the street is our gallery

Back again this year the COPULA MUNDI – the free festival for the creation of shared imaginaries – from August the 29th up to September the 1st, in the evocative setting of the Cascine Park,in the historical center of Florence. The artist selected to create the scenography for this edition is the stencil-artist Ache77. Using the PVC mash sheets which cover the structures specifically built for the project, the artist has hand-painted children of different ages, photographed by the situationist Pino Bertelli, in his second collaboration with Ache77. The project is curated by Street Levels Gallery.

“AGAINST WAR – Portraits from the denied childhood” of Pino Bertelli is a collection of sixty portraits of children (Africa, Middle East, Chernobyl) who have suffered war, hunger, fear, showing it to us through their own eyes. This book is an indictment against the indifference and barbarity of all wars, but also a call to peace. Ache77’s project takes the name of “Portraits from the denied childhood”. Starting from the selection of ten shots taken from the book, the setup exhibits the faces of children who look at us with their extreme and bruised beauty.

That is all: no soldiers or ruins can be seen, only the faces of children accusing the wickedness of all wars. On a previous occasion Ache77 and Pino Bertelli have collaborated for the making of the mural named ”Gente della Città del Ferro” in the ex-Ilva complex of Follonica; this fruitful collaboration has found its perfect unity in the attention that both artists put to the eyes of the represented subjects. The ten artworks that make up the installation were entirely painted by hand in a week by the artist together with a team of volunteers made available by the festival staff, without whom this would have never been possible.

Carlo Leoni up AGAINST THE WAR: “I always come to the conclusion that those who want war do not know love, joy, the happiness of a hug, a kiss, a caress. The pleasure of sharing a piece of bread with those who hold out your hand, of listening the needs of another human being, to share the desires of a child, to discuss with friends around a table, getting drunk on new ideas, to stop and watch those who share your path and consider these things as priceless treasures. War brings only hatreds, divisions, resentments, revenge and devastating wounds. It has a dark and gloomy color, where the light fails to express the colors of the iris. Peace, instead, grows luxuriantly everywhere and on top of all ruins, blossoming with beautiful flowers every time we consider our life and that of others as a unique and unrepeatable good: we can and must leave our children a world of Peace. ”

BIOGRAPHY
Pino Bertelli was born in a factory town of Tuscany. A doctor in nothing, street photographer, film-maker, film and photography critic. His works are related to themes of diversity, marginalization, acceptance, migration, freedom, love of man for man as a possible utopia. It is one of the central points of the Italian situationist radical criticism.

Ache77 is a street artist based in Florence. His designs mix graphics, stencils and crafted printing techniques. The artist creates portraits that have the ability to relate to people who distractedly meet them. His figures play a non-verbal language combined with great attention to detail. You can meet his works randomly on the street, in art galleries or in contemporary art museums.