Fort Thunder Uno Sgranato Immaginario in Un’Aura Di Follia
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FORT THUNDER UNO SGRANATO IMMAGINARIO IN UN’AURA DI FOLLIA FRANCESCO SPAMPINATO La scena artistica di downtown Black Dice e futuri membri dei contri di wrestling tra creatu- New York gode degli influs- Paper Rad. Fort Thunder diviene re aliene fluorescenti o concerti si provenienti da piccole real- il centro di aggregazione per la noise di band come Lightning tà circostanti come Providence, comunità artistica locale, vero Bolt e Forcefield. una grigia cittadina post-indu- contraltare alla scuola, attrez- A fare di Fort Thunder un luo- striale del New England, se- zato con un laboratorio per la go leggendario è la surreale de di una delle più prestigiose stampa e una sala concerti, in aura di follia che trasuda dal- scuole di arti e design d’Ame- pieno spirito do it yourself. le sue pareti. Evidenti influen- rica, la Rhode Island School of In soli sei anni di attività, prima ze derivano dalla outsider art, Design (RISD). di lasciare il posto a un centro dalla fantascienza, dalla psi- Nel 1995, due studenti della RI- commerciale, Fort Thunder di- chedelia e dal fumetto under- SD, Mat Brinkman e Brian Chip- venta un punto di riferimento ground, da Zap a Gary Panter. pendale, si trasferiscono in una per la cultura underground in- Tuttavia, è uno sgranato imma- ex fabbrica tessile nel quartie- ternazionale, fucina delle più ginario lo-fi, da vecchio video- re di Olneyville, la riempiono disparate attività artistiche e game, a rendere unica l’este- di vecchi giocattoli e la ribat- performative, con una partico- tica Fort Thunder; peculiare di tezzano Fort Thunder. Ai due lare predilezione per il fumet- una generazione indifferente ai si aggiungono, tra gli altri, Leif to. A mantenere viva la memo- riflettori e insofferente alle for- Goldberg e Jim Drain, ma tra i ria di quegli anni rimangono le me di intrattenimento di massa frequentatori abituali di que- fanzine come Paper Rodeo, di- a cui ancora oggi questi artisti, sta factory vanno ricordati Ara schi, foto e centinaia di poster nonostante i successi, non sem- Peterson, Hisham Baaroocha, i e flyer che pubblicizzano in- brano riuscire ad adattarsi. 1 56 | The artistic scene in Down- members of Paper Rad also numbered among the usual crowd that town New York is influenced could be found hanging out at the factory. by all sorts of minor situations As Fort Thunder became the natural meeting place for the local ar- from the surrounding area. One tistic community, a veritable alternative to the prestigious school it- of these is Providence, a rather self, it set up a press centre and a concert hall, in the finest spirit of grey little post-industrial town Do it Yourself. In just six years, until it closed down to make way for in New England, but also ho- a shopping centre, Fort Thunder became a landmark for internatio- me of one of the United States’ nal underground culture, a forge for all sorts of different artistic and most prestigious schools of art performing arts, with a special soft spot for cartoons. The memory and design, the Rhode Island of those years is kept alive by fanzines like Paper Rodeo, CDs, pho- School of Design (RISD). tos and literally hundreds of posters and flyers publicising wrestling In 1995, two students from the bouts between fluorescent alien creatures or noise concerts of ban- RISD, Mat Brinkman and Brian ds like Lightning Bolt and Forcefield. Chippendale, moved into a di- What made Fort Thunder into a legendary venue was the surrealistic sused textiles factory in the nei- aura of folly that hung around its very walls. There are evident in- ghbourhood of Olneyville, filled fluences at work from outsider art, science fiction, psychedelia and it with old toys and renamed it underground cartoons, from Zap to Gary Panter. Yet it is a grainy lo- Fort Thunder. Others who joined fi imagery, like something out of an old videogame, that sets Fort the original duo included Leif Thunder’s aesthetics apart: a peculiarity of a generation that cared Goldberg and Jim Drain, but Ara nothing for the limelight and was scathing about all forms of mass Peterson, Hisham Baaroocha, entertainment, to which these artists still seem incapable of adap- the Black Dice and the future ting today, however successful they have become in the meantime. FORT THUNDER A GRAINY IMAGERY IN AN AURA OF FOLLY 2 3 4 1 Brian Chippendale, Eagle Square, 2000. Courtesy of the artist 2 Mat Brinkman, Melt Banana, 14 Oct 1998. Courtesy of Brian Chippendale 3 Brian Chippendale, Ruins, 26 Jun 1998. Courtesy of the artist 4 Jim Drain, Wrestling at Fort Thunder, 6 Dec 1997. Courtesy of the artist 5 Mat Brinkman, The Haters, 4 Aug 1997. Courtesy of Brian Chippendale 6 Leif Goldberg, Spaceheads, 14 Jul 2000. Courtesy of Brian Chippendale 7 Brian Chippendale, Lighting Bolt, The Yellow Record, 1997, Load Records, Providence, Rhode Island. Courtesy of Load Records 8 Jim Drain, Sister Spit, 30 Jul 1998. Courtesy of Brian Chippendale 5 8 6 7 9 10 9 Mat Brinkman, Paper Rodeo, Sept 2001. 11 Courtesy of the artist 10 Leif Goldberg, Lightning Bolt, 27 Apr 2000. Courtesy of Brian Chippendale 11 Mat Brinkman, The Goblins, 26 Jul 1997. Courtesy of the artist .