Chinese contemporaries "Confucius of the West" which, published in 1623 commissioned by Emperor Wan Li, is one of the first geographical maps of the Chinese Empire. To this is added the imperial diploma issued 'Jesuit astronomer JohannAdam Schall von Bell (1591-1666) for the services rendered in the realization of the new Chinese calendar of 1630 and some seventh-century grammars and manuals for teaching the Chinese language to the missionaries .

In addition to the Chinese manuscripts, the works of Giuseppe Hager (1757-1819), important scholar of theology and oriental languages, who in 1802 dedicated himself to the compilation of a Chinese-French dictionary and in 1806 he was nominated under a librarian in Braidense. At the library remain rariesemplari of some of his texts with ligatures of great value that document his strong interest in the East. Among these, they hit "Memory on the Eastern Compass" (1809-1810), "Memory on the Arabic figures attributed to the Indians to the present day, but invented in a more remote country of India" [China] (1813) and "Inscriptions Chinese of Quàng-ceu, ie the city commonly called by the Europeans Canton "(1816). These funds will be joined by the most recent Edoarda Masi fund, donated in 2012 to the Library and for the first time exposed to the public. Edoarda Masi (1927-2011) was one of the most important Italian sinologists of the twentieth century: teacher of modern and contemporary Chinese literature at the Oriental University Institute of Naples and Italian language at the University Institute of Foreign Languages ​​of Shanghai, she worked as librarian in the national libraries of Florence, Rome and Milan, and has been author and translator of several volumes on China and on Chinese literature. Of this fund stolen from what was his personal library, it will be possible to view texts in translation, in particular of the novel "The Dream of the Red Room" (Hong lou meng), belonging to the classical tetralogy of Chinese fiction and translated by Masi in 1964, a copy of the red book of Mao autographed by the famous Lin Biao (1907-1971), as well as essays, vocabularies and other important materials for study and research. The exhibition also boasts the participation of the Archivio Storico Ricordi, the music collection of the famous Milanese publisher hosted by the Braidense Library since 2003, which exhibits a valuable selection of documents relating to Turandot by Giacomo Puccini, the work of Chinese setting of the famous composer. You will be able to admire the original figures of Umberto Brunelleschi made at the request of Puccini himself, a card of the autograph score, the limited edition print edition with a hand-painted cover by Leopoldo Metlicovitz, the booklet and the magazine published on the occasion of the first absolute, April 25, 1926. All these documents testify to the great work of research and reinterpretation of Chinese culture merged into the work of the Tuscan Master. The exhibition is curated by Adriana Iezzi and comes from an idea by Silvio Ferragina.Selection of Chinese funds by Aldo Coletto and Marina Zetti of the Biblioteca Braidense. The production is organized by Tadaam in collaboration with laBraidense. The exhibition will open to the public on Wednesday, March 21st at 6:30 pm at the Maria Teresa Hall of the Braidense Library. At the opening will be presented to artists who will give life to a calligraphic-musical performance. To accompany the works of Luo Qi and Silvio Ferragina, there will also be an animated work by the young artist Guido Ballatori (Ascoli Piceno, 1983). For the entire duration of the exhibition, events related to the theme of the exhibition will be held on a weekly basis, which will consist of calligraphic-musical performances related to the main Chinese calligraphy forms and different musical modalities, and which will feature artists from all over the world. Among these, Sainkho Namtchylak, a voice woven of light, of spaces, of time, with tonal characteristics that make it unique; Aisha, aka Andrea Dulbecco and Luca Gusella, respectively virtuoso vibraphone and five-octave marimba, but also full-field percussionists; Ares Tavolazzi and Alessandro Cerino, the formidable and unmissable duo of contemporary Jazz; and Giulio Casale and Michele Rabbia, voice and music in which to find a safe haven. 
The organization of the evenings is by Tadaam. The exhibition will continue until April 28th 2018 in the Maria Teresa Room of the Braidense Library, from Monday to Friday from 9:30 am to 5:30 pm and on Saturdays from 9:30 am to 1:00 pm, on Sundays closed. At the end will be the famous Chinese artist Chloe NiLi (Shanghai, 1989), which will give life to an amazing performance of calligraphy and body painting.THE MUSIC OF INKCalligraphy by Luo Qi and Silvio Ferragina in dialogue with the Chinese funds of BraidenseBiblioteca Braidense21 March - 28th April 2018 Monday-Friday 9.30-17.30 Saturday 9.30 - 13 Sunday closed

Ingresso libero

PH: Roberto Massini

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