#[Memories of Gregorio and Lorenzo]

[sins-of-the-sea]

Once upon a time, certain members of the Vespucci Family from Florence branched out and attempted to establish a foothold in Venice in the 1300s. There, they commissioned their own palazzo, Ca'Vespucci, styled that of Venetian Gothic along the Grand Canal in San Marco; from there, generations would have sons become part of the city-state's oligarchy, from seats of the Council of Ten to directly working with the Doge. If not, then growing wealth with trade across the Adriatic, with sons thereby becoming merchant princes.

However, a scandal in the 1460s would see a sharp decline of the Vespucci's influence, resulting in being fully cut off from the Florentine family altogether. Supposedly, God has had enough of the Venetian Vespucci's licentiousness and greed; by midsummer of 1498, the end of the Vespucci had begun as though through a curse. The family numbers dwindled sharply within just eight years; by 1521, the last two members were murdered in their own home. No children were left behind, and the killer was never caught.

Today, Ca'Vespucci is used as a museum and is regularly maintained by historians curious of the Vespucci Curse. Through various accounts and local legends, the curse came in the form of a child. Initially, historians believed that said child was likely subjected to changeling myth, but the word 'varòƚo' is seen constantly in records in reference to him--likening him to smallpox. Later historians would come to the conclusion that the Venetian Curse was very likely a tragic case of scapegoating the youngest member of the family until his death in 1506 at age eight.

Though there is contesting if the child died at all in 1506. There are recent discoveries scratched within the walls of one of the lowest rooms of Ca'Vespucci, once reserved for holding wine. Scratched in the stonework, over and over again, were the words

Per piasser no desmentegarme. Per piasser no desmentegarme. Per piasser no desmentegarme. Per piasser no desmentegarme. Per piasser no desmentegarme. Per piasser no desmentegarme. Per piasser no desmentegarme.

"Please do not forget me."

The historians can't tell, for certain, if the Venetian Curse was thrown in the cellar... and if he was, how long was he kept there.

[helenadurazzo]

Helena Durazzo’s Bio

The Basics

Full Name: Helena Marie Durazzo

Nickname: Lena

Gender: Female

Pronouns: She/Her

Age: 11-18 (Hogwarts Mystery), 35-42 (Magic Awakened)

Date of Birth: February 23rd 1973

Sexuality: Biromantic/Bisexual

Species: Human

Blood Status: Half Blood

Nationality: British

Ethnicity: 50% British, 50% Italian

Residence: Wallasey, England

Languages: English and Italian

Titles: Prefect, Head Girl

Personality

Alignment: Neutral Good

Good Traits: Calm, Clever, Creative, Curious, Diplomatic, Empathetic, Loyal, Resourceful, Imaginative and Persistent

Neutral Traits: Cautious, Simple, Reserved, Trusting, Weird, Secretive, Quiet, Self-Conscious, Obedient, and Passive

Bad Traits: Defensive, Insecure, Timid, Pessimistic, Dishonest, Oblivious, Aloof, Dependent, Resentful and Stubborn.

Likes: Herbology, Reading

Dislikes: Crowds, Fights

Appearance

Hair Color: Chestnut Brown (Before Year 3), Dark Blue (After Year 3)

Eyes: Blue

Skin Tone: Light Tan

Height: 5’ 8”

Face Claim: Jenna Coleman

Voice Claim: TBA

Wand

Wand Wood: Chestnut

Wand Core: Dragon Heartstring

Wand Length: 11 3/4”

Wand Flexibility: Quite Flexible

Magical Information

Boggart: Getting abandoned by her friends (Years 1-5), Rakepick (Years 5-6), Her Friends and Family Dead (Year 6+)

Riddikulus: TBA

Mirror of Erised: Her with her family, together and happy

Patronus: Raven

Patronus Memory: Hanging out with her brother and cousins during the summer when she was younger

Magical Abilities: Legilimency, Wandless Magic

Favorite Spells: Lumos, Rictumsempra, Herbivicus, Defodio, and Flipendo

Academics

Hogwarts House: Ravenclaw

Best Subject: Herbology

Worst Subject: Care of Magical Creatures

Favorite Teacher: Sprout

Least Favorite Teacher: Snape

Charms: Outstanding

Potions: Exceeds Expectations

Transfiguration: Exceeds Expectations

Care of Magical Creatures: Acceptable

Herbology: Outstanding

History of Magic: Exceeds Expectations

Defense Against the Dark Arts: Exceeds Expectations

Quidditch Position: Reserve Beater (Year 2), Beater (Year 3), Chaser (Years 4-7)

Friends and Family

Loyalty: The Durazzo Family, the Rath Family, Hogwarts, Ravenclaw, the Ravenclaw Quidditch Team, the Hippogriff Club, and the Circle of Khanna

Father: Alessandro Durazzo

Alive

Born on October 18th 1937

47-54 (HPHM)

71-78 (HPMA)

Squib

Italian

Businessman

Mother: Olivia (Hearst) Durazzo

Alive

Born on May 8th 1939

45-52 (HPHM)

69-76 (HPMA)

Pureblood

British

Hufflepuff

Herbologist

Pear Wood, Unicorn Hair

Brother: Jacob Durazzo

Alive

Born on January 10th 1963

Half Blood

British-Italian

Ravenclaw

Cursebreaker

Blackthorn Wood, Dragon Heartstring

Girlfriend/Wife: Erika Rath

Aunts: Cynthia (Hearst) Watson, Vanna (Bianchi) Durazzo and Donella (Durazzo) Silverstri

Uncles: Gregorio Durazzo, Daniel Watson and Enzo Silverstri

Cousins: Serafina Silverstri, Leonardo Durazzo II, Lorenzo Durazzo, Luciana Durazzo, Lottie Watson and Louis Watson

Paternal Grandparents: Leonardo and Camila Durazzo

Maternal Grandparents: Nicolas and Aurelia Hearst

(Adoptive) Son: Vincent Durazzo-Rath

Alive

Born on August 23rd 1998

Adopted in Late 2000

10-17 (HPMA)

Half Blood

Welsh

Hufflepuff

Chaser

Quidditch Captain

(Adoptive) Daughter: Zara Durazzo-Rath

Alive

Born on March 15th 2000

Adopted in Late 2000

8-15 (HPMA)

Half Blood

Welsh

Slytherin

Prefect

Roommates: Rowan Khanna, Badeea Ali and Tulip Karasu

Teammates: Skye Parkin, Orion Amari, and Andre Egwu

Other Friends: Ben Copper and Talbott Winger

Rivals: Merula Snyde, Erika Rath (Formerly)

Enemies: Patricia Rakepick, The Wizard in the White Robes, R

MC Friends: TBA

Pets: TBA

Backstory

History: Born in 1973, Helena was the second child of Alessandro Durazzo and Olivia Hearst. Although her and her brother had a large age gap between them, the two of them were close with Helena always counting down the days until Jacob would return from Hogwarts. While she would much prefer the company of her plants, she sets out on a journey to break the curses of the cursed vaults, find her brother, and put an end to R’s schemes.

Other Information:

Alongside Talbott, Helena often volunteers to help Professor Sprout with her plants in the greenhouses

Helena dyed her hair dark blue in her third year as a way to show that she was starting to come out of her shell and embrace herself more

She enjoys collecting chocolate frog cards which led them, along with licorice wands, to be one of her favorite treats to get while visiting Honeydukes in Hogsmeade

Helena is the Great Granddaughter of my HPHL MC: Phineas Hearst

[brookston]

Holidays 9.3

Holidays

Armed Forces Day (Taiwan)

Broadcast Day (South Korea)

Cromwell’s Day

Day of Universal Alarm

Day to Mourn All Manifestations of Sexism

Feast of Atqksak (Baffin Land)

Flag Day (Australia)

Gaura Parba (Nepal)

Levy Mwanawasa Day (Zambia)

Lost Day

Memorial Day (Tunisia)

Merchant Navy Day (UK) 

Merchant Navy Remembrance Day (Canada)

National Wilderness Day

Penny Press Day

Republic Day (San Marino)

Skyscraper Day

Tales and Tallows Day (Elder Scrolls)

That Day I’ll Always Remember (in the song “Papa Was a Rollin’ Stone,” by The Temptations)

Tokehega Day (Tokalau, New Zealand)

U.S. Bowling League Day

V-J Day (China)

Food & Drink Celebrations

Afternoon Tea Time Day

International Rosé Day

National Baby Back Ribs Day

National Welsh Rarebit Day

1st Saturday in September

Franchise Appreciation Day [Saturday Before Labor Day]

International Bacon Day [Saturday before 1st Monday in September]

International Vulture Awareness Day [1st Saturday]

National Cowgirl Day [Saturday of Labor Day Weekend]

National Hummingbird Day [1st Saturday]

National Play Outside Day [1st Saturday of Every Month]

National Tailgating Day [1st Saturday]

National Writing Date Day [1st Saturday]

Satyr's Day (Silenus, Greek God of Beer Buddies and Drinking Companions) [1st Saturday of Each Month]

Scottish Food & Drink Fortnight begins (Scotland) [1st Saturday thru 3rd Sunday]

World Beard Day [1st Saturday]

Independence Days

Qatar (from UK, 1971)

San Marino (founded, 301 C.E.)

Feast Days

Barkley (Muppetism)

Bernard de Pailissy (Positivist; Saint)

Gregory I, Pope (Christian; Saint)

Gregory the Great (Christian; Saint)

Lawrence Welk Day (Church of the SubGenius; Saint)

Macnisius of Ireland (Christian; Saint)

Mansuetus of Toul (Christian; Saint)

Marinus (Christian; Saint)

Remaclus (Christian; Saint)

Prudence Crandall (Episcopal Church (USA))

Rock Appreciation Day (Pastafarian)

Simeon Stylites the Younger (Christian; Saint)

Wendy O. Williams Day (Church of the SubGenius; Saint)

Lucky & Unlucky Days

Dismal Day (Unlucky or Evil Day; Medieval Europe; 17 of 24)

Egyptian Day (Unlucky Day; Middle Ages Europe) [17 of 24]

Fatal Day (Pagan) [17 of 24]

Lucky Day (Philippines) [49 of 71]

Unlucky Day (Grafton’s Manual of 1565) [40 of 60]

Premieres

Funf Orchesterstucke (Five Pieces for Orchestra), by Arnold Schoenberg (1912)

Machete (Film; 2010)

Never Go Back, 18th Jack Reacher book, by Lee Child (Novel; 2013)

Roll the Bones, by Rush (Album; 1991)

Search for Tomorrow (TV Soap Opera; 1951)

Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (Film; 2021)

Tenet (Film; 2020)

The Trouble with Girls (Elvis Presley Film; 1969)

Today’s Name Days

George (Austria)

Gordana, Grga, Grgur (Croatia)

Bronislav (Czech Republic)

Seraphia (Denmark)

Solveig, Veegi (Estonia)

Soila, Soile, Soili (Finland)

Grégoire (France)

Gregor, Phoebe, Silvia, Sonja (Germany)

Anthimos, Arhontia, Arhontion, Aristea, Ariston, Phoebe, Phoebi, Phevos, Polydoros (Greece)

Hilda (Hungary)

Fausto, Felice, Gregorio, Lorenzo, Marino, Rosa, Teodoro (Italy)

Bella, Berta, Klaudija, Klaudijs, Slaida (Latvia)

Bronislova, Bronislovas, Mirga, Sirtautas (Lithuania)

Alise, Alvhild, Vilde (Norway)

Antoni, Bartłomiej, Bazylissa, Bronisław, Bronisz, Erazma, Eufemia, Eufrozyna, Izabela, Jan, Joachim, Joachima, Manswet, Mojmir, Szymon, Wincenty, Zenon, Zenona (Poland)

Belo (Slovakia)

Basilisa, Gregorio (Spain)

Alfhild, Alva (Sweden)

Page, Paige, Phebe, Phoebe, Phoebus (USA)

Today is Also…

Day of Year: Day 246 of 2022; 119 days remaining in the year

ISO: Day 6 of week 35 of 2022

Celtic Tree Calendar: Muin (Vine) [Day 1 of 28]

Chinese: Month 8 (Guìyuè), Day 8 Ji-Wei)

Chinese Year of the: Tiger (until January 22, 2023)

Hebrew: 7 ʼĔlūl 5782

Islamic: 6 Ṣafar 1444

J Cal: 6 Aki; Fiveday [6 of 30]

Julian: 21 August 2022

Moon: 50% 1st Quarter

Positivist: 22 Gutenberg (9th Month) [Bernard de Palissy]

Runic Half Month: Rad (Motion) [Day 9 of 15]

Season: Summer (Day 74 of 90)

Zodiac: Virgo (Day 11 of 31)

Calendar Changes

Muin (Vine) [Celtic Tree Calendar; Month 9 of 13]

[brookstonalmanac]

Holidays 9.3

Holidays

Armed Forces Day (Taiwan)

Broadcast Day (South Korea)

Cromwell’s Day

Day of Universal Alarm

Day to Mourn All Manifestations of Sexism

Feast of Atqksak (Baffin Land)

Flag Day (Australia)

Gaura Parba (Nepal)

Levy Mwanawasa Day (Zambia)

Lost Day

Memorial Day (Tunisia)

Merchant Navy Day (UK) 

Merchant Navy Remembrance Day (Canada)

National Wilderness Day

Penny Press Day

Republic Day (San Marino)

Skyscraper Day

Tales and Tallows Day (Elder Scrolls)

That Day I’ll Always Remember (in the song “Papa Was a Rollin’ Stone,” by The Temptations)

Tokehega Day (Tokalau, New Zealand)

U.S. Bowling League Day

V-J Day (China)

Food & Drink Celebrations

Afternoon Tea Time Day

International Rosé Day

National Baby Back Ribs Day

National Welsh Rarebit Day

1st Saturday in September

Franchise Appreciation Day [Saturday Before Labor Day]

International Bacon Day [Saturday before 1st Monday in September]

International Vulture Awareness Day [1st Saturday]

National Cowgirl Day [Saturday of Labor Day Weekend]

National Hummingbird Day [1st Saturday]

National Play Outside Day [1st Saturday of Every Month]

National Tailgating Day [1st Saturday]

National Writing Date Day [1st Saturday]

Satyr's Day (Silenus, Greek God of Beer Buddies and Drinking Companions) [1st Saturday of Each Month]

Scottish Food & Drink Fortnight begins (Scotland) [1st Saturday thru 3rd Sunday]

World Beard Day [1st Saturday]

Independence Days

Qatar (from UK, 1971)

San Marino (founded, 301 C.E.)

Feast Days

Barkley (Muppetism)

Bernard de Pailissy (Positivist; Saint)

Gregory I, Pope (Christian; Saint)

Gregory the Great (Christian; Saint)

Lawrence Welk Day (Church of the SubGenius; Saint)

Macnisius of Ireland (Christian; Saint)

Mansuetus of Toul (Christian; Saint)

Marinus (Christian; Saint)

Remaclus (Christian; Saint)

Prudence Crandall (Episcopal Church (USA))

Rock Appreciation Day (Pastafarian)

Simeon Stylites the Younger (Christian; Saint)

Wendy O. Williams Day (Church of the SubGenius; Saint)

Lucky & Unlucky Days

Dismal Day (Unlucky or Evil Day; Medieval Europe; 17 of 24)

Egyptian Day (Unlucky Day; Middle Ages Europe) [17 of 24]

Fatal Day (Pagan) [17 of 24]

Lucky Day (Philippines) [49 of 71]

Unlucky Day (Grafton’s Manual of 1565) [40 of 60]

Premieres

Funf Orchesterstucke (Five Pieces for Orchestra), by Arnold Schoenberg (1912)

Machete (Film; 2010)

Never Go Back, 18th Jack Reacher book, by Lee Child (Novel; 2013)

Roll the Bones, by Rush (Album; 1991)

Search for Tomorrow (TV Soap Opera; 1951)

Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (Film; 2021)

Tenet (Film; 2020)

The Trouble with Girls (Elvis Presley Film; 1969)

Today’s Name Days

George (Austria)

Gordana, Grga, Grgur (Croatia)

Bronislav (Czech Republic)

Seraphia (Denmark)

Solveig, Veegi (Estonia)

Soila, Soile, Soili (Finland)

Grégoire (France)

Gregor, Phoebe, Silvia, Sonja (Germany)

Anthimos, Arhontia, Arhontion, Aristea, Ariston, Phoebe, Phoebi, Phevos, Polydoros (Greece)

Hilda (Hungary)

Fausto, Felice, Gregorio, Lorenzo, Marino, Rosa, Teodoro (Italy)

Bella, Berta, Klaudija, Klaudijs, Slaida (Latvia)

Bronislova, Bronislovas, Mirga, Sirtautas (Lithuania)

Alise, Alvhild, Vilde (Norway)

Antoni, Bartłomiej, Bazylissa, Bronisław, Bronisz, Erazma, Eufemia, Eufrozyna, Izabela, Jan, Joachim, Joachima, Manswet, Mojmir, Szymon, Wincenty, Zenon, Zenona (Poland)

Belo (Slovakia)

Basilisa, Gregorio (Spain)

Alfhild, Alva (Sweden)

Page, Paige, Phebe, Phoebe, Phoebus (USA)

Today is Also…

Day of Year: Day 246 of 2022; 119 days remaining in the year

ISO: Day 6 of week 35 of 2022

Celtic Tree Calendar: Muin (Vine) [Day 1 of 28]

Chinese: Month 8 (Guìyuè), Day 8 Ji-Wei)

Chinese Year of the: Tiger (until January 22, 2023)

Hebrew: 7 ʼĔlūl 5782

Islamic: 6 Ṣafar 1444

J Cal: 6 Aki; Fiveday [6 of 30]

Julian: 21 August 2022

Moon: 50% 1st Quarter

Positivist: 22 Gutenberg (9th Month) [Bernard de Palissy]

Runic Half Month: Rad (Motion) [Day 9 of 15]

Season: Summer (Day 74 of 90)

Zodiac: Virgo (Day 11 of 31)

Calendar Changes

Muin (Vine) [Celtic Tree Calendar; Month 9 of 13]

[tenerifeweekly]

ESNA Lanzarote swimmers sweep the regional summer championship

ESNA Lanzarote swimmers sweep the regional summer championship

The Lanzarote Swimming School (ESNA Lanzarote) achieved several medals last weekend at the Children-Junior-Absolute Summer Regional Championship V Memorial Gregorio Sotoheld at the Acidalio Lorenzo pool in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, where 17 of its swimmers traveled. Following the trend of recent months, the ESNA Lanzarote expedition once again demonstrated an unprecedented evolution on the island…

[creativinn]

What dreams are made of: An art exhibition that walks the thin line between the illusory and the real | Inquirer Lifestyle

An intriguing new group exhibition gathers the work of five emerging young artists with diverse practices under the umbrella of one of the most elusive yet evocative of human experiences: dreams.

The exhibition entitled “Dream Sequence” includes new work developed within the past year from artists Wipo, Celine Lee, Pam Quinto, Miguel Lorenzo Uy, and Jed Gregorio.

“Dream Sequence” opened last June 26 in Modeka Art Gallery in Makati, Manila, and is on view until July 19.

According to the show notes, the artists “respond to the storytelling technique of the dream sequence as a point of departure for modes of artistic inquiries that deal with themes of the paradoxes of tactility and conceptuality, belief systems and post-Internet intimacy, and the fragmentary phenomenology of perception and memory.”

Below we talk to the five artists about their larger art practices, fuzzy dream logic, and the place of the physical exhibition in a virtual world.

Can you tell us about your work in the show from within the context of your larger art practice?

Wipo: “Eye Level” is a progressive project I started last year during lockdown and since my practice revolves around perception, imagination, and memory, I decided to expand the idea to three dimensional work and painting.

Celine Lee: “Earth To Me, Me To Earth (2021)” is an iteration of my disinfection series, which I started during the onslaught of the pandemic. Using a combination of household bleach and chlorine granules, I erase the dye from the abaca paper revealing parts of its natural color. The manner of erasure is what produces the image. Rendered using a 3D software, the image is a montage of topographies of different cities I’ve visited on Earth thus far. The image is also a reference to a dream I had once about the inevitability of my passing, of never being able to experience all that encompasses the universe.

For most of my artistic career, I’ve been producing works with the use of different materials and media, often focusing on process and materiality. Whether in the form of a painting, a sculpture, an embroidery piece, or multimedia work, I try to explore the ability of visual perception and spatial recognition to invoke concepts that extend beyond form.

Pam Quinto: “Feels like a glitch or déjà vu” is a series of lenticular photos with anecdotes of my dreams, like postcards from my dream self. The work seeks to capture the errant shifts one experiences within a dream, where time and space are nonlinear, allowing multiple permutations.

The work fits within my attempts to blur the line that divides the public and private, through the use of personal anecdotes and images. My practice endeavors to articulate a sense of intimacy and vulnerability wherein remnants of memory, among other themes, are seen and felt.

Miguel Lorenzo Uy: The work I produced for this show “Abstraction (24H)” stems from my fascination with how time and space have evolved to become something that’s contracted and at the same time, dilated; something that is given and also taken away — all due to the incorporation of technology-based solutions in our daily lives. The works in my art practice try to make sense of the paradoxes that come with development or progress, especially with advancements in different fields like science, economics, etc.

The paintings are actually images of the sky, each an hour of the day according to the metadata embedded within it. The images of the sky are a reference to what’s known as cloud computing, where you can upload, share, and access your files from any of your devices wherever you are. I then cropped a small part of the file and saved it to its lowest resolution and proceeded to use them for the 24 paintings, also referencing abstract paintings from the post-war era.

Jed Gregorio: Some of the works in “Babylon Suite” I had been developing parallel to producing the performance-film “King of Babylon”, like the paintings, for example. So there have always been these other things — landscapes, poetry, latent energies, if you will — at the periphery of the work. The idea for “Babylon Suite” is to attempt to tap into the parts where several of those motifs remain open, not to abandon them. There is a line in the “Chorus of the Hebrew Slaves” from the opera “Nabucco” that says: golden harp of our prophets / why do you hang silently on the willow? “Babylon Suite” is about rediscovering that golden harp and daring to play it, even with cruder hands.

Before this exhibition were there already aspects of your art practice where the dream sequence became a tool or subject matter for conceptualizing?

Wipo: There’s something in sleeping or dreaming that I can’t explain well. My first series of portraits entitled “People from Last Night” were actual people I saw in my dreams and actually met in real life randomly. I nap at least twice a day and dream in black in white.

Celine Lee: Since most of my works don’t have a narrative framework, I would say no.

Pam Quinto: I haven’t explored dream sequences in my practice prior to this exhibition, but I think drawing prompts from experiences and recounting memories in previous works still very much ties in with the show’s subject matter. Everything coalesces within the dreamscape, our memories, fears, even precognition. I had already been jotting down a few dreams over the years, ones that I do manage to remember.

Miguel Uy: I never thought of the dream sequence becoming a tool or a subject matter for conceptualizing, but the opportunity to be a part of this show is a starting point for me. For my piece, I focused on a very common and cliche shot used in dream sequences: the cloud timelapse shot. For the digital photos of clouds to have a physical manifestation (to paint them by hand) for me is the perfect act in strengthening my idea of how the simulated becomes a part of physical reality. I haven’t thought about or utilized the dream sequence as a tool for conceptualizing in the past, but this definitely opened another path for me to explore and see things in another perspective.

Jed Gregorio: I often joke about it, when I’m asked to explain a work and I’m not able to articulate it well, I say that it came to me in a dream. I’m fascinated with our experience of dreams, how dreams can be fundamentally convoluted yet have this undoubted coherence deep inside them, some of which you immediately lose upon waking. Dreams are bodiless ghosts; the dream sequence is pure fabrication. I’d like to think the works in “Babylon Suite” function the same way, like shrapnels from a distant explosion.

With your piece or pieces in the show what were your considerations about showing within a group or alongside each other? Did discussions with each other affect or contribute to how you approached your work for the show?

Wipo: I think we did a great deliberation when it comes to presenting and curating the artworks. One factor was that we have known the practice and behavior of each other for quite a while now.

Celine Lee: When I conceptualize for an exhibition whether for a solo or a group exhibition, it’s either I work around the pre-existing concept or if there isn’t any concept yet, I try to do a site-specific work just to get ideas running. Initially, there was no concept for the exhibition yet, so working with the windows at Modeka became an easy target for me. I always thought that the layout of their space was interesting and challenging at the same time.

During the whole process of brainstorming for the concept of the show and discussing individual ideas, we found a way to patch them together into a concept: Dream Sequence. In one of our Zoom meetings, Jed was talking about his idea of trying to recreate a dream he had. This is where it dawned on me that our individual works have qualities of a dream within them — where there is a thin line of being illusory and of existing in reality.

Pam Quinto: Conversations shape some of our ideas, or make them robust. Our group’s discussions definitely contributed to my final output. I had a totally different initial idea, but over the course of our discussions, the works in progress being shared, the ideas on memory, time, and space. This instinct of wanting to capture the feeling of being drawn into shifting scenes and perspectives crept in. The multiplicity and scale of the other works were some things I responded to as well, to contribute to the rhythm of the exhibition. I eventually arrived at this concept that responded and meshed with the other works.

Miguel Uy: We were invited by friend and fellow artist Wipo around late 2020 to join this group show and initially, I had no idea on how our works could align with each other in terms of our very diverse lines of artistic practice. From then on, we would occasionally talk about our ideas via Zoom and somehow we slowly saw the connections. It was only a matter of bringing everything together under one common denominator (the conception of the “Dream Sequence” idea) that would eventually have the works somehow curate themselves in a way where everything just worked out. I think our Zoom discussions had greatly influenced and affected how I (or we) saw my (or each other’s) work and how it evolved to become what it is presently. I was the first one in the group to come up and share an idea about my initial plans for the piece I’ll be presenting. My idea was initially too rigid and concise at first but evolved to somehow share a subliminal quality with the other works.

Jed Gregorio: We started to talk about this show sometime in June of 2020, and we’ve had many conversations as a group since. My peers influenced me greatly, if not exactly in terms of apparent subject matter, then more significantly in terms of the pace at which everyone worked, the openness of the exchange, and the audacity of ideas. Of course familiarity with each other was a big plus in communicating largely abstract ideas. That’s really great especially when the need to explain can become such an impediment to working intuitively.

In this show which fellow artist’s work resonated with you or your own practice the most, and why? 

Wipo: I think we unconsciously influenced each other for this exhibition and for me that’s the essence of group shows.

Celine Lee: [Miguel’s] work because we had collaborated just last year for a virtual exhibition entitled, “Disruption of Frequencies”. I feel like both of our bodies of work lean towards exploring technology; he explores its implications, whereas I try to explore welding it to its foundations.

Pam Quinto: I think everyone’s work somehow intersected with my work, and overall our works turned out being interweaved with each other. Wipo’s take on perception ties in with the lenticular execution of my images, the errant shifts within scenes in a way responded to Miguel’s take on the passage of time. Celine and I both took on navigating or visualizing dreamscapes. And in hindsight, a few passages from my anecdotes echoed some of the lines from Jed’s poem.

Miguel Uy: I really couldn’t say which fellow artist has resonated with my own work or practice but looking at it (the whole exhibition and the works themselves) in a formalist and conceptual perspective or approach, I think there’s this fragmented and deconstructive quality in our works that somehow are common and resonate with each other.

Jed Gregorio: Everyone’s, in different ways. For example Pam’s and Celine’s works are like in opposite sides of the scale spectrum, but I admire the subtleties those works share; how Celine’s landscape undulates, and how Pam’s photos are constantly shifting, like sand in a desert. With Miguel’s and Wipo’s works, I admire the clarity of what they are able to communicate with abstract forms. I aspire for those qualities in my own work.

With the rise in popularity of online and virtual exhibitions, how important for you is the physical exhibition space, in terms of making and seeing art?

Wipo: We always consider how the viewers experience our works in actual spaces, by the way they communicate through senses and how they perceive the works differently.

Celine Lee: Just last year I did a solo exhibition, “The Length and Breadth of Depth”, held at Underground Gallery exploring the same question. I scanned and modeled canvases based on my paintings, then 3D-printed them. The 3D-printed versions were shown at the physical space of the gallery while the paintings were only seen online.

I still prefer seeing and experiencing art physically. Like I said earlier, I sometimes work with the architecture of the space before I come up with the piece/s. Working in a physical setting is like working with an independent variable and the work is the dependent variable. In a virtual space, however, so much can be manipulated easily already that these variables can interchange constantly. It can be daunting and exciting altogether. Suffice to say, I am very much open to this new platform of online experience, especially if these virtual spaces go beyond a white cube setting.

Pam Quinto: Tactility and intimacy underlie my practice, so the phenomenology of the work is something that I factor in. How the audience encounters the work is imperative. The palpable experience of creating and seeing art is a different experience from works being mediated by screens.

Miguel Uy: I think having a virtual exhibition is as equally as important to mounting a show physically. Virtual exhibitions are recently becoming mainstream and I think there’s great potential in its quintessence similarly with the physicality of physical exhibitions. As the coronavirus pandemic is still ongoing, a significant number of people do not have the means to travel and visit physical exhibitions. Virtual exhibitions somehow filled that hole and opened up new possibilities of different ways to experience art. For me, physical and virtual exhibition spaces are equally as important today but they sit on the opposite ends of the spectrum. One kind cannot not truly satisfy a sensory or perceptual experience as the other one could.

As for this group show, as it is a physical exhibition, the works are tangible and exist with form and scale, experiencing it physically is what I strongly recommend.

Jed Gregorio: This past year I think have come to understand the physical and the virtual as less of a dichotomy and really as two sides of the same coin. The challenge for me is how to make the exercise of differentiating them or acknowledging their intersections ultimately productive for me, and for the momentum of my practice. Having said that I think it would be nice to see the show in person, if you can. There is no use defending that experience, we all know it’s better.

The group exhibition “Dream Sequence” is currently on view in Modeka Art Gallery. The show runs until July 19.

This content was originally published here.

[raharodriguez94]

The year 2020 changed the world as we know it, and so, MONO8 Gallery’s year-end exhibition gathered more than thirty artists at different stages of their careers to somehow recognize the lives that, perhaps, we will never live again. The exhibition’s title is lifted from Joan Didion’s seminal essay, where she recalls her life as a young writer in New York. Curator Gwen Bautista writes, “what attracted me to this line as a prompt for this exhibition is the generosity that Didion’s writing displayed as she enumerated every small detail of her life in the city. No memory is too small, trivial, or worthless. It was all about making sense of a life she had once lived.”⁣⁣⁣ ⁣⁣⁣ “Goodbye to All That” features the works of Angela Silva, Atsuko Yamagata, August Lyle Espino, Celine Lee, Ches Gatpayat, Chicco Ramos, Dexter Sy, Don Bryan Bunag, Faye Pamintuan, Indy Paredes, Issay Rodriguez, Jan Sunday, Jed Gregorio, Jessica De Leon, Jomari T’leon, Jonas Eslao, Kelli Maeshiro, Koki Lxx, Luis Hidalgo, Margaux Blas, Miguel Lorenzo Uy, Miguel Puyat, Noelle Varela, Omega Projects, Pauline Reynolds, Pepe Delfin, Pin Calacal, Poeleen Alvarez, Raha Rodriguez, Raymond Briones, Regina Reyes, Renz Baluyot, Roan Alvarez, Roselle Perez, Shiela Molato, Teo Esguerra, Therese Nicole Reyes, Veronica Lazo, and Victoria. The exhibition is curated by Gwen Bautista and will open on December 15, 2020 at 3 PM (by appointment only) at our Malate location: MONO8 Gallery, Casa Tesoro, 1335 Mabini Street, Ermita Manila. "Pati" Cold Cast Marble & Wood . . . . #Mono8Gallery #RahaRodriguez #contemporaryart #ArtistsofSEA #artPH #designPH #sculpture https://www.instagram.com/p/CIw3PmDhgWX/?igshid=65nbnzqy2r59

[elbanquillodedoc]

¡Ya está la portada de #LasCiniscas! La Nº131 la protagoniza Ana de Gregorio, que ganó en Alzira, la Copa de España. Sumó un total de 199kg: 90kg en arrancada y 109 en dos tiempos (260,46 puntos Sinclair). ¡Sorpresón en el Memorial Lorenzo Carrió! 🏋️‍♀️😊 #halterofilia #mujeres #deportes #mujerhoy #kiosko #DeporteFemenino #AnaDeGregorio https://www.instagram.com/p/BuT0xadHdV3/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=93i6ddl0xrpy

[tmnotizie]

ANCONA – Il Gruppo Sportivo Pianello, storica società organizzatrice del Memorial Diego Schiaroli per juniores (strada) e del Trofeo Gruppo Sportivo Pianello-Plastica Valmisa per allievi (strada), ha voluto riportare il ciclocross in grande stile nella storica Pianello, fucina di campioni del calibro di Francesco Cingolani, già campione italiano sul finire degli anni novanta nella categoria allievi (oltre che campione italiano di MTB nel 2003 tra gli Under 23) e Matteo Sbaffi anche lui campione italiano esordienti nel 2004. Cingolani è anche l’omonimo team fuoristrada che annovera ad oggi il campione italiano in carica Lorenzo Cionna (élite sport) ed anche Rebecca Gariboldi, di recente in maglia azzurra nella prova élite agli Europei di Ciclocross a Silvelle di Trebaseleghe.

Nelle vicinanze di Pianello d’Ostra, nasce il ciclocross in Italia con il grande Amerigo Severini di Barbara, pluricampione d’Italia, già sul podio mondiale della specialità negli anni cinquanta e scopritore del più grande crossista italiano di tutti i tempi: Renato Longo, cinque volte campione del mondo e dodici volte sul podio più alto in maglia tricolore.

Il cuore pulsante di tutta la manifestazione, valevole come quinta prova dell’Adriatico Cross Tour, è Pianello d’Ostra dove si vivranno speciali momenti di gara e non solo con il ritrovo, la partenza e l’arrivo in via San Gregorio presso gli impianti sportivi coinvolgendo sia gli agonisti che gli amatori ed anche i bambini non tesserati con il Gioco Ciclismo.

PROCEDURA PER L’ISCRIZIONE

Tutti i tesserati F.C.I. dovranno obbligatoriamente ed esclusivamente utilizzare il sistema informatico federale del fattore K (Id Gara 151945) con chiusura entro le ore 24 del venerdì precedente la gara. I tesserati amatori degli enti di promozione sportiva potranno effettuare la preiscrizione tramite il sito www.adriaticocrosstour.it/iscrizione sempre entro le ore 24 del giorno precedente la gara. Gli amatori che non effettueranno la preiscrizione non avranno diritto alla gestione delle griglie e partiranno in fondo ai rispettivi schieramenti di partenza.

[sins-of-the-sea]

//I'm studying more and more a lot about character design, character design language, the usage of curves, lines, and sharp angles, and... well.

I agree with a lot of them. But I choose not to employ them for one very specific reason: the characters of Devil's Eye are human beings. They are not monsters. They are more than story archetypes. Even when they are written for a certain purpose, to speak of a language at a first glance... many of them otherwise are intended to create ambivalence and uncertainty. You are not supposed to know how to feel with certain characters, and the heart-wrenching ambivalence serves the moral complexity that drives the main characters.

So I do not apologize for designing Lorenzo and Gregorio Vespucci with softer, rounder features that is usually reserved for kinder, more approachable, "cuter" characters. In Giovanni's eyes, despite them shoving him in a cellar for 10 years, he sees them as his protectors, mentors, and beloved family who cared for him despite being a 'pox'. And you can't convince him otherwise. Any complaints of being in the cellar and worrying about drowning in the acqua alta is treated like a kid complaining he didn't the best toy brand of the season, or some other "first world spoiled child problem".

I'm still learning and mastering the language of character design, though, so this may change. But I don't want to change the narrative that Giovanni is so attached to his abusers. Mostly because said abusers are continuing a cycle that was imposed on them. How do you neatly resolve a story so troubling and complex when they were killed before a chance at redemption was finally at hand?

[sins-of-the-sea]

//Watching CappnRob play some Assassin’s Creed 2 and related games, it’s kinda bringing back the muse for Gregorio and Lorenzo. Mostly because, as much as we did so much research for Renaissance Venice, a lot of it won’t be experienced firsthand by Giovanni. Really, a lot of Giovanni’s love, appreciation, and knowledge of Venice doesn’t make a lot of sense if he’d spent most of his life in a cellar.

At the same time, the fact that Giovanni didn’t have anymore debilitating disabilities from being isolated in a pitch black cellar constantly flooded by the acqua alta for TEN YEARS starting from childhood is also kind of nonsensical.

Giovanni dearly loves his brothers, even with the abuse. Their relationship is extremely fucked up, unhealthy, and toxic. And the worst part is that none of the Brothers see anything wrong with what is happening until Josep re-enters the picture after stabbing the Spanish noble. I guess by making the abuse more unsettling, there has to be more “happier” memories of the Vespucci Brothers that confuse the three about the nature their relationship. Among the memories would be the brothers describing their experiences within Venice as a whole. Therefore, much of Giovanni’s fondness of Venice is second-hand through his older brothers.

And it’s not all just abuse towards Giovanni. It’s a three-way fuckery. Gregorio treats Lorenzo like a tool. Lorenzo treats Gregorio like a host to suck blood (money) out of. All three brothers have a 7 year age gap (18, 25, and 32 by the time Giovanni is broken out), so their closeness resembles nothing like siblings born in a tighter time frame. But they see nothing absolutely wrong with this. It’s mutual abuse, manipulation and destruction towards each other.

Thanks, Mama.

[sins-of-the-sea]

"Goodness, I had no idea Giovanni would be this anxious to be a father! And he's stated he always wanted a spouse and kids! Did he not have a good frame of reference in his own father before he passed?"

"As flawed of a man when it came to business and managing the trade, Uncle Antonio was a fantastic reference for a father--but he passed when Giovanni was eight years old. And you know the rest. Not even Gregorio and Lorenzo, the cellar aside, was any good reference for fatherhood. Or a love or family life in general."

"Including their love lives?? Did they not take on wives and have children of their own?"

"Had I not come to Venice after the Magellan Expedition, Gregorio was going to marry a very young woman he actually didn't care for. He had to break off from his lover from work so he'd carry on the Venetian Vespucci name by having children--something he didn't look forward to. Meanwhile, Lorenzo was gallivanting not unlike how Guy would--just with both men and women and with far less concern for anyone’s safety. He broke several hearts as a results and didn’t seem to regret any of it. No doubt if he was to marry whoever he was arranged with, it wouldn't be a happy one."

"It sounds like further misery would have been ahead of them hadn't you ended their lives."

"It's little wonder Giovanni has had fairy tales as his source of reference for romance and happy endings. Perhaps I did his brothers a favor when I killed them before either of them would get married."

[sins-of-the-sea]

//For a moment I wondered how the lesser status of Catalonia would affect the Frances family being able to marry the Venetian branch of the Vespucci family, but perhaps I don't have to wrack my brain much. To justify why the real life Vespucci family would not mention having a Venetian branch despite having Milanese and Genoese in the story, the Venetian branch would be so vile and disliked, the Florentine branch would like you to forget they exist. And the Venetian branch would do ANYthing to grab more power.

I am looking at the idea that the Frances family left out the part they're of lesser status in the grand kingdom of Spain when marrying into the Venetian Vespucci, which contributes to the constant conflict of lies, backstabbing, and hatred in their living environment. And Catholics can't divorce.

Nowhere is safe for Josep and the three Vespucci brothers.

[sins-of-the-sea]

"Oh, Anonymous. Was the answer with the elder Vespucci brothers not to your satisfaction? Allow me to share something that not many know about.

"All seven of my pirates, in addition to immortality and their gifts, are capable of taking the souls of every person they directly slay and give it automatically to me. The Seven are not my first thralls, and they certainly wouldn't be the last. With every thrall I obtain, they become an extension of me in place of their taken souls. And this includes taking other souls and containing them to empower my Eyes.

"Of the current Seven, the man who made his first kill, naturally, was Josep. But the first kills he made were not directly by his hand. What he did was simply destabilize the foundation of the Frances mansion and crush everyone within it. A shame that so many souls were wasted by this careless application of his gift. Even his dear old father Jordi Frances' soul could not be taken. The old man didn't even die right away--he was pressed against the rubble for three, long, agonizing days until his organs finally gave out. I would imagine that if Josep found out about this, he'd let the man die this slow, painful death. Alas. Either way, Jordi's soul could not be mine.

"But then there are these two delicious souls he gifted me by slaying them directly by his own hands, and they would be the Vespucci brothers Gregorio and Lorenzo. And my my, the anguish and power these two souls provided. They are not warriors, but their sins were great enough. Sometimes I like to single them out in particular among the thousands I have bound to me just so I can hear their voices above the rest. Even if we are to go this Modern timeline, that means 500+ years of torment. And I will bet that alone satisfies you or any other victim of abuse and torture by the hands of those who were supposed to be your family.

"Of course, there is another reason why I like to single them out. Did you ever give me the two souls of equal value in exchange for their release, Little Nani?"

"No, Master... no matter how many I kill, they never seem to be to your standards of value. I will keep trying, no matter what it takes."

"Then they will be my--and your--prisoners until the exchange is made. Until then, you have a good night, Giovanni."

"Good night, Master....."

[sins-of-the-sea]

How are we supposed to feel about Gregorio and Lorenzo? What they did is irredeemable. But you write them like we are supposed to love them and want them redeemed?

//Oh you don't HAVE to like them at all! You can ABSOLUTELY despise them and want them to burn in Hell for what they did! You can even argue they are much more vile than the Seven put together--because while the Seven usually target the lives of other pirates (the scummier, the better), the elder Vespucci Brothers imprisoned an eight year old disabled boy in a cellar for ten years. That is a different evil altogether, I will completely agree. But remember, IC =/= OOC, and you need to consider Giovanni and Josep's backgrounds as to why they still hold some love for them despite their abusive actions.

Perhaps the biggest thing one must remember (and Gio and Josep certainly do) is that Gregorio and Lorenzo were also victims of abuse, and their actions was the furthering of that vicious cycle--hence why Josep felt guilty over killing them upon finding the letters they never sent to Giovanni. He doesn't necessarily regret killing them on principle, as it was done out of vengeance--but whereas Giovanni came back through immortality, the elder brothers did not. And that's what fucks Josep up the most. The situation with the brothers is not a straightforward answer, it's not black and white, and as much as I am the writer with control of the narrative, I cannot tell you how to feel.

If I am to enforce an emotion through this story, then it would be ambivalence. And thus, your confusion and inability to feel a more specific, straightforward way is my mission accomplished. No human being, abuser or not, is completely black or white in morality. And as seen repeatedly in the Seven, no individual is truly a monster. The tragedy of the brothers lies in how that cycle of abuse could have been stopped and rehabilitation possible, but they were fucking murdered first, and thus, seals Josep's Sin as Wrath. He may have been justified, but it still doesn't excuse the fact he killed two men he dearly loved.

[sins-of-the-sea]

What if Josep didn’t kill Gregorio and Lorenzo when he rescued Gio? And what would have stopped him from doing so? I can’t imagine it would’ve been self-restraint or mercy!

SEND ME ‘WHAT IF’ SCENARIOS FOR MY MUSE TO ANSWER.

"I.... didn't kill them when I rescued Giovanni. I was furious, betrayed... but I didn't kill them. I injured them, pulled a knife on them, but I didn't kill them. Only scared them."

"You did eventually kill them years later. Unarmed, if I recall."

"Yes... because an incident after Nani and I sold our souls made me realize that if it weren't for Gorio and Enzo's actions, Nani and I wouldn't have joined the Magellan Expedition and sold our souls to begin with. That their betrayal and greed ran deeper than just locking up a little boy in a cellar for ten years. It drove Giovanni to the point of us discovering we can never permanently die again--the hard way. Their actions broke him. Their actions broke me."

"Indulge in the thought of the spirit of this 'what if', Josep. Perhaps they were asking what if you didn't kill the brothers at all. What if you never laid retribution upon your cousins for what they did to Giovanni? That you actually stayed your hand? What would have stopped you?"

".....Giovanni's love would have stopped me. My love. I still loved them like brothers. I was willing to believe they did those horrible things because of this lie their mother Aunt Mariana was feeding into them since we were all very young. I thought perhaps they could be rehabilitated. Even with those years spent in the cellar, Giovanni still talks fondly about them as though they were just living in the room next to him. If Giovanni saw what I did to his brothers in order to free him, killing them off would perhaps traumatize Giovanni further and estrange us in the end. That alone would have stayed my hand.

"Except Giovanni died first.... in a bout of lunacy that only came upon him because of his years in the cellar. And so, my rage reached its breaking point. I could not stay my hand even if I wanted to. If the lunacy came without the Master making us immortal, I would have come back to Venice to enact retribution on my own. I would likely be killed in the process, but I wouldn't care. I wouldn't let the Vespucci guards stop me. I would make them suffer. I would make them all suffer.

"And by the point, the only thing keeping me from killing them would be me taking every single moment to drain every drop of blood for every drop Giovanni spilled twice over in his moment of lunacy. I will make it slow. I will make it hurt. For ten. Long. Years."