Pablo Helguera’s Aelia Media, winner of the first International Award for Participatory Art
Piazza Puntoni, Bologna, Italy
Ælia Media, an alternative arts radio station was launched on October 15, 2011, live from the heart of the historical university district of Bologna in Piazza Puntoni.Ælia Media is a participatory art project conceived by Pablo Helguera, winner of the first International Award for Participatory Art, promoted by the Legislative Assembly of the Region of Emilia-Romagna, in collaboration with Goodwill and LaRete Art Projects. Consisting of a temporary cultural journalism institute and broadcast center in Bologna, and an alternative arts multimedia channel online, Ælia Media responds to an important tradition of alternative radio in Bologna, connected to the student movement of 1977. It functions in two capacities: a training ground for active and aspiring cultural producers, involving a work group of 20 young people from different artistic backgrounds, and a broadcast program in a variety of media (print, radio, web) with a focus on engagement through live participation and online social networks, from visual arts to theatre to music.
The school component of the project launched in May 2011 in Villa delle Rose, Bologna, a location offered by MAMbo (Modern Art Museum Bologna) for a long term workshop for Ælia Media. After the training program run by Pablo Helguera, the radio station Ælia Media was launched at Piazza Puntoni on October 15th 2011, the day of a massive protest in Rome and of global protests against financial greed.
Pablo Helguera remarked: “We believe that the Aelia Media project is being launched at a very important moment in Italy, as there is an urgent need to expand the public discourse on social and political life. We believe that art is uniquely positioned to contribute to this debate by offering ways in which media can be reimagined and repurposed without commercial purposes. Through this participatory project we hope to contribute to the reimagining of new platforms of discussion and debate.”
The group of collaborators of this project include Katia Baraldi, Fedra Boscaro, Lorena Colantuono, Giorgia Dolfini, Vincenzo Estremo, Matteo Ferrari, Emanuele Girotti, Nathaniel Katz, Marianna Mendozza, Stefano Pasquini,Cinzia Pietribiasi, Anna Santomauro, Alessandra Saviotti, Daniela Spagna Musso, Annamaria Tina, 19/20 (Fedra Boscaro, Federica Falancia, Tihana Maravic, Linda Rigotti, Costanza Savini).
The headquarters of Ælia Media in Piazza Puntoni is a temporary kiosk, designed by the Bolognese collective La Pillola: a large orange structure, fully recyclable, consisting of PVC tubes. The walls of the structure are covered by a transparent film, also recyclable.
The live stream can be heard at the site aeliamedia.org, everyday from 4 to 8 PM (Bologna time) Until October 28. The transmissions are done in collaboration with the three main remaining alternative radio stations in Bologna, Radio Città del Capo Radio Metropolitana, Radio Città Fujiko and Radio Kairos.
The International Award for Participatory Art is promoted by the Legislative Assembly of the Region of Emilia-Romagna, in collaboration with goodwill and LaRete Art Projects, and is curated by Julia Draganovic together with Claudia Löffelholz. The members of the jury are Julia Draganovic, Rudolf Frieling, Alfredo Jaar, Bert Theis and, representing the Region of Emilia-Romagna, Luigi Benedetti. They awarded this international prize to Helguera for his artistic career and the quality of the participative art project which Pablo Helguera created for the city of Bologna. His career, above all with the project “ The School of Panamerican Unrest”, has shown his ability to involve people from different cultural backgrounds in decision-making and creative processes.
Pablo Helguera has exhibited in biennials and museums worldwide. His work employs the tools of performance, pedagogy, theater and historical research and often takes unusual formats, which have included scripted symposia, phonographic recordings, museum display, literary publications and musical composition. He has been the recipient of the Guggenheim, Creative Capital and Franklin Furnace Fellowships. He is currently senior resident of Location One in New York, where he will present his project “The Well-Tempered Exposition” as part of Performa 2011 with support of Franklin Furnace. He is the author of more than 10 books including the recently launched “The School of Panamerican Unrest: An Anthology of Documents” (with Sarah Demeuse), and “Education for Socially Engaged Art” (Jorge Pinto Books, 2011), the hands-on primer on social practice using the tools of pedagogy. He is the pedagogical curator of the 8th Mercosul biennial in Porto Alegre, Brazil.
Ælia Media
A project by Pablo Helguera.
Winner of the 1st edition of the International Award of Participatory Art
An initiative of the Legislative Assembly of the Region of Emilia-Romagna in collaboration with LaRete Art Projects and goodwill.
Realized together with: Katia Baraldi, Fedra Boscaro, Lorena Colantuono, Giorgia Dolfini, Vincenzo Estremo, Matteo Ferrari, Emanuele Girotti, Nathaniel Katz, Marianna Mendozza, Stefano Pasquini,Cinzia Pietribiasi, Anna Santomauro, Alessandra Saviotti, Daniela Spagna Musso, Annamaria Tina,
19/20 (Fedra Boscaro, Federica Falancia, Tihana Maravic, Linda Rigotti, Costanza Savini).
Curated by Julia Draganovic and Claudia Löffelholz.
Organisation and coordination: Antonella Morrone and Federica Patti.
Communication and press office: goodwillcom.
Art Director for the interior of Villa delle Rose and the project of the kiosk for Ælia Media: La Pillola
Technical Sponsor: REDI
In collaboration with Area Cultura of the Municipality of Bologna
With the patronage of Quartiere San Vitale, Municipality of Bologna
Media partner: Città del Capo Radio Metropolitana, Radio Città Fujiko and Radio Kairos.
