PRESS

Sud KM 0

An artistic journey from Berlin to Catania with Maria Domenica Rapicavoli and Janne Schäfer

A project by Erbematte, Catania, http://www.erbematte.net/

in cooperation with uqbar, Berlin, http://www.uqbar-ev.de/

The project Sud KM 0 consists in a journey from Berlin to Catania by two artists – Italian Maria Domenica Rapicavoli from Catania, Sicily (lives currently in Catania and London), selected by Erbematte, and German Janne Schäfer (member of artist group J&K, lives in Berlin), selected by uqbar.

The journey starts on 4 June in Berlin and ends on 24 June in Catania. For circa twenty days the two artists, who never met before, will share the same space, a fully-equipped van, and drive along the 2295 kilometres that connect Berlin to Catania, through the most diverse landscapes and places, from Northern Europe to the Mediterranean Sea, through the industrial landscape of West Germany, the Black Forest, the Alps, and along the Italian peninsula. In a way, the artists will re-trace the migrant route of Italian Gastarbeiter in Germany, driving in the opposite direction, Southwards. Part of the journey has been pre-arranged by Erbematte and uqbar, accordingly to the travel ideas and wishes drafted by the artists during the preparation of the project. Nevertheless, the core of Sud KM 0 will be for the artists to experiment, be curious and adventurous. The experience of travelling becomes an unique experience thanks to the interaction that people and places trigger. Sud KM 0 is real journey but also an ideal one, a journey filtered by the sensitivity of the two artists, who have to take note of everything they deem important, using different means, from the most traditional to the most innovative: logs, pictures, videos, blogs, radio programmes, installations and so on. It is therefore a project that wants to bear witness to the cultural, territorial, artistic and human “contamination”. The Sud KM 0 route will encompass art institutions partners of the project, that will facilitate the artists journey with logistic help, advices, networking, tales and stories. This set-up leads to a sharing of responsibilities and to the direct involvement of different cultural environments. The route will also include touristic highlights, natural sites, industrial or post-industrial sites, and whatever other places and people that the artists travellers will discover and encounter along the way. Maria Domenica Rapicavoli and Janne Schäfer, equipped with computers, sound and video technology, will be documenting the steps of their travelling by various means: a blog, updated regularly - http://sudkm0.blogspot.com/ -, and radio podcasts to be downloaded and to be streamed through the media partners of the project in Italy and in Germany. Upon request of the partner institutions along the route, the artists will be giving short presentation of their work and the segments of Sud KM 0. Ideally, during the journey, Rapicavoli and Schäfer will start developing a common body of work related to the journey Sud KM 0, to be exhibited within the international project Transient Spaces – The Tourist Syndrome held by uqbar in Berlin in 2010 at the Neue Gesellschaft für Bildende Kunst and the Kunstraum Kreuzberg/Bethanien.

Sud KM 0 is a project by Erbematte, Catania, in cooperation with uqbar, Berlin, funded with support from Provincia Regionale di Catania Partner institutions (in progress): Arte Giovane (Torino and Roma), Associazione Evento Area (Reggio di Calabria), El Barrio (Torino), Istituto Italiano di Cultura Wolfsburg (Wolfsburg), associazione Privateflat (Firenze), Succo Acido (Palermo), Zelle (Palermo) Sponsor: Asic, Coca Cola Zero, Farm, Gigi Tropea, Sa di Sapone, Siculamente, Vivai Sciacca, 25p cine support.

Patrons: Charbel Ackermann, Alessio Bertini, Emiliano Cinquerrui, Carla Consoli, Angela Di Mauro, Fortuna, Beniamino Foschini, Giovanni Gallo, Michael Gmür, Filippo Leonardi, Stefano Jorio, Loredana Longo, Raffaella Morra, Roberta Moro, Federica Musco, Aurelio Sapuppo, Harald und Helga Schäfer, Beatrice Steimer .

Media Partner: Radio Zammù, Radio Bue, Circuiti Radio Universitarie, Tribeart.

Sud KM0 provisional route (changes may occur)

3/06/09: Berlin, presentation of the project 

4-5/06/09: start of the journey > Wolfsburg c/o Italian Cultural Institute Wolfsburg (Lunchtime presentation by the artists on 5 June at IIC).

6/06/09 Kassel (day-trip)

6-8/06/09 Frankfurt/Darmstadt

8-12/06/09 Zurich/Basel/Geneva/Monte Veritas

12-13/06/09: arrival in Torino c/o Arte Giovane and El Barrio

13-14/06/09 Garfagnana, Tuscany c/o artists Luca Bertolo e Chiara Camoni

14-16/06/09 Firenze, c/o Privateflat (evening presentation by the artists on 15 June)

16-17/06/09 Roma Start (Gaia Cianfanelli - Caterina Iaquinta)

Napoli/Salerno

Reggio Calabria c/o Evento Area

19-23/06/09: arrival in Riesi c/o Farm

Palermo c/o Succo Acido and Galleria Zelle

24/06/09: presentation and final party at Erbematte, Catania (live on www.radiozammu.it from

18.30 to 24.00)

Maria Domenica Rapicavoli (*1976, Catania) lives and works in Catania and London. She received in 2005 her MA in Fine Art from Goldsmiths College University of London and her BA from the Academy of Fine Arts in Catania in 2001. She was awarded as Best Italian Artist In London in 2008 at the Italian Cultural Institute in London. In 2004 she also achieved a Postgraduate award in Arts and Humanities offered by AHRB-London. Her works are mainly based on video art and photography and explore the concept of identity related to the stereotypes.

Janne Schäfer (*1976, Darmstadt) lives and works in Berlin. She received in 2006 a MA in Art in Context at the University of the Arts, Berlin. From 1997 to 1998 studied Art & Design at the Camberwell College, London, and then from 1998 to 2001 studied Fine Art (Sculpture) at the Chelsea College of Art and Design, London (2001 BA Hons). Since 1999 she works in collaboration with Danish artist Kristine Agergaard as artist duo J&K. In their work, J&K explore the creative potential that underlies any modeling of reality.