Following Nijolė
Today we close the solo exhibition of Nijolė at the city gallery of Fellbach, with the presence of Elke aus dem Moore, Antanas Perez Mockus, family and friends. I made a presentation called “Following Nijole” in which I tell the story of meeting Nijolė and creating the effort of bringing her back to exhibition space at the Fellbach Triennale and in her solo exhibition.
Today we close the solo exhibition of Nijolė at the city gallery of Fellbach, with the presence of Elke aus dem Moore, Antanas Perez Mockus, family and friends. I made a presentation called “Following Nijole” in which i tell the story of meeting Nijolė and creating this effort of bringing her back to an exhibition space at the Fellbach Triennale and in her solo exhibition.
Nijolė has not died
Nijolė's work will be showcased at the small-scale sculpture Triennale of Fellbach (Germany), from June 4th to October 3rd 2022.
In parallel, the city gallery of Fellbach has dedicated a Solo Exhibition of Nijole's graphic work. Some of these artworks portray pieces of her life in Stuttgart and Fellbach, after WW2 when she was a student of the Fine Arts Academy of Stuttgart.
I am happy and honored to share with you the results of the hard work of months together with the curators of the Triennale and the Mockus Sivickas family:
Nijolė's work will be showcased at the small-scale sculpture Triennale of Fellbach (Germany), from June 4th to October 3rd 2022.
In parallel, the city gallery of Fellbach has dedicated a Solo Exhibition of Nijole's graphic work. Some of these artworks portray pieces of her life in Stuttgart and Fellbach, after WW2 when she was a student of the Fine Arts Academy of Stuttgart.
People visiting the city of Fellbach this summer will be able to get closer to Nijolė's sculpture and graphic work and watch the documentary.
This is Nijolė's first posthumous exhibition. The sculptures were her last curatorial selection.
Sivickas, Nijole
Nijolė Šivickas (Lithuania, 1925–Colombia, 2018) never died; she vibrates with her work as a single being. If you get close enough, you can see her hands shaping each one of her creations, and you can hear her sculptures reciting poems that come from the bowels of the earth, mixtures of blood and bones, of pain and hope. Her beings expand in time and space, welcoming with a warm hug to whoever visits. They defy the laws of physics via impossible shapes and volumes, and her characters shake the foundations of society with fierce humility. Šivickas’ work mixes ceramics, metals, wood and oxide, exposing her bond with the natural quality of her materials.
This selection displays different stages of her oeuvre, from figurative to abstract and installation. Beings that talk about the human condition: Señora (Lady) is a confident mature woman. Idiota (Idiot) is each one of us, clueless but calm before the mystery of existence. In Escena de Cinco (Scene of five), Šivickas becomes a film director assembling a mise-en-scène of five beings expressing their individuality within the collectivity. Pesadilla (Nightmare) enters a dark and dense dream with begging hands, dead feet, and eyes that scrutinize. Colgado (Hanged) stages a tragic death within the immensity of the unknown. From this void, we are born again with Semilla (Seed): a sacred egg that is being delicately cut by an invisible hand. And with a playful smile on her face, Šivickas makes us feel the pain of the burning iron on our skin, branding us like cows with the label: MUJER (WOMAN).
"I’m not in front of the material. The material is next to me. I look at it and it watches me. And so the dialogue begins: I am raising an object from you and you are forcing me to hold you in my hands while you also try to raise. Are we fighting? you ask. We are two beings, you are already an object, and I am within you. Look, you hurt my hand and leg. But you were carving me with a knife." And so the dialogue never ends ...
Text: Maria Cecilia Reyes. Deutsche Übersetzung: Johanna Schindler
Nijole's Lithuanian Premier at VDFF
This year NIJOLE will be the opening film of the Vilnius Documentary Film Festival - VDFF 2019. The first time that the documentary will be screened in Nijole’s land. The festival will be held from 19 to 29 of September 2019, and will have screenings in Klaipeda and Kaunas.
This year NIJOLE will be the opening film of the Vilnius Documentary Film Festival - VDFF 2019. The first time that the documentary will be screened in Nijole’s land. The festival will be held from 19 to 29 of September 2019, and will have screenings in Klaipeda and Kaunas.
During the opening, Antanas Mockus, one of the most famous lithuanians of all times and Nijole’s son will be present.
This is how VDFF describes our film:
Nijole doesn’t really like people. She is provocative, an artist, an iconoclast. And much of this was inherited by her son, Antanas Mockus. Along with the peculiar relationship between mother and son – in fact Antanas is the film’s guiding force – their communication and lack thereof, the memories of a Lithuania that, in times of war, had to be fled from, her artistic works and her written reflections, this film has the same irreverent, strong, and somewhat disperse character of the fascinating woman it portrays.
From lithuanian press:
Antanas e Nijole al Biografilm Fest 2019
Biografilm Festival rende omaggio al politico, filosofo e matematico colombiano Antanas Mockus con la proiezione di Nijole di Sandro Bozzolo, in anteprima italiana, film sull'artista lituana Nijole Sivickas che ha ispirato l’azione artistico-politica di suo figlio Antanas Mockus, e il film Life Is Sacred di Andreas M. Dalsgaard, sui quattro anni di battaglie per la pace del gruppo guidato da Antanas Mockus che usando mimi, matite, flashmob e costumi da supereroe ha cambiato la storia politica colombiana.
Omaggio ad Antanas Mockus, il creativo e filosofo ex-sindaco di Bogotà che ha cambiato la storia politica della Colombia
Biografilm Festival dedica un omaggio ad Antanas Mockus e alla sua meravigliosa storia come innovativo sindaco di Bogotà.
Rettore dell’Università di Bogotà e due volte sindaco della città, è stato inventore di un nuovo modo di comunicare e fare politica, partendo dai più piccoli problemi ed ottenendo risultati straordinari.
Per risolvere il problema del traffico e degli incidenti stradali, distribuì ai cittadini dei cartelli con un pollice verde alzato e un pollice rosso rivolto verso il basso, da usare per segnalare i buoni e cattivi comportamenti dei loro concittadini. Assunse dei mimi ai semafori che reagivano alle abitudini scorrette di automobilisti e passanti. Girò uno spot in cui faceva la doccia chiudendo l’acqua mentre si insaponava chiedendo a tutti di fare lo stesso, come messaggio in risposta alla grave carenza d’acqua che la città affrontava.
Proibì le armi e fece diminuire violenza, criminalità e omicidi in città con iniziative molto creative; per ridurre la paura e le molestie organizzò le “Notti delle donne”, serate di coprifuoco volontario per gli uomini per permettere alle donne di uscire tranquille.
Biografilm Festival rende omaggio al politico, filosofo e matematico colombiano Antanas Mockus con la proiezione di Nijole di Sandro Bozzolo, in anteprima italiana, film sull'artista lituana Nijole Sivickas che ha ispirato l’azione artistico-politica di suo figlio Antanas Mockus, e il film Life Is Sacred di Andreas M. Dalsgaard, sui quattro anni di battaglie per la pace del gruppo guidato da Antanas Mockus che usando mimi, matite, flashmob e costumi da supereroe ha cambiato la storia politica colombiana.
Nijole en DOCS Barcelona
“Arte y política, Lituania y América Latina, madre irreverente e hijo activista. La inimitable trayectoria de Antanas Mockus, ex-candidato a la presidencia de Colombia, habría sido imposible sin los consejos visionarios de su madre, la artista nonagenaria Nijole Sivicka. Juntos se embarcan en un viaje íntimo de descubrimiento mutuo y nos dan una lección vital llena de coraje y vulnerabilidad.
Dicen que las mejores ideas salen de mezclas insólitas, a veces desconcertantes. La creatividad también podría ser una cuestión de transmisión familiar. El director italiano Sandro Bozzolo construye un cóctel inclasificable e inspirador que nos adentra hacia un viaje íntimo a las profundidades de sus vidas. Del presente marcado por la fragilidad de sus cuerpos, a las raíces lituanas que Nijole tuvo que dejar atrás, descubrimos dos historias vitales extraordinarias.”
Sinopsis de Nijole en DOCS Barcelona 2019
“Arte y política, Lituania y América Latina, madre irreverente e hijo activista. La inimitable trayectoria de Antanas Mockus, ex-candidato a la presidencia de Colombia, habría sido imposible sin los consejos visionarios de su madre, la artista nonagenaria Nijole Sivicka. Juntos se embarcan en un viaje íntimo de descubrimiento mutuo y nos dan una lección vital llena de coraje y vulnerabilidad.
Dicen que las mejores ideas salen de mezclas insólitas, a veces desconcertantes. La creatividad también podría ser una cuestión de transmisión familiar. El director italiano Sandro Bozzolo construye un cóctel inclasificable e inspirador que nos adentra hacia un viaje íntimo a las profundidades de sus vidas. Del presente marcado por la fragilidad de sus cuerpos, a las raíces lituanas que Nijole tuvo que dejar atrás, descubrimos dos historias vitales extraordinarias.”
Sección Oficial - Panorama
Sección competitiva que agrupa una selección de los mejores documentales del panorama internacional más reciente. Las películas de esta sección compiten por el Premio DocsBarcelona TV3 al Mejor Documental y el Premio Nuevo Talento a la mejor película de los directores debutantes.
Nijole en el FICCI
Todos los amantes del cine de Colombia suenan con ir al FICCI, sea como espectadores, como productores, como directores, como vendedores. Es la cita por excelencia del séptimo arte en Colombia. Cuando iniciamos a sonar con una pelicula dedicada a la personalidad de Nijole Sivickas, nos imaginabamos que un dia seria estrenada en la gran pantalla cartagenera.
Y asi fue.
NIJOLE sera estrenada en Colombia en la 59a edicion del Festival Internacional de Cine de Cartagena de Indias.
Todos los amantes del cine de Colombia suenan con ir al FICCI, sea como espectadores, como productores, como directores, como vendedores. Es la cita por excelencia del séptimo arte en Colombia. Cuando iniciamos a sonar con una pelicula dedicada a la personalidad de Nijole Sivickas, nos imaginabamos que un dia seria estrenada en la gran pantalla cartagenera.
Y asi fue.
NIJOLE será estrenada en Colombia en la 59a edicion del Festival Internacional de Cine de Cartagena de Indias.
What Would An Artist Do? Arts & Politics Transmedia Exhibition
Una panoramica sulla vita, le opere e l’impegno politico e umano di due singolari artisti lituano - colombiani: Nijolė Šivickas e il figlio Antanas Mockus, il sindaco che con l’arte e la pedagogia ha trasformato Bogotà.
La presenta, per la prima volta in Italia, la mostra “What would an artist do?” che sarà inaugurata alle 18,30 di venerdì 23 novembre al Museo della Ceramica di Mondovì (piazza Maggiore 1) e rimarrà aperta sino al 3 febbraio 2019.
Una panoramica sulla vita, le opere e l’impegno politico e umano di due singolari artisti lituano - colombiani: Nijolė Šivickas e il figlio Antanas Mockus, il sindaco che con l’arte e la pedagogia ha trasformato Bogotà.
La presenta, per la prima volta in Italia, la mostra “What would an artist do?” che sarà inaugurata alle 18,30 di venerdì 23 novembre al Museo della Ceramica di Mondovì (piazza Maggiore 1) e rimarrà aperta sino al 3 febbraio 2019.
Grazie a materiali multimediali e a un'installazione in Realtà Virtuale, nello spazio di un’ora sarà possibile conoscere il potenziale espressivo, la forza creativa e i meccanismi di partecipazione attiva alla vita cittadina proposti dai due protagonisti.
Emigrata dalla Lituania in Colombia nel 1950, Nijolė Šivickas - spiegano i curatori della mostra, Christiana Fissore e Sandro Bozzolo – partendo dall’arte ceramica ha trasmesso al figlio strumenti inconsueti e estremamente innovativi nell’arte contemporanea e performativa che Antanas Mockus ha messo in pratica coinvolgendo otto milioni di cittadini.
Grazie alla sua gestione anticonvenzionale il numero degli omicidi è sceso del 50%, 66.000 famiglie hanno volontariamente scelto di pagare più tasse e la problematica Bogotá è diventata una capitale moderna ed efficiente.
A partire dai materiali raccolti per la realizzazione del film, di cui il Museo della Ceramica di Mondovì è partner di produzione, è stata concepita una mostra sorprendente nei contenuti, che ripropone, ampliata e riveduta, una riflessione di Antanas Mockus: "quando in politica non paiono esserci soluzioni possibili, è utile chiedersi: “cosa farebbe un artista?”.
Nijole's World Premier at DOK Leipzig
Our film Nijole will be premiered at the 61° edition of the Leipzig Film Festival. Next Masters Competition. Nominated for the MDR Film Prize. A lituanian-italian co-production.
DOK Leipzig 29. Oktober – 4. November 2018
61. Internationales Leipziger Festival für Dokumentar- und Animationsfilm
Antanas Mockus and I working on Nijole’s presentation “Works and Reflexions” at the Contemporary Art Center of Vilnius.
I am one of the 4 components of a trip to Lithuania in 2016: Nijole, Antanas, Sandro (the director), and me. Of the 4, today we are 3. We wanted to make a biographical film and we ended up making a film about the relationship between art and love, about freedom. This film, called Nijole, will become Cinema (with a capital C) in a few days: the world premiere will be at the 61st edition of the Leipzig Festival, the European documentary's temple; just a day after Herzog, in person, released his latest documentary; in the competition that highlights the next masters of the documentary. But this is nothing: the film will see the light in the country where Nijole was trained as an artist, and from which the conditions that later led her to Colombia arose. The film will be screened for the first time, only one month after his death. Those who will see this film, will see it, in its essence, next to the essence of his son Antanas (his work). Nijole yearned to make art without an object. This movie is that, it's herself, made light.
“Antanas Mockus was Mayor of Bogotá, several times Colombian presidential candidate, and voted into the senate in 2018. But this film is not about the politician, but about his 88-year-old mother, the idiosyncratic artist Nijolė Šivickas. She has consistently protected her private life from the public eye, agreeing only reluctantly to media interviews. Even her son knew almost nothing about her Lithuanian childhood. In her artistic practice, but also emotionally, she had turned her back on her homeland.
Now Nijolė has been invited to give a workshop on the occasion of a great retrospective in Vilnius. The film follows her and Antanas on this journey. It’s basically a son’s look at a mother whose independence and critical social spirit were his constant inspiration. Sandro Bozzolo and his team approach their protagonists with restraint, adapt the montage to their rhythm and focus on the rooms of their creative work, on Nijolė’s meetings with Antanas and their journey home together, which moves both deeply. The son takes his mother by the hand, as does this story of an outer and inner journey with the audience. Which events continue to shape one’s life and which had better be forgotten?”