Paperless Tiger
  • Paper[less] Tiger
  • BOOKS
  • COMING SOON
  • Press/Contact
  • Immersion Therapy
  • Curated Projects
  • Paper[less] Tiger
  • BOOKS
  • COMING SOON
  • Press/Contact
  • Immersion Therapy
  • Curated Projects

 paperlesstiger

Heart and Soul

28/2/2012

2 Comments

 
Picture
Now that the weather is finally on the up in Rome, I'm starting to wake from my winter slumber and slowly getting out again and rediscovering the city.
The thing that I am finding interesting is that now that I have woken from my winter slumber, the places that are more enticing to me are places that seem to be screaming mid twentieth century; 1950s-1970s.
Rome's deeply layered evolution is well known, but we tend to focus on its Roman era or simply limit ourselves to the centro storico which never ceases to amaze.
But to me, part of Rome's charm is that its strata includes places that are only a few decades old; intact, unrefurbished.
Once upon a time the idea of wood panelling would give me the creeps.  And true, I never want to see them in my apartment, but, in order to successfully capture the progressive development of design and the ambience of a city, its important that even the unappreciated design elements are left standing.
This is something that is a bit of a taboo area, particularly in my home country of Australia, where we for years, have been consumed with the idea of continual renewal, refurbishment and redesign.  The unfortunate side effect of this is that it seems to wipe out entire decades that we consider unfashionable from the cities that we live in, leaving something of a gap and creating something artificial instead.
Throughout Italy's cities, big and small, establishments that have never been redecorated stand proudly and are frequented based on reputation, on familiarity, on the quality of the products they offer.  When I think of a city like Melbourne, which has a relatively short history in comparison, ''hokiness'', that is the idea of something a little outdated and unfashionable sometimes is appreciated in this sense.  Think of the fab Vietnamese restaurants on Victoria Street and how after refurbishment and gentrification how they lose something of their charm.  Then apply that idea large scale to a city of four million and you get the idea of how charm and heritage are endangered species, that are as succeptable to extinction as any every entity in the natural world.
A few years ago I lived in Kyoto, a city which remains firmly entrenched in my heart.  For most Westerners Kyoto is the picturesque Japanese city of dreams, rich in history, steeped in tradition, the home to much of the soul of Japanese culture.  When I first visited Kyoto, the city centre struck me as incredibly dated, like something out of the 1960s, full of brass and chrome and windows tinted brown.  I didn't initially appreciate it, but once I moved there I did, and I came to love the city as much for its Heian heritage as I did its more challenging legacies.
So now, in Rome and Italy in general, I am back on the appreciation bandwagon.  I'm digging places that I will never find in Wallpaper or Architectural Digest, partly because I feel like I am being let in on a secret past, and partly because these are still functional places that pull people in and don't leave any doubts or gaps in my understanding of how the city might have looked thirty or forty years ago, classical and historical buildings not withstanding.
So next time you look for a new place to champion, look beyond the usual deck outs and seek out something a bit more real.  You might find a new level of appreciation and perhaps encourage others to make do, rather than encourage them to rip the heart and soul out of their spaces in an attempt to stay relevant.

2 Comments

    Dave
    ​DI VITO

    ​Writer, teacher and former curator who splits his time between Rome and Melbourne.

    Picture
    Tweets by @DDVinyltiger
    Picture











    Picture
    Picture

    Subscribe!

    * indicates required

    Archives

    July 2022
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    February 2021
    April 2020
    July 2019
    March 2019
    August 2018
    March 2018
    August 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    November 2014
    October 2014
    March 2014
    July 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    November 2011
    September 2011
    August 2011
    July 2011
    June 2011
    May 2011
    April 2011
    June 2010
    May 2010
    April 2010

    Categories

    All
    2016
    80s Music
    Adelita Huang-Bey
    Ahmed Basiony
    Ai Weiwei
    Alec Soth
    Alessia Rollo
    Andris Eglitis
    Angelica Dass
    Ang Lee
    Anne Inhauf
    Art
    Art Curator
    Asako Narahashi
    Atif Khan
    Australia
    Bande A Sud
    Banksy
    Belinda Carlisle
    Berlin
    Bernardo Oyarzùn
    Beyonce
    Biennale 2011
    Biennale 2015
    Biennale 2017
    Biennale2019
    Biennale 2022
    Bill Viola
    Bitume
    Blonde Redhead
    Blondie
    Bruce Nauman
    Cabello/Carceller
    Candice Breitz
    Cevdet Erek
    Chiharu Shiota
    China
    Christo
    Cinthia Marcelle
    City
    Claudia Fontes
    Cody Choi
    Collin Sekajugo
    Contemporary Art
    Corporate Sponsorship
    Crash
    Crowdfunding
    Culture
    Curating
    Damon Kowarsky
    Dan Black
    Dapunta Hyang
    Darren Hayes
    David Bowie
    Design
    Diego Gualandris
    Donna Summer
    Dragoljub Raša Todosijevic
    Ekaterina Vasilyeva
    Elaine Sturtevant
    Electronica
    Environmental
    Events
    Exhibitions
    Fabrizio Albertini
    Fertility Day
    Fight The Fight
    Film
    Fiona Hall
    Flaka Haliti
    Francesc Ruiz
    Francis Alys
    Fuori
    Galleries
    Gal Weinstein
    George Drivas
    George Michael
    Gerald Machona
    Gian Maria Tosatti
    Giorgio Andreotta Calò
    Giorgio Di Noto
    GLBT
    Gloria Casto
    Great Tigers
    Gwen Stefani
    Gyula Vàrnai
    Hajnal Nemeth
    Hany Armanious
    Haruki Murakami
    Heri Dono
    Heritage Management
    Hiroshi Sugimoto
    Ibrahim Mahama
    If They Could Speak
    Illit Azoulay
    Imranovi
    Irma Blank
    Italian Pavilion
    Italy
    Ivan Grubanov
    Jana Źelibská
    Janet Jackson
    Jan Fabre
    Jan Stradtmann
    Japan
    Jason Moran
    Jeon Joonho
    Jesse Jones
    Joel Peter Witkin
    John Niven
    Jorge Fuembuena
    Jun Nakasuji
    Kaarina Kaikkonen
    Kanye West
    Kate Ceberano
    Katherine Macdaid
    Katrina Neiburga
    Keith Haring
    Kunstpedia
    Kutlug Ataman
    Kylie
    Kyoko Imazu
    Kyoto
    Land Art
    Last Train Home
    Laszlo Biro
    Latifa Echakhch
    Lebohang Kganye
    Lecce
    Lee Wan
    Lee Yongbaek
    Legambiente
    Lisa Reihana
    Lorenzo Maccotta
    Lucamaleonte
    Lushsux
    Madonna
    Making My Peace
    Makus Schinwald
    Marcello Maloberti
    Marco Fusinato
    Mark Jenkins
    Marzia Migliora
    Matthieu Bernard Raymond
    Maurizio Galimberti
    May You Live In Interesting Times
    Media
    Melbourne
    Meshell N
    M.i.a
    Michelangelo Pistoletto
    Mika Rottenberg
    Milk Of Dreams
    Mircea Cantor
    Modern Architecture
    Moha Modsiakeng
    Monica Bonvicini
    Moon Kyungwon
    Mounir Fatmi
    MTV
    Muhannad Shono
    Murals
    Museo Nazionale D'arte Orientale
    Museums
    Music
    Na Chainkua Reindorf
    Naples
    Natalie Imbruglia
    New Zealand
    Nicola Samori
    Nidhal Chamekh
    Nina's Drag Queens
    Nirvana
    Nufactory
    Painting
    Paris
    Pascale Marthine Tayou
    Pepo Salazar
    Pet Shop Boys
    Photography
    Pop
    Pop Culture
    Prince
    Printmakers
    Public Art
    Puglia
    Queendom
    Raffaela Naldi Rossano
    Ralph Rugoff
    Rania Matar
    Reactions
    Religion
    Retailing
    Riace
    Rihanna
    Rinko Kawauchi
    Rip
    Robbie Williams
    Roberto Cuoghi
    Robin Rhode
    Roisin Murphy
    Rome
    Salvador Dali
    Sam Harris
    Sculpture
    Self Publishing
    Shanghai
    Simone Leigh
    Social Media
    Space Invader
    Street Art
    Sun Kil Moon
    Super Pop
    Tabaimo
    Takahiro Iwasaki
    Television
    Terry Adkins
    Theatre
    Thomas Hirschhorn
    Tiago Mata Machado
    Tivoli
    Tomboys Don't Cry
    Tom Ford
    Tony Oursler
    Tori Amos
    Tracey Moffatt
    Travel
    Uffe Isolotto
    Unesco
    Vajiko Chachkhiani
    Valentina Vannicola
    Vatican Museum
    Venice
    Venice Biennale
    Vettor Pisani
    Video
    Video Art
    Vincent J Huang
    Vinyl Tiger
    Whitney Houston
    Willem Popelier
    Writing
    Wu Jian'an
    Wunderkammern
    Xu Bing
    Yao Huiffen
    Yuki Kihara
    Zai Kuning

    RSS Feed




Dave Di Vito is a writer, teacher and former curator.He's also the author of the Vinyl Tiger series and Replace The Sky.
For information about upcoming writing projects subscribe to the mailing list.
Dave hates SPAM so he won't trouble you with any of his own. He promises.