Welcome to THE ART MOVEMENT, a radio show about the arts and culture, where all art forms and free thoughts are allowed. The show is hosted by globe-trotting art presenter Matt Micucci, featuring plenty of music, interview clips and thoughts on current events.
Listen to episode 18 via one of the players below.
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In this episode:
How environmentalism facilitated Czechoslovakia’s Velvet Revolution.
Prague is expanding its art exhibition space.
Andy Warhol Superstar and artist Brigid Berlin has died.
Elizabeth Bishop is one of my favorite poets. A fascinating writer with a unique way to describe things that revealed a unique perspective of the world around her, she was also a tragic figure who once famously told the poet Robert Lowell: “When you write my epitaph, you must say I was the loneliest person who ever lived.”
That is why in “The Fish,” as she describes the exterior of the title animal, she is able to do so in defamiliarizing terms, alienating the reader from the natural world and making us consider the creature as a predator, prey, food and external object.
In fact, in her poetry we often see the exploration of the idea that humanity is either separate or a part of nature, shifting between these two perspectives seamlessly. This fact alone reflects her own alienation, which may have had something to do with her sexual identity.
In fact, solitude was almost a way of protecting herself in an era where queer love was still very much frowned upon, if not downright illegal. Bishop was born in 1911 and as a child, she lost both her parents and was molested by an uncle. She discovered her love for other women relatively early but hated labels so, much like she resented defining herself as a poet, she avoided being labelled as a lesbian. Both, however, were proof of her own deep insecurity as she longed for constant encouragement from others.
We know of two of her meaningful relationships — one with the Brazilian architect slash landscape designer Lota de Macedo Soares and the other with Alice Methfessel, a younger woman who loved her until she died. In a letter to fellow poet Adrienne Rich, who inspired by the rise of the feminist movement of the 60s had left her husband and come out as a lesbian, Bishop wrote that she too longed to follow her path and write more openly about “the situation of woman.”
One of my favorite poems ever is “One Art.” I take great comfort in it. The poem was written in 1976, in the late stage of her life, and it’s almost as if she were looking back and all she is able to see is a succession of things big and small that she lost.
What I also love about it, and I am not sure whether this has been pointed out in any significant way, is that if you — like me — are into reading poetry out loud, the meaning of the poem changes according to the tone with which you choose to interpret it. If you read it with fiery determination, it is reassuring. If you read it quietly, it is full of contemplation.
To cap off Poetry Month 2020, I recorded a conversation with poet and author Naomi Foyle, whom I met years ago at a poetry reading in Prague. Naomi recently published her latest collection of poetry titled Adamantine. She is also the writer of The Gaia Chronicles science fiction literary series.
Matt’s Art Chat is a series of conversation with artists and interesting people from all over the world. You can watch all episodes of Matt’s Art Chat on Youtube, or listen to them on Spotify, and PodBean.
This week’s episode of Matt’s Art Chat features a conversation with a good friend of mind: Prague-based, American-born poet Lucien Zell. In our conversation, we talk about creativity in the time of the coronavirus, recent projects and he also gives his definition for the words “soul” and “poetry.”
If you’d like to find out more about Lucien Zell, we also recorded a video for my Matt’s Long Take series around this time last year.
Matt’s Art Chat is a series of conversation with artists and interesting people from all over the world. You can watch all episodes of Matt’s Art Chat on Youtube, or listen to them on Spotify, and PodBean.
My new episode of Matt’s Art Chat features a conversation with Las Vegas-based poet/author and all-around creative soul, Chris Cipollini. He is actually the first person to make the second appearance on Matt’s Art Chat since I have started the series – though I took a long break before starting it again at the start of this year.
We record our conversation just a few days after the Coronavirus outbreak was declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization and every country seems to slowly shut down. Because he is in the States and I am in Europe, we share our experiences of this current situation. But aside from our discussion about COVID-19, we talk about his trip to Paris, France, a few months ago, art and poetry. He even ends the call by reciting one of his very own poems.
Matt’s Art Chat is a series of conversation with artists and interesting people from all over the world. You can watch all episodes of Matt’s Art Chat on Youtube, or listen to them on Spotify, and PodBean.
Whenever I’m in Prague, one of my favorite cities in the world, my friend Lucien Zell is one of the first people I get in touch with. Lucien is a poet, author, photographer, singer and man full committed to what I refer to as the “art life.” The last time I was in Prague, I met him and documented our meeting with my camcorder. I noticed early on that something was off in the speed settings, but in the spirit of my Long Take series, I kept filming. I was happy to note that the error gives the video an unanticipated, dreamlike effect that is appropriate to this late-night conversation about art, culture and spirituality.
Matt’s Long Take is a new web series by art reporter Matt Micucci documenting a series of encounters with artists and art institutions around the world. The use of the long take is inspired by André Bazin, who believed it to be an important tool in cinema’s ability to capture “reality.”
In Arte Matt 