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Cinque sculture, Cinque continenti

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Do our political leaders share the vision of a better world captured by Maurizio Toffoletti?

Reproduced below are the words typed on a single sheet of paper at the centre of this simple and provocative display challenging those who approach the EU Parliament in the heart of Brussel.

Cinque sculture, Cinque continenti uniti da una tensione e all’armonia e alla solidità, interconnessi in un mirabile gioco di equilibri e di luce

Cosi, la ricerca dello scultore Maurizio Toffoletti esprime il suo ideale di pace, una sintesi virtuosa di realtà e vocazione.

Un lavoro che iscrive nella materia dura e nobile del marmo i valori della comune e pacfica convivenza.

E’ il modo in cui il contenuto forte ma sobrio dell’artista leccese comunica l’afflato universale verso un mondo migliore.

Verso un nuovo umanesimo, che nella sua scultura dalle forme scultoree aerodinamiche ed evocative, incarna la rappresentazione dall’alto del progetto di città universale.

Un luogo che, sulle orme raffinate del pensiero di Italo Calvino delle “Città Invisibili”, riceve la sua forma “dal deserto dello spirito cui si oppose”.

Five sculptures, Five continents tied by a tension to harmony and stability, interconnected in an enchanting game of balance and light.

Thus, the research of the sculpture, Maurizio Toffoletti, expresses his ideal of peace, a virtuous synthesis of reality and vocation.

It is a masterpiece that seals in the hard and noble material of marble the values of common and peaceful coexistence.

In this way the powerful but austere contribution of the Leccese artist conveys to the viewers the universal inspiration towards a better world.

It is a genuine quest towards a new humanism, that strives to give shape to the aerial representation of the Universal City through aerodynamic and evocative sculptural lines.

It is an ideal site which gradually takes shape and form “from the desert of the spirit that it opposes” as remarked by the refined writer Italo Calvino in the “Invisible Cities”.

Cinq scupltures, Cinq continents unis par une tension à l’harmonie et à la solidité, qui sont interconnectés dans un magnifique jeu d’équilibre et de lumiere.

Ainsi, la recherche du scuplteur Maurizio Toffoletti exprime son idéal de paix, une synthèse vertueuse de réalité et vocation.

Un travail qui inscrit dans le matériau dur et noble du marbre les valeurs de la coexistence commune et pacifique.

C’est ainsi que le contenu simple mais puissant de l’artiste originaire de Lecce traduit l’inspiration universelle vers un monde meilleur.

Vers un nouvel humanisme, qui incarne, dans ses scupltures aérodynamiques et évocatrices, la représentation en perspective du project de Ville Universelle.

Un lieu qui, sur les traces de la penseé raffinée de “Villes Invisibles” d’Italo Calvino, doit sa forme au “désert de l’esprit auquel il s’oppose”.

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Weekly Photo Challenge: Adventure!

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“All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.”

― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring

This is my contribution to the latest Weekly Photo Challenge from The Daily Post at WordPress.

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A rainy day in July.

Fietsen. Fountains. Frites.

The lost wander.

And wonder.

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Weekly Photo Challenge: Relic

“Share my body and my mind with you
That’s all over now…”

Cruel World, Lana Del Rey

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This is my response to the latest Weekly Photo Challenge from The Daily Post at WordPress.

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Weekly Photo Challenge: Between

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“If time is not real, then the dividing line between this world and eternity, between suffering and bliss, between good and evil, is also an illusion.”

– Herman Hesse

This is my response to the latest Weekly Photo Challenge from The Daily Post at WordPress.

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matongé

“It is time for parents to teach young people early on that in diversity there is beauty and there is strength.”

― Maya Angelou

Here is what wikipedia has to say (with a google translation below)

“Matonge (uitgesproken [matɔŋge]?) is een wijk in de Brusselse gemeente Elsene. De wijk wordt soms ook wel “Klein Zaïre” genoemd.

De wijk is gelegen tussen de Waversesteenweg en de Elsensesteenweg, vlak onder de Kleine Ring nabij de Naamsepoort. De wijk is ontstaan doordat de studenten van Afrikaanse (voornamelijk Congolese) afkomst zich hier vestigden in de jaren 60, in de Maison Africaine (Afrikaans Huis, Maisaf). In de loop der jaren is de wijk een mengelmoes geworden van gegoede studenten en armere vluchtelingen en studenten. De lokale middenstand richt zich op Afrikaanse en Europese klanten.Matonge is ook een wijk in Kinshasa.”

“Matongé (pronounced [matɔŋge]?) Is a district in the Brussels municipality of Elsene. The district is also sometimes called “Little Zaire”.

The district is located between Waversesteenweg and Elsensesteenweg, just below the inner ring near the Porte de Namur. The district was created by students of African (mainly Congolese) origin who settled here in the 60’s, the Maison Africaine (African House, Maisaf). Over the years, the neighborhood has become a hodgepodge of wealthy students and poorer students and refugees. The local middle class comprises those of African and European origin.

Matongé is a neighborhood in Kinshasa.”

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“To country people Cows are mild,
And flee from any stick they throw;
But I’m a timid town bred child,
And all the cattle seem to know.”

― T.S. Eliot

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Ter Kamerenbos

“Look: the trees exist; the houses we dwell in stand there stalwartly.
Only we pass by it all, like a rush of air.
And everything conspires to keep quiet about us, half out of shame perhaps, half out of some secret hope.”

― Rainer Maria Rilke, Duino Elegies

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“Who, if I cried out, would hear me among the angels’
hierarchies? and even if one of them suddenly
pressed me against his heart, I would perish
in the embrace of his stronger existence.
For beauty is nothing but the beginning of terror
which we are barely able to endure and are awed
because it serenely disdains to annihilate us.”

From, “Duino Elegies” by Rainer Maria Rilke

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“In the middle of the journey of our life I found myself within a dark woods where the straight way was lost.”

― Dante Alighieri, Inferno