Vincenzo Capalbo
Art Media Studio, Florence, Italy
(Design and Arts)
Vincenzo Capalbo received his degree in Architecture and he spent his time informing himself about Cultural Heritages for about 15 years. He was the Director of documentary films and movies shown during big cultural events, creator and curator of a number of video installations and has collaborated with contemporary artists like Robert Morris, Jannie Kuonellis and Daniele Lombardi. He was the curator of the show “ The Futurist Metropolis” and the creator of a rewarded video which premiered in three art documentary festivals. In 2001 he founded the Art Media Studio with Marilena Bertozzi where they began to promote documentaries.
The publication and valorization of the history of art is the objective of the Art Media Studio. With the help of new technologies and new techniques from computer graphics, the Art Media Studio promotes documentary films, virtual reconstruction , DVDs, and CD roms. The Art Media Studio is composed of architects, art historians, computer technicians and experts in motion-pictures.
Other figures from the Art Media Studio have been great experts of the given topic.
The documentaries that have been projected during important showings/ festivals, have become an integral part of our permanent collection of museums and art galleries.
Some of the featured work:
Gli Uffizi. Storia e visita della Galleria
L'Annunciazione di Leonardo
Maria dè Medici
Giambologna
Giotto. La Cappella degli Scrovegni
La Metropoli Futurista
The Birthday Boy
Firenze Scomparsa
Romana Florentia
Iter ad Elisyum
Leone X
Boccioni Futurista
Vallecchi
Il David di Michelangelo
La basilica di Assisi
Prof. Vito Cappellini
University of Florence, Italy
(Conservation and Restoration)
Full Professor of Communications, University of Florence & Member of Directive Board of Media Communication and Integration Centre.
Francesco Civita Curator of Japanese section, Stibbert Museum, Florence, Italy
(Conservation and Restoration)
Caterina Crepax
artist and designer, Milan, Italy
(Design and Arts)
Caterina Crepax was born in Milan in 1964. She graduated in Architectural Design from the Polytechnic School in Milan and worked as an internal architect performing in similar activities in the field of graphic design and the arrangement of exposé spaces.
The official debut of her paper creations came about in 1995 at the International Hall of Mobile in Milan for a big stand of Molteni & C. The event was a huge success. Up to then, her unique creations begin to be recognized in Italia and abroad and even asked for: photo services for important fashion and design magazines, exhibitions for paper businesses like Fedrigoni and Fabriano, clothing events for weddings like Milano Sposa and Domo Adami, elegant fashion and décor businesses, national and international fairs and showings, theatre shows like l’Eliogabalo dei Fanny & Alexander, fashion events, fashion shows, personal exhibitions, television programs, courses in fashion, art and design school.
From the most important activities she participated in: “Paper Exhibition from Malmo to Stoccolma”, “From thread to Mark; from Capuccci to Fashion Design” at Palazzo Carignano in Torino, “Ecomoda” the Tri-annual of Milano, “ Sao Paulo Fashion Week 2002”of Ibiraèuera of San Paulo, with a personal interpretation of paper dress from the best brasilian designers, different people in the Italian buildings, like in Verona at Palazzo Miniscalchi-Erizzo, “Art Basel at Miami 2004” in Miami, “The knight in black” from Morini at the Poldi Pezzoli Museuem, Fashion Show in Milan and Rome for Lexmark, “Modern Accessories” in Paris, continual collaboration with Comieco, National Recuperation Consortium and Recycled Paper, collaboration with the Spanish group Hera, recycling and the environment, with a fashion show with paper clothes in Barcelona.
Last show:
Personal in Porcari (Lucca) from within the summer demonstration in Cartasia of September 2007, collectively with Parma, Merchants in Fiera “Never say Mao-China pop” September 2007, Personal in Venezia, gallery Arke 2008.
Arch. Delfo Del Bino
Florence, Italy
(Architecture, Civil Engineering, & Urban Planning)
Dr. David Fisher Architectural Studio Dynamic Architecture, Florence, Italy (Architecture, Civil Engineering, & Urban Planning)
Dr. David Fisher, the visionary architect and creator of the Dynamic Tower, the world's first building in motion, began his career in Florence, Italy. He graduated with honors in Architecture from the University of Florence and later became a lecturer of Architecture and Structural Engineering at the same university.
After his involvement in restoring ancient monuments and designing public buildings in Florence, for the last three decades he has been passionately approaching architecture to exist in harmony with nature, as well as redefining the technical and technological extremes of buildings, in major cities around the world. At the same time, Dr. Fisher began his involvement with construction through the New York office of Fiteco Ltd, which he launched in the 1980s.
Dr. Fisher became involved in pre-fabrication and construction technologies in the building and development of various hotel projects and public buildings. He was first involved in light steel mesh and sprayed concrete construction methods and later constructed domes with an inflated concrete system. Among the technologies he developed was the “Smart Marble Bathroom”, a completely pre-fabricated marble bathroom construction for luxury hotels and homes. The first integrated mechanical approach to civil construction, Dr. Fisher's Leonardo Da Vinci Group first incorporated this system into the Le Meridian hotel in Dubai, and later this system has been incorporated in other hotels and residential projects in London, Paris, Milan, Moscow, and Hong Kong.
INFINITY Design is Dr. Fisher's architectural office that is located in Florence. However, Dr. Fisher cannot be considered an architect in the traditional sense of the word. Throughout his professional life, he has mastered a wide range of innovations in the world of construction, from teacher to designer, from the preparation of feasibility studies to the allocation of finance for large projects, from project management to real estate development, from designing products to the construction and management of large industrial plants.
Dr. Fisher considers architecture to be a combination of feasibility, functionality and engineering. His combined experience in all of these areas has provided him with vast knowledge in the field, and has prepared him to revolutionize traditional building techniques to create the architecture of the future.
Dr. Fisher's professional activity has always been focused on two concepts: an industrial approach involving the use of prefabricated units, and Dynamic Architecture, where the traditional three-dimensional design meets a fourth dimension: Time. With his invention of the Dynamic Tower, he is transforming Time to herald a New Era of Architecture.
Among Dr. Fisher's recent awards:
TIME Magazine selected the Dynamic Tower as one of the Best Inventions of 2008, and Dr. David Fisher was awarded The 2008 World Architect of the Year by the Developers and Builders Alliance.
Francesco Grazzi
CNR – ISC, Florence, Italy
(Conservation and Restoration)
Prof. Ricardo Gomes
San Francisco State University, Design & Industry Department, USA
(Design and Arts)
Prof. Amra Hadzimuhamedovic Sarajevo Bosnia Hercegovina Comission to Preserve NationalMonuments
Historian of architecture and architect-conserver (Commissioner to protect National Monuments of Bosnia&Herzegovina since 2001; ICCROM fellow 2008) has been involved in drafting and implementing some one hundred projects and project studies on heritage protection, architecture, urbanism and planning including Jajce, Pocitelj, Mostar, Blagaj, bridge of Mehmed-pasa Sokolovic in Visegrad and Stolac. She has been widely publishing and lecturing on integrated conservation, cultural heritage management focusing on cultural memory and human rights in the lights of destruction and reconstruction of architectural heritage. She is author of the book Crimes in the Stolac Municipality and editor of several books including Human Rights and Destruction of Cultural Memory – the Stolac case.
Prof. Boulin Hu
College of Design, Chung Yuan Christian University, Taiwan
(Design and Arts)
2005-2008, Dean of College of Design and Chair of PhD. Program of Design Sciences, Chung Yuan Christian University, Chungli, Taiwan
1994-2005, Chair of Department of Interior Design, Chung Yuan University
Since 1994, Professor, College of Design, Chung Yuan Christian University, Chungli, Taiwan
1986-1994, Lecturer Department of Architecture, Master Class Prof. Wilhelm Holzbauer, University of Applied Arts, Vienna
Prof. Ray Hutchison
Green Bay University, Wisconsin, USA
(Architecture, Civil Engineering, & Urban Planning)
Ray Hutchison is chair of Urban and Regional Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay. He received his PhD in Sociology from the University of Chicago and is coauthor of The New Urban Sociology (Perseus Books) and series editor of Research in Urban Sociology (Emerald Publishing). He is a member of the Roundtable of Experts and received the International Award of Merit from Fondazione Romualdo Del Bianco in 2008.
Arch. Irina Korobina
Director of Contemporary Architecture Center, Mosca, Russia
(Architecture, Civil Engineering, & Urban Planning)
2000 - currently, C:CA / Center of contemporary architecture, Moscow, Russia, Director
1998 - 2004, TV - Program "Architectural Gallery", weekly program on TV Culture channel, Author and TV presenter
1992-1998, Russian Ministry of Cultural Affairs, Leading specialist at Fine Arts Department
1992-1998, "Architectural Gallery" of the Center Contemporary Art, Moscow, The founder and director
Author of TV Films(1998 -currently)
"Ivan Leonidov, the Architect", "Architecture of Russia. NEXT", "Moscow Play", "Mariinka-2", "Avantguarde of the Soviet Union", "Projections of Avantguarde" (8 films), "Roma lessons", "Celestial architecture", "Urban coungfu", "Credo".
Curator
International lecture program CREDO ( 2001 - currently), Contemporary City ( 2005 - currently), Overview (2005 - currently), annual workshop program Arch-Descent (2001- currently),Venice Architectural Biennale, Italian Pavilion, the Russian exhibition "City of the Sun" , (2004), exhibition "New Moscow 4" Switzerland (2007), Moscow, St.Petersburg (2008), exhibition "VCHUTEMAS: sources of Russian Avantguarde" in Florence (2005)
Freelance writer (1980 - currently)
Articles published in Area, AD, Abitare, ARX, Interni, Domus, Elle Decore, Generation Egoist, Interior + Design, Project Russia, Project International, Tatlin, Vestnik Europy, Wallpaper, Kommersant newspaper, Kulture newspaper, Izvestia newspaper, Architecture USSR, etc.
Juror and assessor
External juror, expert or assessor for architecture competitions and award programs, including, Innovation Awards for the Center contemporary art (Russian Ministry of Culture),
Information Bench design competition, Orelsky Lodging architectural competition, PermmuseumXX1 architectural competition, Zeppeling Station architectural competition, Architectural festival by MosComArchitectura
Visiting critic
Acted as critic for multi-session design studio problems at International urban forum in Milano, Palazzo Triennale, Italy (2008), International conference " Problems of Avantguarde Heritage in Moscow and Berlin", Berlin-Days in Moscow (2004), International conference "Sustainable Art Spaces" New York (2006), ICOMOS conference "Heritage of XX century" in Berlin (2007), international conference "Heritage at Rick" in Moscow (2006), Architectural Week in St.Petersburg (2007), International round-table "Female Architecture" in Carrara, Italy (2007), International Salzburg Seminar (2006), Krasnoyarsk Economical Forum (2008), Togliatti NewCity International Forum (2008), Critics for diploma projects in Berlage Institute (Rotterdam), Netherlands.
Lecture guest
Milan Politechnico University (2008), Mendrisio Architectural Academy in Switzerland (2007), Togliatti, St. Petersburg, N. Novgorod, Cheboksary, Novosibirsk, Tyumen, Ulyanovsk (2007-2008).
Books
New Moscow 4, guide on contemporary Moscow architecture / Russ
published by C:CA, 2007
Awards and Positions
Architect
Professor of the International Academy of Architecture
Councilor of the Russian Academy of Architecture and Construction Scientist
Member of the Moscow Union of Architects
Education
Ph.D. in Architecture in 1986, Moscow
Graduated from Moscow Architectural Institute, Russia, 1980
Prof. Alexander Kudryavtsev
President of the Russian Academy of Architectural and Construction Sciences, Moscow
(Architecture, Civil Engineering, & Urban Planning)
Arch. Yury Nazarov
Association of Russian Designers, Russia
(Design and Arts)
Prof. Angela Nocentini
Academy of Fine Arts of Florence
(Design and Arts)
She teaches at the Academy of Fine Arts since 1989. During the 80s she realized sculptures for the staging of numerous operas and dramas (for the Theatres of Florence, Rome, Venice, Bologna, Milan, Trieste and Genoa). She realized paintings representing the Last Supper, Via Crucis and sculptures for many churches in Tuscany, Sicily and Liguria. She prepared commemorative medal for various commissioning. She took care of the design of discos, restaurants and public places. She realized self-propelled sculptures for the Museum of the Automaton in St. Croix, Lausanne and sculptures for the garden of the same museum. She illustrated scientific publications. In the last years she realizes also design objects using recycled materials and sculptures on the theme of the children right o play.
In 2006 she realized a fashion show of clothes made of trash and presents to Ecomondo, the annual exhibition in Rimini and in the province of Pisa. In may 2007 she held a workshop for Outside Project in Belgrade, Serbia, which is concluded with the fashion show “Morphosis. Recycle & Wear”. In 2007 at the Festival of Science in Genoa, at the contemporary art exhibition "Tomorrow the sensible future", presents the piece "without borders".
Loredana Oliva, autrice di “Io invece studio all’estero”, Sperling & Kupfer editori, ha cominciato il suo percorso di giornalista in Sicilia, con la cronaca nera e giudiziaria per un glorioso giornale, "L'Ora". Ha continuato con una formazione a Parigi, con borsa di studio della Commissione Europea, al lavoro con 30 giornalisti di 30 Paesi del mondo. La passione per la multicultura è maturata lì e non si è più fermata. Scrive per Il Sole 24 Ore dal ’96.
Aver incontrato in giro per il mondo studenti, ma anche artisti, perdigiorno e intermittenti, studiosi e ricercatori, è stato determinante. La popolazione dei più giovani in movimento da un Paese all’altro, in Europa, negli Stati Uniti, in Asia, è una fucina di storie straordinarie. Ha raccontato le loro esperienze, oltre che per Il Sole 24 Ore, anche per il Financial Times, e il mensile del gruppo francese L'Etudiant. Co-blogger di “Job Talk” il blog collegato al portale del lavoro, Job24.it. del Sole 24 Ore.
Continua ad esplorare i luoghi in cui si coltivano le intelligenze, fioriscono le idee che varcano ponti e confini, a Boston come a Seul, nelle botteghe trasteverine, o nei poli di ricerca canadesi.
L' impegno è quello di ascoltare, di acquisire consapevolezza e raccontare, e far raccontare soprattutto le storie dove il cambiamento di orizzonte e di vita reale, è in primo piano.
Vive e lavora a Roma, nel rione di Trastevere.
Paolo Penko
Penko Goldsmith’s Workshop, Florence, Italy
(Design and Arts)
Paolo Penko, Goldsmith Maestro, designer and Sculptor, graduates from the Institute of Art of Florence, his native city which fascinates him with the renaissance art, of which he becomes a great expert and by which many of his masterpieces are inspired.
In his “bottega”, a workshop in the hearth of Florence, few steps from the Duomo, together with his wife Beatrice an expert gemmologist, he creates unique jewels, handmade using the antique techniques of the Florentine tradition. The Florentine style is in fact the primary source of his inspiration that often recalls the volutes, the friezes and the intricate geometric designs used by the great masters of the renaissance architecture.
He received numerous prizes and acknowledgments also at an international level for his ability to “maintain alive the interest toward the handicraft studios, where the final product is bearer of the culture”.
In 2007 he received the prestigious prize “Bel San Giovanni”, given to “personalities that, with their work, achieved fame and unanimous esteem for their contribution to the spiritual and material elevation of the community in which they operate”.
Some of his most significant masterpieces are now part of the collection of the Bargello Museum and of the Silver Museum at Pitti Palace.
Prof. Milan Prodanovic
University of Novi Sad, Serbia (Architecture, Civil Engineering, & Urban Planning)
Marco Quadri
Restorator of Japanese swords, Florence, Italy
(Conservation and Restoration)
Stefano Scarpelli
Restorator of canvass paintings, Florence, Italy
(Conservation and Restoration)
Nelson Shanks
painter and maestro, Incamminati Studio, Philadelphia, USA
(Design and Arts)
Nelson Shanks, world-renowned painter, art historian, art teacher, connoisseur and collector, distilled the principles upon which Studio Incamminati stands from his lifelong experience and devotion to fine arts.
Nelson, and his wife Leona Shanks, founded Studio Incamminati to provide a place where artists devoted to realism could study painting and acquire other skills necessary for successful artistic careers.
When Nelson set out to become a painter, he pieced together his own education and training from the limited options available for the study of realist painting. As an 18-year-old student at New York’s famed Art Students League, he earned his tuition by serving as a monitor in the classes of artists such as Robert Brackman, Ivan Olinsky and Edwin Dickinson. Established painters such as John Koch took him on as a private student and provided substantial material as well as spiritual support of his dreams and aspirations.
His own remarkable progress soon earned him grants, including the most prestigious grants made to realist artists: the Greenshields Foundation (twice) and the Stacey Foundation (three times), that enabled him to study in Florence with the legendary Pietro Annigoni and at the Accademia di Belle Arti.
His European education completed, teaching positions took Nelson to Memphis, Chicago and then to Bucks County, Pennsylvania, where he has maintained a studio for more than three decades. Nelson has taught on the faculty of the Art Institute of Chicago, the Art Students League, National Academy of Design, The George Washington University, and the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, among others. He also established an apprentice program at his Bucks County home and studio, where artists received room, board and instruction at no cost.
As was well understood from the Renaissance forward, it takes years of concentration and practice to become a highly skilled painter. Throughout his career, Nelson has painted nearly every day of the year—landscape, still life, the figure, and portraits. He takes pride in setting his own goals to grow and improve with every painting.
His skill in capturing the complex nature of his clients has contributed to his fame as well. Among his notable commissions are President William Jefferson Clinton; Diana, Princess of Wales and Charles, Lord Spencer; and His Holiness Pope John Paul II. Recent significant commissions include Luciano Pavarotti for the Metropolitan Opera, Mstislav Rostropovich for the Kennedy Center, and Denyce Graves for the National Portrait Gallery. His work has been exhibited in museums and galleries worldwide, including the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., the Royal Palace in Stockholm, Kensington Palace in London, and Fortezza Firmafede in Sarzana, Italy.
In the late 1990s, Nelson launched a successful series of workshops in response to the growing need for serious art instruction. The need for students to immerse themselves deeply in his teaching principles was made clear by the high demand and extensive oversubscriptions to these workshops, which led to the decision to open a full time atelier program, aptly named Studio Incamminati, which can be translated from Italian as "those who are progressing”. Nelson sacrifices painting time to teach at Studio Incamminati as part of his total commitment to changing the world’s view of art.
He is richly rewarded by pride in his students’ progress and the presence of remarkable people who are attracted to this cause, willing to pledge and devote time in sincere measure.
In 2006, Governor Edward G. Rendell presented Nelson with the Governor’s Distinguished Arts Award, which recognizes a Pennsylvania artist of international fame or renown whose creations and contributions enrich the Commonwealth. Among those contributions noted were his lifelong commitment to teaching and his establishment of Studio Incamminati.
Upcoming events in Nelson Shanks’ career include one-man shows in Russia and Italy.
Prof. Gennaro Tampone
President of College of Engineering of Toscany, Italy
(Conservation and Restoration)
Lecturer at the University of Florence, Faculty of Architectural Restoration
President of “Collegio degli Ingegneri della Toscana” Florence.
Author of circa 150 papers and books on Architectural Restoration, Building techniques, Strengthening techniques.
Owner of 3 invention patents for the strengthening of timber beams and floor.
Arch. Yasuo Watanabe
Studio of Architectural Institution, Pesaro, Italy and Tokyo, Japan
(Architecture, Civil Engineering, & Urban Planning)
After studying in Japan and obtaining the bachelor degree in Architecture at the University of Chiba, Yasuo Watanabe comes to Italy and founded together with 3 colleagues the Associated Studio Interstudio in Pesaro.
His projects are characterized by an original transposition of the Japanese Culture into the international environment.
Within his numerous works can be mentioned: the Pesaro Sports Arena, with 10000 seats, the Faculty of Engineering at the University if Ancona, the project for the reuse of amphitheatre and roman theatre in Pompei, the Serena House in Tokyo, the Ahanghai Visual Art University in Shanghai, the Student Centre “Agora” in Osaka, the Vindija Forum in Varaždin, Croatia, the Media Park in Jakarta.
In his career he received numerous international awards.
In 1995 he established in Tokyo the Interstusio-Tokyo. Accompanying his professional work, Yasuo Wtatanabe also worked as a professor, lecturer and Technical consultant in various universities, both in Italy and Japan.
Mary Westerman Bulgarella
Conservator of Costume, Florence, Italy
(Conservation and Restoration)
After obtaining a bachelor degree in Art History and a Master’s degree in Conservation of Artistic Works, Mary Westerman Bulgarella trained in the conservation of textiles and costumes at the Victoria and Albert Museum and the Canadian Conservation Institute. Her work focuses not only on interventions but also on the problems pertaining to the research of materials and methods of storage and display. She helped set up the Galleria del Costume and the textile and costume laboratory at the Pitti Palace where she worked for over 20 years. There she joined forces with the team of international experts in the conservation of the Medici burial clothes from 1983 to 1993. she has collaborated with an array of museums and institutions in Italy and abroad and has published many articles on conservation related subjects. At the present she is freelance consulting on conservation projects as well as working with the Stibbert Museum on all aspects of their textile and costume collection.
Zsuzsanna Wierdl
Director of ICOMOS Moral Painting Committe, Hungary
(Conservation and Restoration)
Arch. Patrick H. Wyss
Fellow, American Society of Landscape Architects, Sud Dakota, USA
(Architecture, Civil Engineering, & Urban Planning)
Marco Zoppi
CNR – ISC, Florence, Italy
(Conservation and Restoration)
