P.A.C.E.

The six blind men and the elephant

A Journey through images and words

IV E prof. Elianda Cazzorla

Liceo artistico Modigliani PadovaDecember 2007

The 52.nd International Art Exibition VeneziaThink with the Senses- Feel with the mind

52 Biennale alle Corderie:

African tapestry made with metal whiskey bottle tops.

Artist: El Anatsui, born in Ghana 1944, lives in Nigeria.

Transformation of recycled materials in a tapestry enhanced by matching colours and the meticulous

an infinite number of metal pieces stitched

with copper wire.

52 Biennale at the Gardens

Pavilion of the Northern European countries: Finland, Norway, Sveden. Theme: Welfare – FareWell. Artist: Lars Lamberg, Work: “Libertè”, Oslo

The Swede Lars Ramberg, born in Oslo in 1964, brings an unusual installation to the Venice Biennale: three typical Parisian toilets, each painted with a colour from the Tricouleur with one of the French revolution mottos, fraternitè, egalitè, libertè. Inside you can hear the Marseilleise. The work comes from the National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design in Oslo, where it is actually used as a public toilet in the museum courtyard.  

Between the two proposals selected by the teacher the students choose the work from the Northern European pavilion, considered an upside down point of view in which the three terms at the basis of modern democracy are contained.

Why are they up there? The work proposes an unexplored and original idea of Welfare.

The texts used to support the critical analysis of the work of art

• Angelo Beolco, Parlamento de Ruzante che iera vegnù de campo, Scena II e III 1509

• Gino Strada, Pappagalli verdi, pag. 52-53 (foto di guerra e racconto di guerra)

• Gino Strada, Pappagalli verdi, pag. 66-68 (Bloody Friday: la memoria nell’album di foto)

• Bertold Brecht, Generale il tuo carro armato è una macchina potente 1945

• J.J Rousseau, Discorso sull’origine della disuguaglianza sociale1754• Dichiarazione dei diritti dell’uomo e del Cittadino 1789• Dichiarazione universale dei diritti umani 1948 approvata

dall’assemblea generale Onu• Fabrizio de Andrè, Smisurata preghiera, da racconto La sagra di

Magroll- Il gabbiere di Alvaro Mutis, Einaudi 1999• Gino Strada, I cessi di Oslo, Articolo su Smemoranda 2007-• Gianni Rodari, Il cielo è di tutti, Einaudi 1980

In class: Reflecting on “Liberte’” and finding the relationship with the texts proposed by the teacher

The written test in class: Individual reflections

The results

From the texts studied to a new written text, through the work of art examined

• A short story by Jacopo Ranzato

• Articols by Laura, Luca and Monica.

In the painting class room

The big day: Monitoring

1. Images and Wisdom The six men and the elephant

What does the teacher do?

The teacher reads in an expressive way and stimulates the students’ reflections with guiding questions.

What do the students do?

The students work in small groups comparing ideas, looking for a meaning for the story. Following the teacher’s questions which guide the brainstorming, they elaborate an idea which aims to represent the meaning of the story.

Main difficulty: compare different ideas and point of view with other members of the group.