Justin MacGregor

Based on the true story of his grandfather, Justin MacGregor's "The Play That Killed Me" had its world premiere at The Lowry from 23 September to 3 October. The play received four and five star reviews and was supported by Arts Council England.

In the photo, from left, Charles (Matthew Ganley), Peg (Jane Purcell), Hector (Gerry McLaughlin) and Liz (Scarlett Mack) contemplate the world in the years leading up to World War II.

Leila Rasheed

Leila Rasheed has a short story in "BUGGED: Writings from ovehearing", published by Bell Jar. The book is based on a mass eavesdropping by writers all over the U.K.

Lars Rydquist

Lars Rydquist is the editor of "Det sköna med skönlitteraturen: Introduktioner till den samtida litteraturen på Nobelbiblioteket", published by Svenska Akademien.

Maria Tapaninen

Maria Tapaninen has published VID LÄRKVATTEN, an Album, at Wahlström & Widstrand.

Marietta Leis

Marietta Leis shows a selection of her trademark blue paintings as well as charcoal drawings at en exhibition entitle "Deep Listening" at the Santa Fee Community College, New Mexico, October 4-22. See www.mariettaleis.com

Jo Møller

Jo Møller is exhibiting his installation work UNDER grund (UNDER ground) at North, Nørregade 7 C, Copenhagen K, October 8-30. The artist asks the question "Do we repress the notion of the origin of culture in a rational, indvidualistic system? The installation includes panels, assemblages, and sounds recorded at the caves in Castelcività during Jo Møller's stay in Ascea this year. See www.jomoller.com

Lennart Thougaard

Lennart Thougaard showed paintings from his stays in Ascea at the Paco della Musica in Vallo della Lucania from September 25 through October 3.

Theater at Pellare

Lars Aagaard-Mogensen had a lead role in a short film shown as part of the dramatic performance "Rhapsodie pour la mégère" that took place in Pellare, Friday September 17. The film and the play were written and directed by Salvatore Carbone.

A mini soirée

John Tchicai (tenor saxophone), René Mogensen (soprano saxophone) and Leila Rasheed (voice) performed jazzpoetry at a mini soirée on August 20, and Daniela Scopelliti read poems by Andrea Celano and Else Mogensen.

Folate di Pensieri

A collection of poetry, Folate di Pensieri, with poems by 12 local poets, including Else Mogensen, was presented in Moio delle Civitella, August 10. The book was published by L'Associazione Culturale "Don Giuseppe Alario". The event included intermezzi musicali and teatrali, and Lars Aagaard-Mogensen acted in a pantomime.

International Jazz Trio in Vallo della Lucania

August 3rd, Morten Schantz (piano), René Mogensen (saxophone) and Gianluca Guida (bass) played jazz standards, original compositions by René Mogensen and a jazz version of "Wonderwall" by the British rock band Oasis at Parco della Musica. See www.jazzkamikaze.com and www.myspace.com/ReneMogensen

Schubert and arpeggione

Nicolas Deletaille (Belgium) and Alain Roudier (France) played works by Franz Schubert, Boyan Vodenitcharov and René Mogensen for piano and arpeggione in Ascea, Vallo della Lucania, Pellare and Novi Velia in mid July. Roudier played on a grand piano from 1820 brought directly from the Ad Libitum collection in Etobon, France. The concerts also included René's work Sonata Neo-Schubert for arepeggione, piano and computer written for Deletaille and Roudier.

Marietta Leis

Marietta Leis will show 3 mixed media pieces at the Wooden Cow Gallery at 7400 Montgomery Blvd NE, Albuquerque, New Mexico, August 4-28. Reception August 6, 5-8 pm. The group exhibit, THE BUZZ: NEW ART, NEW IMAGES, at 105 Gallery, located at 105 4th Street SW in Albuquerque, will show 27 pieces af Leis' work on paper August 13-28. Opening reception August 13, 5-8 pm. www.mariettaleis.com. www.105artgallery.com.

Morten Schantz

Jazzkamikaze has released the CD "supersonic revolutions" on the label Sevenseas Music. It includes "Acropolis" written by Morten Schantz during a stay in Ascea. www.jazzkamikaze.com

Wedding in Ascea

Leila Rasheed and René Mogensen were married at the Ascea Town Hall on July 4, 2010.
Congratulations!

Leila Rasheed

Leila Rasheed, in her latest book, The World Turned Upside Down, commissioned especially for the 2010 Stratford-upon-Avon Literary Festival, tells a story for teenagers and adults set against Stratford's past and future. www.stratfordliteraryfestival.co.uk

Jo Møller

Jo Møller participates in KØBENHAVN/BERLIN, an exhibition of works by the group KBH. together with guest artists from Berlin at Copenhagen Town Hall from June 16 through June 29, 2010. See www.jomo.dk.

Il premio Mogensen-Bruno

The Mogensen-Bruno prize was awarded on June 8 at the Palazzo Alario for the three best essays written by students at the Scuola Media in Ascea based on a short story by Francesco Bruno (1899-1982), a well-known author and literary critic who was born and grew up in Ascea. The prize is established by Else Mogensen in collaboration with the Bruno family. The winner in 2010 was Mattia Capitani. Second prize went to Annagrazia Mautone and the third to Ines Naso. See http://brunopremioascea.blogspot.com

Thomas Oldrup

Thomas Oldrup's new book "Agtigt", Forlaget Bagland, comprises 19 short stories about being thirty something today. Parts of the book are written here in Ascea. See www.forlagetbagland.dk

Marietta Leis

Marietta Leis has a new studio in Alburquerque, New Mexico. See www.mariettaleis.com

Leila Rasheed

Monday 26th April was the launch of Leila Rasheed's novella, The World Turned Upside Down, which was commissioned by the Stratford-Upon-Avon Literary Festival. A reception was held at Stratford Civic Hall. The cover of the book was designed by 16 year old Alex Pritchard, a local art student.

Karen Bernard

Dixon Place presents
3 FEMMES
CYNTHIA BERKSHIRE | KAREN BERNARD | JIL GUYON
May 20, 2010, at 8:00 pm

Karen Bernard's dance performance Ouette | (ō' et) is loosely based on the François Ozon movie Swimming Pool. Bernard's character parallels the film's protagonist, an elderly English novelist who becomes involved in a dangerous sexual fantasy that is part her fiction and part her desire. Using a laptop and projector, different spaces evoking the imagined and real experiences are created. With video footage of floor tiles, patterned fabrics and human silhouettes, Bernard creates a heightened film noir that is quickly fractured by the non-performative technical tasks of manipulating the laptop and projector. Bernard worked on Ouette during her stay in Ascea. See www.dixonplace.org. Photo by Sheilagh O'Leary.

La Petite Soirée

April 1, Salvatore Carbone organized a soirée at the restaurant Zia Rosa with a video-showing af Lars and Mazzola's acting in Carbone's play Homo Sapiens, reading of poetry by 5 poets, including 2 poems by Else Mogensen, and typical Cilentan dishes.

Pinacoteca Communale "Pietro Volpe"

Visit to the Pinacoteca "Pietro Volpe" that was opened in Sessa Cilento in September 2007 with works by mainly Italian artists, donated by the Volpe family.

John Gleason

Spring Exhibition at Thomasville Cultural Center, Thomasville, Georgia, USA, April 16 - May 21, 2010. John Gleason is showing works together with four other American artists. Gleaned from Gleason's work spanning from 2000 to the present, the exhibited works are industrial landscapes, concept-driven pixilated canvases, travel-inspired works on paper, and figurative scenarios that play upon the color language and domesticity of house paint brochures. This cross section of artwork presents an array of styles and thematic approaches. See www.ThomasvilleCulturalCenter.org

Piano Vetrale

In early march we visited Piano Vetrale, il Paese dei Murales (the town of murals) and the birth place of the painter Paolo De Matteis (1662-1728) also called Paoluccio della Madonnina. Since 1980, every year in August new murals are added.
The mural shown here, Harvesters, is by Antonia Guida (Agropoli).

Anders Johansen

Anders Johansen has published Tranedans, Modtryk 2010. A strong novel about mobbing for young people. The book can also be read by the older generation with profit. www.modtryk.dk

Thomas Oldrup

Thomas Oldrup wrote the cover story, "Pompeji: Romerbyen, som fik evigt liv ved Vesuvs udbrud" (Pompei, the Roman city that got an eternal life due to the eruption of the Vesuvius) in the Danish magazine Alt om historie. Oldrup is also the editor of the magazine. www.altomhistorie.dk

Tim Taylor

Tim Taylor's latest work, "Artifact", a cement sculpture placed on open land by the sea.

June Woest

Preserving Space in Russ Pitman Park
Thirteen Houston-based visual artists, including June Woest & Urban Artists, will explore the system and the function of an urban park in Russ Pitman Park. Besides the park's role as an escape from the hubbub of city life, the artists are looking at its more serious function as a place for observation and understanding of nature, plus the implications of the evolving process in constructing a natural landscape.
Opening 5-7 pm, Saturday, March 27, 2010. Through Saturday, May 2, 2010. Park Hours: 8 am - 9 pm everyday.
Illustration: Basket, Amie Adelman, Russ Pitman Park, 2009-reed, crepe myrtle, live oak, & mulberry, 4’ x 3’

Tia Matthies

Tia Matthies is exhibiting works from her stay in Ascea at an exhibition at TPN Gallery Walls, Seattle, Washington. The exhibition is curated by Laurie LeClair. Artist reception on March 9th, 2010, 5:30-7:30 pm. See www.tpnevents.com

Carnevale in Ascea 2010

Floats with reference to local and national political, social and cultural issues.

Multimedia concert with music by René Mogensen

René Mogensen's "All Numbers Language" for cello with interactive computer music and video was performed by cellist Nicolas Deletaille on February 7th at Palazzo Ricci in Ascea. The video was based on works by Johan Lievens. Deletaille also performed Suite for solo cello by Gaspar Cassado. The same concert was presented at the Teatro San Genesio in Salerno on February 4th and at the Chiesa Antica in Pellare on February 5th. See www.myspace.com/ReneMogensen, www.NicolasDeletaille.com and www.JohanLievens.be

Parmenideum

A mini Parmenideum conference was held on February 7 at the Palazzo Ricci in Ascea organized by Lars Aagaard-Mogensen and Habeeb Marouf. Parmenideum has the purpose of increasing our knowledge of the Eleatic philosophy and of all its contemporary ramifications in intellectual life, science, and culture. PARMENIDEUM II was published in connection with the meetings. See www.parmenideum.com

Jo Møller

"Un’illustrazione della storia sconosciuta, che ha culminato alla scala sul portone del Duomo San Matteo a Salerno, molto tempo fa, in Italia." See www.jomo.dk and www.jomoller.com

Karen Bernard

Photo by Ella Veres
In the dance performance "Ouette", Karen Bernard focuses on the relationship between her inner and outer life, reflecting physical and fantastical aspects of the feminine mystique. Bernard uses the details of her life as source materials, combining these with external structures to transformative effects. In this work, she borrows a cinematic construction, where imagined and real experiences are shown without distinction, from the movie Swimmingpool by Francois Ozon, as well as cliches of dance vocabulary to inform two levels of experience.
The work to date has been developed through residencies at among others the Liguria Study Center in Bogliasco (Italy) and Wassard Elea (Italy)
"Ouette" will premiere in New York City Fall 2011 at Dixon Place. See www.newdancealliance.org

Bertill Nordahl

Bertill Nordahl's article "De nye forvirrede" (Today's Bewildered) is published in the Danish newspaper Politiken today. See http://politiken.dk/debat/kroniker/article876109.ece.

June Woest

Roadsign USA is going to "Wave Goodbye to Bill and Say Hello to Annise", Houston's new mayor, on Friday, January 8, between 7-8 pm. You can enjoy the unveiling from inside the local icehouse in the 4300 Block of Bellaire Blvd at the RR tracks. Roadsign USA: Sculpture that is advertising art and culture.

Lene Hein Sørensen and Bertill Nordahl

Lene Hein Sørensen and Bertill Nordahl have published "Vores køkkenhave" (Our vegetable garden) vol. 1; the book is richly illustrated. Vol. 2 will appear August 15, 2010. See www.bertillnordahlleneheinsoerensen.dk

Klaus Skot-Hansen

Klaus Skot-Hansen has published "Faldskærmschef fra Børglum Kloster: Capt. Chr. Mich. Rottbøll 1917-1942, S.O.E.". Syddansk Universitetsforlag. See www.universitypress.dk