Manifesto Against Nostalgia

Rome September 2019 at Gavin Brown

After its first proclamation in Farsi and English in January 2019 in Tehran, the Italian version of the manifesto was enunciated at Gavin Brown’s Enterprise at Sant’Andrea De Scaphis, in Rome, on the occasion of the performance series After Glow, in conjunction with Laura Owens’s solo exhibition, in September 2019.

The proclamation was accompanied by La Banda Vocale Scuola di Musica Popolare di Testaccio (Linda Distinto, Federica Lombardo, Bruno Mattei, Enrico Scarinci and Fiammetta Tosti) directed by Patrizia Rotonda. The Italian translation was done in collaboration with Clara Ciccioni, and the flags and the manifesto handouts were designed by Federico Antonini.

Amsterdam Art Weekend 2019
https://framerframed.nl/en/projecten/amsterdam-art-weekend-2019/

The Dutch version of a Manifesto Against Nostalgia (2019) was conceived by Giulia Crispiani, Golrokh Nafisi, and Ahmadali Kadivar for the outdoor space and facade of Framer Framed, and took place on the occasion of the Amsterdam Art Weekend 2019 (“right before and right after sunset”).

Manifesto Against Nostalgia sets out to question the usage of the word “nostalgia” in relation to the current socio-political rhetoric that relies on the glorification of—and a sort of nostalgia for—a past that never truly existed. The project responds to increasing xenophobic tendencies, that are emerging in a variety of different contexts worldwide. Earlier iterations of the work have taken place in Tehran and Rome, being translated from English to Farsi and to Italian.

The Amsterdam version was accompanied by musician Wouter Kuyper (accordion, bagpipe and flute). The manifesto was translated by Andrea Radai, M. K. van den Berg and Flora Woudstra, and proclaimed in Dutch by Daphne Louwris. The flags and banners hanging on the facade of the building and the manifesto handouts were designed by Federico Antonini. 

The choice of the musical accompaniment happened in consultancy with Ahmad Jafari and Hans Muller.

Bologna December 2919

The Bologna version was a simplified iteration of the Italian version, that took place upon invitation by Filippo Andreatta and Little Fun Palace (OHT), on the occasion of the nomination of the Premio UBU at the Mercato Della Terra at Cinema Lumière, in Bologna. The proclamation was accompanied by Umberto Cavalli (accordion and hurdy-gurdy). This iteration included also the Dutch language, that was proclaimed by Julien Debey.