Pier Paolo Pasolini Exhibition

Pier Paolo Pasolini’s murder at the age of 53 transformed an already controversial and extraordinary Italian artist into an iconic figure of the Twentieth Century. Beginning on November 26, 2007 and continuing through December 4, 2007, a tribute to Pasolini, entitled, Pier Paolo Pasolini – Poet of Ashes, will be presented at venues in New York City.

The Italian Cultural Institute, Fondazione Aida and the Film Society of Lincoln Center present this one-of-a kind exhibition of the many facets of Pasolini’s work, including cinema, theater, poetry and music at locations that include The Italian Cultural Institute, the Film Society’s Walter Reade Theater and Frieda and Roy Furman Gallery, Joe’s Pub at The Public Theater, La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club, and Casa Italiana Zerilli Marimò. The series, sponsored by Consorzio per la Tutela dell’Asti Spumante, has its official opening on November 27 at the Italian Cultural Institute in the presence of dignitaries and Italian and American personalities, and will feature a screening of the documentary, Pasolini’s Voice. It concludes on December 4 with a concert – reading at the Walter Reade Theater.

“For years New York has admired this intellectual, who was so different from the “official” intellectuals. Now, New York can get to know him better, through readings, meetings, conferences, and screenings, as his work is an archipelago as vast as his spirit,” announced Claudio Angelini, Director of the Italian Cultural Institute.

It was a full decade ago, in 1997, that Pasolini’s work was last exhibited in the United States. His significance has only increased over time as exemplified by the fact that perhaps his most notorious film, Salò: 120 Days of Sodom, has been characterized as among the rarest of DVDs. Salò will be screened twice during the exhibition—on December 2 @ 4 PM and on December 3 @ 8 PM at the Film Society’s Walter Reade Theater.

“Pasolini is that rare cutting edge artist whose work over the years has only gained in relevance and importance. Thirty years after his death, he’s still very much our contemporary,” explained Richard Peña, Program Director for the Film Society at Lincoln Center. The Film Society’s presentation, Heretical Epiphanies: The Cinematic Pilgrimages of Pier Paolo Pasolini, forms the focal point of this cultural event and represents the artist as a filmmaker, his most familiar role to U.S. audiences. The Film Society will screen 11 of Pasolini’s features and shorts and two recent documentaries on his work during the exhibition. Many of Pasolini’s most acclaimed films will be featured, including Accattone, Mamma Roma, The Gospel According to St. Matthew, The Hawks and the Sparrows, Teorema, Pigpen, and the previously banned Salò: 120 Days of Sodom, released just two weeks after Pasolini’s untimely murder.

Pier Paolo Pasolini – Poet of Ashes also features Readings and Lectures: Pasolini’s Poetry and Literature by Pasolini’s cousin, Graziella Chiarcossi, and Vincenzo Cerami (November 26 at the Italian Cultural Institute). Cerami, who received an Oscar nomination for his story/screenplay of “Life’s Beautiful,” was a student and later a collaborator with Pasolini. The Exhibition, Pier Paolo Pasolini: the Body’s Truth, (from November 27 to December 15 at the Italian Cultural Institute) which presents Angelo Novi’s photos and images taken on the sets of Pasolini’s films from Mamma Roma (1962) to Teorema (1968). A Documentary Series: Tuesday night @ the Movies (at the Italian Cultural Institute from December 4 to December 18), which features six short films on the director, including Sopralluoghi in Palestina (1964), Pasolini l’enragé (1966), Una disperata vitalità (1998), III B facciamo l’appello (1971), Pasolini e la forma della citta (1974), and Pasolini e il cinema: al cuore della realtà (1974). A major showing of previously un-exhibited promotional material, entitled, Pier Paolo Pasolini’s Cinema Affiches, will run from November 2 – December 2, 2007 at the Frieda and Roy Furman Gallery. The exhibit comprises film posters and affiches, which were prepared by painters and artisans who had to complete their works even before filming was completed.

Facets of the tribute also include the music concert, The Songs of Pier Paolo Pasolini – Le Canzoni di Pasolini, which takes place at the Public Theater – Joe’s Pub (Nov. 27). The concert features the performances of Aisha Cerami, voice; Nuccio Siano, voice and guitar; Andrea Colocci, double bass; Roberto Marino, piano; and Salvatore Zambataro, accordion and clarinet. The theatrical performance Trash, directed by Andrea Mancini and Lorenzo Bassotto and inspired by Pasolini, will be performed at the La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club (Nov. 29, 30 & Dec. 1), with featured performances by Lorenzo Bassotto and Rhonda Moore.

The closing night of the series will be the United States premiere of Accattone in Jazz – A Homage to Pier Paolo Pasolini, at the Walter Reade Theater on Tuesday, Dec. 4, at 9:00 p.m. This musical performance is produced by Kairos Italy Theater in collaboration with the City of Rome Department of Culture and features two of Italy’s most renowned jazz musicians—Roberto Gatto on drums and Danilo Rea on piano—with one of Italy’s leading actors, Valerio Mastrandrea, reciting passages from the director’s script for Accattone (1960). It will be in Italian with English subtitles.

The tribute culminates with a round table discussion, The Last Questions of Pasolini – Le Ultime Domande di Pasolini, held at New York University’s Casa Italiana Zerilli Marimò (Nov. 29). The event, which is realized with Fondazione Musica per Roma and Fondazione Cinema per Roma, features the musical artist Patti Smith. This is followed by two Master classes with Vincenzo Cerami – The Tale of Reality – II racconto della realtà at Yale University (Nov. 30) and at Cuny Graduate Center (Dec. 3).

This rare tribute is commemorated with the launch of a new book in English, entitled, “Pier Paolo Pasolini Poet of Ashes,” that is co-published by Titivillus Mostre Editoria (San Miniato – Pisa) and City Lights Books of Lawrence Ferlinghetti (San Francisco). It is curated by Andrea Mancini, Professor of iconography of the Theater at the University of Siena; Roberto Chiesi, Curator of Fondo Pier Paolo Pasolini; and Graziella Chiarcossi.

Pier Paolo Pasolini
Born in Bologna, Italy, in 1922, to a military father, Pier Paolo Pasolini grew up in various small towns throughout Northern Italy. After his parents separated, he spent long periods of time in his mother’s native region of Casarsa, where he cultivated a respect for the area’s peasant culture and wrote poetry in Friulian, its distinctive dialect. He studied literature and art history under the renowned historian Roberto Longhi at the University of Bologna and was drafted into the army during World War II, during which Communist partisans executed his younger brother Guido. Following the war, he settled in Casarsa and worked as a teacher and, despite the nature of his brother’s death, became a leading member of the area’s Communist party.