“Contemporary Stories – Visual Arts, Writings, Societies”

Studio Poerio 16/B Researching and Archiving

 coordinator Anna Cochetti

Conceived by Anna Cochetti, independent curator, the Project “Contemporary Stories - Visual Arts, Writings, Societies”, was launched in June 2012 and hosted in the private space Studio Poerio 16/B Researching and Archiving.

Situated in the heart of Rome-Monteverdevecchio (via Poerio 16/b), it is, on one hand, a place (and a brand) for researching, archiving, storytelling and self-made publishing and, on the other hand, an 8 years-old curatorial project that promotes and hosts exhibitions and shows.  

The project on the Flying Circus takes inspiration at the end of 2020 from the circus-theater shows of the Finzi Pasca company which were followed by the readings of the books Le cirque au risque de dell'arte by Emmanuel Wallon and La poetica della reverie by Gaston Bachelard.

From here the artist Claudia Bellocchi started with the idea of the drawings and a theatrical performance that converge in the personal exhibition "Cosmology of the Flying Donkey". Claudia Bellocchi's personal exhibition “Cosmology of the Flying Donkey” curated by Anna Cochetti at her space Contemporary Stories - Visual Arts Writings Society to be held from 21 October (inauguration from 18:00 to 20:00) to 5 November.

Contemporary Stories curated by Anna Cochetti has included the exhibition project within the Rome Art Week 2022 review which will culminate in the street art performance "Benvenuti al Circo Volante" on Saturday 29 October at 16:00 with the actress Clea Scala, the Drag Queen Caramella and the and the accordion of Enzo Asseri.

The exhibition project, consisting of ballpoint pen drawings on small (20x29 cm) and medium (50x70 cm) size sheet, has as its object the Flying Donkey and the Circus.

The drawings and the performance refer to a divertissement that wants to arouse in the viewer, as Bachelard would say, a real reverie.

The Flying Donkey will lead us to daydream abandoning prejudices and cynicisms, heaviness and shadows that sometimes assail us in everyday life to take us to the Flying Circus, his world, a real cosmos.

The Flying Circus as the sociologist Emmanuel Wallon claims is also the art of transgression. Since its origins, the affirmation of the Circus has occurred thanks to the transgression of the rules: those of the academic disciplines, of which it has upset the codes, of the spaces of representation, reorganized around the track, of the public and of the operators, reshuffling the categories of judgement.

He thus obtained a sort of legitimacy by asserting his own energy, without losing heterogeneity. It is a plural discipline, with a tension towards otherness that gives it a unique role in a world that has lost certainty.

Destructuring, accepting otherness, dreaming, taking risks and going further to rebuild one's self, the image one has of the world and of a possible future.

The Circus is an expression of energy and life where intense study is mixed with experimentation (of which the donkey is a symbol) to create new numbers.

The lightness hidden in the shows has at its base iron discipline and exercise and the continuous courage of the circus artists to take risks (think of the acrobats).

The magic of the show gives spectators the opportunity to take a wider breath and fly over the rainbow "where the skies are blue" and "where problems melt like drops of lemon" (Somewhere over the Rainbow by Judy Garland).