Studio 124 Project (English)

By: Luca Misuri. Published in Open Doors Issue N. 4 June 2023.

These days it’s becoming a rarity to find a real, tangible, non-virtual space. It’s an age of art that has been digitally modified by artificial intelligence and sprayed into the cold virtual universe of the web. The only avant-garde act seems to be the search for the creative act itself, generated in “laboratories” reborn like tulip bulbs in the fertile “compost” created in the two years of Covid. The reaction of creative minds to this unexpected shock has given art the possibility to germinate in many single and unique forms of expression, giving life, in many cases, to co-working spaces.

With its numerous artists, Livorno seems to embody this concept. A place brim- ming with creativity since its inception as a Medici port at the dawn of the 1600s. The Free Port of Livorno, open to all religions and without a ghetto (another ele- ment of uniqueness) has attracted a diverse population and various cultures within its walls. The results of this alternative culture are decisive and distinctive person- alities, such as that of Modigliani and Mascagni who established themselves on the upper levels of early 20th century art.

Today I would like to restore visibility to new Livornese characters, reawakening interest in a possible new artistic movement that represents the ongoing histori- cal period. Perhaps the time has come to disengage from the web and go back to searching for each other and for art in real, tangible and non-virtual places.

Simone Mantia is a photographer and engineer from Livorno.

Mantia discovered photography as a teenager, starting to photograph landscapes and portraits. After a break, in 2017 he rediscovered street photography. He was immediately attracted by the possibility of freezing ordinary moments and of telling fragments of life through images. In 2019 he began to explore documentary photog- raphy and he made the project “Doppie Visioni” based on the Livorno rowing com- petitions.

He has been a finalist in several national and international competitions, includ- ing the MSPF (Miami Street Photography Festival), the LSPF (London Street Pho- tography Festival) and the ISPF (Italian Street Photo Festival). In 2018 he received an honorable mention at the Urban Photo Awards and, in 2020 and 2022, he was among the winners of the Observa Street Photo Festival.

Instagram: manti.simo Flickr: Simone.mantia

Michaela Paone

“One click a day keeps the doctor away”. Whether it’s a camera or a mobile phone, this is how I get my “click” in. It gives me a good disposition towards life and allows me to create similar or parallel worlds. Generally I don’t plan my shots, everything happens in a completely natural and improvised way according to the mood of the moment and the surrounding environment. I love to create an interaction between my subject and the surroundings, blending the two into one thing. Other times I prefer to alter reality by creating a new point of view, a distorted vision.

Simone Di Maggio

Simone Di Maggio (DMBT) is 45 years old and his artistic production is almost entirely musical, although the sensitivity towards art and the acquaintances of artist friends has always been a constant for him. For almost three years he has been experimenting with ink drawing and watercolors, resuming a path interrupted at the end of the 1990s, this time with the desire to find his own balance between form and color – immersed in the freedom and wonder of the pictorial gesture.

Luca Serasini

I was born in Pisa in 1971.

I started painting in 1996 and since 2003 I have started to use various other tech- niques, from photography to video and video installations up to land art in 2013, and thanks to my studies in electronics, to create light boxes and interactive devic- es.

One of the two projects I am carrying out is the Costellazioni Project which starts from the question whether we still really need the stars today. Initially born as a land art project, it gradually developed into the most diverse forms through video, photography, interactive installations, painting and graphics.

The works on display belong to the Population I cycle, works on paper and acrylic in relief that develop, in 21 small-sized works, the theme of the population of stars. In cosmology, stars are divided into populations, which, depending on their chemical composition, include their age. The first population (Population I) are the youngest stars in the Universe.