Beyond the screen: understanding the territory through contemporary art and cinema is a project curated by Alessandra Fredianelli and Valeria Mancinelli aimed at teachers and students of the I.C. Statale Pirandello in the Isolotto district of Florence.
Primary and secondary school students had the opportunity to learn how to write and make films through workshops held by artist Maria Pecchioli and artists Roberto Fassone and Giacomo Raffaelli.
The students have discovered the potential of cinema as a means of artistic and cultural expression, learning the skills of writing, producing and editing a short film through workshop methodologies and innovative content.
The project included several actions aimed at teachers and students: Too see in order to teach, a training course on cinema for teachers; Children film their game, a workshop for pupils in classes IV and V of the primary school; Imaginary guide to Isolotto, a workshop for pupils in classes III of the secondary school.
The project ended with an exhibition open to the public where the videos and photographic documentation of the workshops have been displayed.
The project is realised within the framework of the Piano Nazionale Cinema e Immagini per la Scuola promoted by MiC e MI.
Moreover, the action Guida immaginaria dell’Isolotto has received a contribution from Fondazione CR Firenze in the framework of “PARTECIPAZIONE CULTURALE”, the thematic Call for Proposals that the Foundation dedicates to the support of cultural programmes aimed at enhancing the active participation of the local community and the social inclusion of the suburbs.
To see in order to teach
October 27 - December 1st, 2022
A training course for primary and secondary school teachers at the I.C. Statale Pirandello aimed at fostering the ability to critically read the language of film. The course has been held by the expert trainer of visual education Milo Adami, who provided the basic tools on how a film is constructed and realised and on the practice of moving images in contemporary art. The course has been preparatory for the teachers’ coordination of the two subsequent workshops aimed at students. The lectures by Milo Adami have been followed by two meetings held by Lo schermo dell’arte.
The Toolbox – Too see in order to teach is accessible with a private password by clicking here: LINK
Content for teachers:
– lecture recordings
– PDF presentations of lectures
– links for viewing films
– bibliography and sitography on art cinema and art documentaries
Evaluation questionnaire (for teachers who attended the course): https://forms.gle/1e9CvyCfZFjjTUui7
Thursday 27 October
The origins of cinema, an interdisciplinary teaching unit
Thursday 3 November
Cinema as an inner/outer narrative, an active tool, some case studies
Thursday 10 November
The cinema narrating the school / a story in images
Thursday 17 November
Cinema and online archives / didactic and creative reuses
Thursday 24 November
3:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.
Silvia Lucchesi, Cinema and visual arts
Thursday 1 December
3:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.
Valeria Mancinelli, Moving images as contemporary art practice
Milo Adami is a filmmaker and lecturer at the Academy of Fine Arts in Bologna and ISIA in Urbino. He holds a PhD in Performing Arts from La Sapienza University in Rome. In recent years, his research has been oriented towards a historical overview of the relationship between art and the moving image.
Children film their game
January 16 – February 15, 2023
Educational workshop involving classes VA Locchi, VB Locchi, VA Calvino, V Ambrosoli, IV Ambrosoli of I.C. Statale Pirandello primary school. The workshop has been held by artist Maria Pecchioli and provided writing, development and filming skills for the production of a short film on the theme of the game.
The workshop included a classroom screening of the audiovisual work Children’s Game by artist Francis Alÿs, presented at the Belgian Pavilion of the Venice Biennale 2022. The work consists of 33 videos on the relationship between children and their ways of playing in areas of the Global South, from Mexico to Iraqi refugee camps.
The artist met the students and teachers to set up the workshop on the script and storyboard of a short film on the theme of the game as rediscovery of the territory. At the end of the cycle of lessons, the artist has coordinated the students in the shooting phase of the short film and edited it.
The Toolbox – Children film their game is accessible with a private password by clicking here: LINK
Content for teachers:
– video tutorials and PDF handouts with basic directing, filming and editing techniques
– TED video lectures on storytelling
Content for students:
– excerpts from artists’ films on the theme of the game
– simplified tutorials on storyboard design techniques, framing, directing
The calendar with the contents and dates of the workshop can be found at this LINK.
Maria Pecchioli (Florence, 1977) is an artist and filmmaker who works with different languages and media: filmmaking, performance and workshops. She is co-founder and member of the artistic-curatorial duo Radical Intention (2009), the collective Fosca (2006) and manager of the interdisciplinary residency space Corniolo Art Platform (since 2010). He teaches Design, Decoration Techniques and Technologies, NABA Rome. In 2014 she made the film Lei disse si – Just say yes that won Jury Award and Public Award, Biografilm festival Bologna (2014) and the Gender Film Festival, Rome, Public Award (2015). In 2023, she presented her exhibition Pop Show at studioamatoriale (Milan).
Imaginary guide to Isolotto
Jenuary 31 – March 31, 2023
A workshop aimed at the third grade secondary school classes of the I.C. Statale Pirandello organised by artists Roberto Fassone and Giacomo Raffaelli. It provided learning tools for the production of a short film (writing, production and post-production), and enabled students to deepen their knowledge of their neighbourhood and creatively inhabit it.
The workshop creatively developed the interview format. The students were asked questions about the neighbourhood they live in, about their daily lives, but also about their preferences, dreams and wishes. The answers to the questions did not take place in written or spoken form, but through the creation of videos filmed in the neighbourhood and edited with open access web materials. The students have then been invited to work in groups for the filming and editing.
The Toolbox – Imaginary guide to Isolotto is accessible with a private password by clicking here: LINK
Content for teachers:
– book sheet H. U. Obrist and H. P. Feldmann, Interview by Hans-Peter Feldmann (Walther Konig, 2009)
Content for students:
– extracts from films and videos made with found footage; images from the world of youtubers and digital creators and from copyright free stock image banks
– maps, charts and plans, textual documents and iconographic sources on the Isolotto district (preparatory to urban exploration)
– technical tutorials and handouts with basic directing, filming, editing and post production techniques
Introductory meeting
Tuesday 31 January, 9:00 – 11:00 and 12:00 – 14:00
Video shooting workshop
Wednesday 8 February, 9:00 – 13:00
Friday 10 February, 9:00 – 13:00
Thursday 16 February, 9:00 – 13:00
Friday 17 February, 9:00 – 13:00
Video Editing Workshop
Monday 13 March, 9:00 – 13:00
Tuesday 14 March, 8:00 – 12:00
Thursday 30 March, 9:00 – 13:00
Friday 31 March, 10:00 – 14:00
Roberto Fassone (Savigliano, IT, 1986) lives and works in Florence. In the last years he exhibited and performed his work in national and international venues. Among these: Maison du Savoir (2023, Luxembourg); MAXXI L’Aquila (2022); Ars Electronica (2022, Linz, AU); Vision du Rèel (2022, Nyon, CH); 25th Gabrovo Biennial of Humor & Satire in Art (2022, Gabrovo, BG); Lo schermo dell’arte (2021, Florence, IT); Istituto Italiano di Cultura (2021, Paris, FR); Fanta-MLN (2019, Milan, IT); MAMbo (2018, Bologna, IT). His practice is open to collaboration: over the years he has developed projects with Ai Lai, Federico Tosi, Carolina Cappelli, Riccardo Banfi, Mattia Pajè, Kasia Fudakowski, Jacopo Jenna, Friends Make Books. He teaches at the Istituto Marangoni Firenze. He realises workshops for museums (Centro Pecci Prato; HangarBicocca Milan; OGR Turin; ZKM Karlsruhe), cultural institutions, companies and universities (ISD Dusseldorf; MADE Program Syracuse). He is the founder of the publishing house Roi de Coupe. As of today, Wednesday 26 April 2023, his favourite artist is Agnes Varda.
Giacomo Raffaelli (Rovereto, 1988) is a lecturer and cultural practitioner. He initially trained in visual arts, graduating in Fine Art Photography at Camberwell College of Arts, and the specialised in political science at the Experimental Program in Arts and Politics at Sciences Po, Paris. As an artist he has presented his works in museum and festivals in Italy and abroad such as MART, Galleria Civica di Trento, Viafarini DOCVA, Centrale Fies, Palazzo Grassi – Punta della Dogana, South London Gallery, Mediterranea 17 – Young Artists Biennale, VISIO – European Programme on Artists’ Moving Images, Guadalajara International Film Festival, Festa do Cinema Italiano Lisboa. He has collaborated with major research centers such as National Physical Laboratory, London, Danish Institute of Fundamental Metrology, Copenhagen, and VIRGO – European Gravitational Observatory, Pisa. Nowadays he mostly focuses on teaching in the fields of visual arts and environmental humanities. He held lectures and took part in conferences and symposia at Osservatorio Astrofisico di Arcetri, Cité Internationale des Arts, CCW Graduate School, Trinity College Dublin, University of Glasgow. Since 2018 he has been Adjunct Professor of the 3-year courses of Multimedia Arts, Arts Curating, Fashion Styling and Creative Direction, as well as of the 1-year Master courses of Digital Media Arts e Fashion Styling at Istituto Marangoni Firenze. In 2014 he participated in the 3rd edition of the project promoted by Lo schermo dell’arte VISIO European Programme on Artists’ Moving Images, and since 2016 he has been producing for Lo schermo dell’arte the video interviews with the Festival guests.
EXHIBITION
Oltre lo schermo
Galleria Isolotto, May 5 – 21, 2023
- Galleria Isolotto, via Mortuli 26c, Florence
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May 6–21, 2023, 4:00 PM-7:00 PM
closed on Monday - opening May 5, 2023 at 4:00 PM
- Free entrance
Galleria Isolotto, project and space curated by the Virgilio Sieni National Dance Production Center, established in 2017, is a place designed for contemporary art, a garrison of artistic research for residencies, exhibitions and meetings and workshops for adults and children with the idea of stimulating exchanges of experiences between artists and inhabitants.
The exhibition Oltre lo schermo curated by Alessandra Fredianelli and Valeria Mancinelli represents the final outcome of the project and a moment of collective fruition of the results.
Two videos have been presented: Ciak&Play, restitution of the workshop Children film their game made by Maria Pecchioli; and L’isolotto che non c’è, result of the workshop Imaginary guide to Isolotto held by Roberto Fassone and Giacomo Raffaelli.
The exhibition has also included a visual narrative of the entire project with photographic documentation materials as well as materials used during the workshops.
Videos on display
Ciak&Play
by Maria Pecchioli with the students of classes VA and VB Locchi, VA Calvino, V and IV Ambrosoli of I.C. Statale Pirandello
The children worked on the theme of game inspired by the audiovisual work Children’s Game by artist Francis Alÿs, presented at the Belgian Pavilion of the Venice Biennale 2022, consisting of 33 videos on the relationship between children and their ways of playing in the southern areas of the world. Through Maria Pecchioli’s workshop, they tried their hands at filming a short video about their games. Divided into groups-“filming crew,” “backstage crew,” “sound crew,” “makeup and hair”-they were able to experience the various roles of audiovisual production.
L'isolotto che non c'è
by Roberto Fassone and Giacomo Raffaelli with students from classes III of the secondary school of I.C. Statale Pirandello
During the workshop, students learned the basics of filming technique and with video cameras at their disposal, they created an unedited portrait of Isolotto, the neighborhood where they live and study, answering in visual form to some questions the artists asked them. The editing done by the artists was accomplished by following the suggestions of the students in the context of an exercise done in class entitled “I wish that…” in which each participant could express his or her expectations of the film. What emerged was a video with a structure that ranges between different moods, with energetic moments and others that are more poetic and touching in terms of both the images chosen and the soundtrack.
Photos from the exhibition
Stills from the videos
BEYOND THE SCREEN: UNDERSTANDING THE TERRITORY THROUGH CONTEMPORARY ART AND CINEMA
is realised with the contribution of:
- Ministero della Cultura e Ministero dell’Istruzione within the framework of the Piano Nazionale Cinema e Immagini per la Scuola
- Fondazione CR Firenze within the framework of “PARTECIPAZIONE CULTURALE”
in collaboration with:
- I.C. Statale Pirandello – Florence
- Centro Nazionale di Produzione per la danza Virgilio Sieni
- Quartiere 4 Comune di Firenze
