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An artistic trip below zero
English vesion by Barbara Bonfadini
Nadia Braito and Gianmario Bonfadini from Sondrio "will represent Italy at the International Review of sculpture on ice and snow called Polar Rhapsody"
Next Thursday Nadia Braito, a designer from Sondrio with a passion for singing (she has just performed with success at the cocktail bar Tower of Teglio together with Simone Canclini and Mattia Magatelli) and art, will leave for Siberia. She will go with Gianmario Bonfadini, architect. The two, as reported on their interesting web site, will represent Italy to the International Review of sculpture on ice and snow "Polar Rhapsody ", organized by the Association of independent artists "Edinenie" and by the association Yamalo-Nenetsky Autonomous Okrug, which will take place in Salekhard, the only city in the world situated on the Arctic Circle.
This is not the first time they do this kind of experience: they already participated in the past to festivals in the USA, Switzerland and France. But this time it is a unique adventure, in really extreme conditions (and really ideal for the "raw material" they will have to use) and also for the length of the journey. Nadia and Gianmario will make a stage in Moscow on 25, then another long flight to Salekhard, a town originated from a Cossack fortress - at the time a fortress in the extreme north of Siberia, built in 1595 on the river Ob, important mean of communication with the North Sea.
"They will assign to us, as competitors of the section "Snow", "explains Nadia - a block of snow of the size of 3 meters x 3 meters x 3 from which we'll have to draw our sculpture.
The draft we presented will be the basis on which we will work, taking inspiration from the fascinating beauty of the Ural mountains, from the colours of the North of Russia and from the specific features of the culture of the peoples originating in the Yamal"
For their expedition, Nadia and Gianmario, as all the participating teams usually do, looked for some sponsor that could contribute to the costs of this expensive travel.
"Actually this event represents a valid opportunity to advertise on Valtellina: wherever we have been previously everybody told us that they were impressed by the beauty of Valtellina landscape. For this reason we asked for contributions, but the outcome of our requests wasn't particularly satisfactory . They even wanted us to pay for the advertising video to bring with us to Siberia".
It is now clear to us that in Valtellina there isn't much sensitivity around this kind of initiatives, which may become an interesting vehicle for advertising. Someone should think about it, considering how much money are spent every year, often unnecessarily, in this field.
There is someone, however, that will support as far as possible the initiative. "Pietro Pedrazzoli, owner of Jom Bar and his partner Mauro Bianchi, despite they are busy with in the implementation of the new pub "UN", offered their support"
So once in Salekhard, the JOM Bar Red T-shirts, will represent the only slice of Valtellina who has contributed to the artistic snowy-enterprise of Nadia Braito and Gianmario Bonfadini.
Paolo Redaelli
Article appeared on "La Provincia di Sondrio" November, 19th 2005