The curation of an activity is something completely personal, it is also an exchange of experiences and feelings, it s mostly a permanent experiment, says Gabi Scardi, curator, critic of art and writer. She was invited to the premises of Harabel and held an open conversation with the public on December 18th, 2018 in Tirana.
Gabi Scardi begins her speech with the presentation of artist Maria Lai, she is renowned for installations of environmental dimensions. A deep ethical sense encouraged her to carry out systematic work with children and young people. An inseparable connection with the land, its inhabitants, stories and myths, led to performing some of the greatest public interventions carried out in Italy. For example, “Legarsi alla montagna”, was carried out by Maria Lai on September 8, 1981 in Ulassai, Sardinia.
Another author with whom Gabi Scardi worked with, is Alberto Burri, respectively in “Teatro continuo”, which was initially created and located at the Sempione Park on the Triennale XV of Milan in 1973. It, (the theater) consisted of a raised platform and six side wings painted in white on one side and black on the other.
The work was presented in the heart of Milan as a stage car ready and available for free use for activities and artistic performances, as well as for independent use by everyone else. Later, in 2015, Gabi Scardi was the one who took care of the scientific side of the project for its renovation in collaboration with the NCTM legal studio.
Part of the curator’s discourse was also the work of artist Alberto Garutti, who has undertaken the work proceedings of permanent public works that are able to establish relationships and connections between public and private institutions and the city’s social fabric. Particularly worth mentioning are his works for the cities of Bergamo and Bolzano (in collaboration with Museion).
Regarding her experience, Gabi Scardi also mentioned the co-operation as a curator in the project “Cibo che unisce, cibo che divide”, an activity that intertwines food, art and anthropology and which was prompted by a worker in an elementary school in a Milan district. Working for three days with children, artists and anthropologists, the goal was to see food from unusual points of view and producing situations where attention is focused on sounds, gestures, smiles, dialogues, ideas, and so on. Gabi Scardi has also collaborated with many Albanian visual artists.
