WWW.STUDIOFESTI.IT IN ALMOST 30 YEARS OF CREATING AND IMPLEMENTING OPEN-AIR PROJECTS FOR VARIOUS CELEBRATIONS, THE UNIQUE WORKS OF STUDIO FESTI BECOME SYNONYMOUS WITH THE ART OF CELEBRATION. MACAO (CHINA), 2008 “THE BEAUTY OF HARMONY” IL FIN, LA MERAVIGLIA! FINALLY, THE WONDER AT LAST! STUDIO FESTI IS AN ARTISTIC PROJECT AND PRODUCTION CENTRE BRINGING INTO BEING SHOWS AND GRAND INSTALLATIONS, WHICH HAVE BECOME INTERNATIONALLY RENOWNED FOR THEIR POETRY AND AESTHETICS. FOUNDED IN 1982 BY VALERIO FESTI AND MONICA MAIMONE, STUDIO FESTI OPERATES FROM ITS MAIN OFFICES IN VELATE (VARESE), ITS WORKSHOP IN VENEGONO SUPERIORE (VARESE) AND, IN 2010, IT SET UP A BRANCH IN SAO PAULO, BRAZIL. STUDIO FESTI’S ARTISTIC ACTIVITY COVERS THREE MAIN AREAS: - OUTDOOR SHOWS - INSTALLATIONS OF LIGHTS, ALSO CALLED ARCHITECTURES OF LIGHT DUE TO THEIR UNIQUE FEATURES - CONCERTS FOR FIREWORKS WITH LIVE ORCHESTRA A COMMON FEATURE OF ALL OF ITS WORK IS THAT IT IS SPECIFICALLY TAILORED TO SUIT ANY TYPE OF CELEBRATION OR OCCASION, FROM CITY FESTIVALS TO COMMEMORATIONS, FROM EXCLUSIVE PRIVATE PARTIES TO THE OPENING OF SPORTS EVENTS. THE POETRY CHARACTERISING STUDIO FESTI’S WORK IS LINKED TO A REINTERPRETATION OF TRADITIONAL CITY FESTIVALS THROUGH THE INVENTION OF STAGE MACHINES THAT TAKE INSPIRATION FROM THE ITALIAN BAROQUE: WHILE YET RETAINING A MODERN TASTE AS WELL AS THROUGH THE MUNICH (GERMANY), 2008 USE OF AERIAL DANCES, “MUNICH REVUE” THE PROJECTION OF IMAGES ON BUILDINGS AND GIANT SCREENS TO CRE- ATE STAGE SETTING AND DRAMATURGICAL ELEMENTS, AND THROUGH THE REPRE- SENTATION OF ANCIENT RITUALS LIKE THAT OF THE ITALIAN “PARATA” (PARADE). STUDIO FESTI HAS ORGANIZED LARGE-SCALE CELEBRATI- VE EVENTS IN MANY ITALIAN CITIES AS WELL AS INTERNATIONAL- LY, EVENTS WHICH HAVE BECOME A BENCHMARK IN THE INDUSTRY. THE GROUND-BREAKING CHARACTER OF STUDIO FESTI’S WORK HAS ALSO HAD TO DO WITH THE SO-CALLED ARCHITECTURES OF LIGHT, PRESENTING MANY INNOVATIVE AESTHETIC AND TECHNICAL FEATURES. AN EXAMPLE OF THAT IS THE ONE DESIGNED FOR THE COMMEMORATION OF THE KOBE EARTHQUAKE, COMMISSIONED EVERY YEAR SINCE 1995. IN THE FIELD OF FIREWORKS, STUDIO FESTI HAS TAKEN INSPIRATION FROM THE AESTHETICS, THE TECHNIQUES AND THE TYPOLOGY OF BAROQUE-STYLE PYROTECHNICAL SHOWS, COMBINING THEM WITH LIVE CLASSICAL MUSIC PERFORMANCES. A FAMOUS INSTANCE OF THIS ARTISTIC DEVELOPMENT HAS BEEN THE 1999 SAINT PETER’S SQUARE CONCERT PERFORMED BY THE ACCADEMIA DI SANTA CECILIA ORCHESTRA, AND CONDUC- TED BY MYUNG-WHUN CHUNG, IN OCCASION OF THE INAUGURATION OF THE RESTORATION WORK OF THE FAÇADE OF SAINT PETER’S BASILICA. THE NAME OF STUDIO FESTI IS TO BE ASSOCIATED, MOREOVER, TO THE OPENING CEREMONIES OF GREAT SPORTS EVENTS, AMONGST WHICH THAT OF THE TURIN XX WINTER OLYMPICS, WHERE STUDIO FESTI WAS RESPONSIBLE FOR THE REALIZATION OF THE SEGMENT FROM RENAISSANCE TO BAROQUE, THAT OF THE 2008 UCI CYCLING WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS IN VARESE AS WELL AS THE OPENING CEREMONY OF THE 2009 FINA SWIMMING WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS IN ROME. SINGAPORE 2008 “DANCING SKY” STUDIO FESTI’S UNIQUE ART OF CELEBRATION THE SPECTACLES OF STUDIO FESTI DELIVER POWERFUL MESSAGES THROUGH A UNIVERSAL LANGUAGE OF THEATRE, MUSIC, DANCE AND ART. INCORPORATING THEIR PERSONAL STORY AND LEVERAGING THEIR ARTISTIC BACKGROUND, VALERIO FESTI AND ART DIRECTOR MONICA MAIMONE HAVE CREATED A NEW INDUSTRY, THAT OF EVENT ARCHITECTS. THEIR WORK DRAWS UPON THE ROOTS OF THE TRADI- TIONAL ITALIAN “FESTA” OR, EVEN BETTER, “FESTA PER LA CITTÀ”: CELEBRATION FOR THE CITY. SPLENDOUR AND MAGNIFICENCE ARE AT THE HEART OF EACH OF STUDIO FESTI’S SHOWS, THE SAME ELEMENTS THAT HAVE INSPIRED AND CONTINUE TO INSPIRE THE ITA- LIAN “ARTE DELLO SPETTACOLO”: THE ART OF THE SPECTACLE. OUR IMAGES BECOME ICONS, UNFORGETTABLE SYMBOLS THAT REVIVE OLD MEMORIES AND CAPTURE THE DEEPEST SIGNI- FICANCE OF AN EXPERIENCE OR A PLACE, TRANSFORMING THE TOWN PIAZZA INTO A STAGE AND THE SKY INTO ITS BACKDROP. A STUDIO FESTI SHOW IS AN UNPARALLELED WAY TO COMMUNI- CATE TO AN INTERNATIONAL AUDIENCE. OUR PRODUCTIONS USE THE UNIVERSAL LANGUAGE OF THEATRE, THE ONLY LANGUAGE THAT CAN AROUSE AND PROVOKE UNFORGETTABLE EMOTIONS WITHOUT USING THE SPOKEN WORD. ROME (ITALY), 2007 “SUMMER FEAST” FOUNDERS MONICA MAIMONE RITO E TEATRO (RITE AND THEATRE) SHE STARTED HER CARE- ER IN THEATRE IN 1966; IN 1968, SHE CREATED A THATRE GROUP CALLED NUOVA SCENA TOGETHER WITH DARIO FO AND FRANCA RAME, FOLLOWING THE MODEL OF ERWIN PISCATOR’S “VOLKSBÜHNE”. SHE DIRECTED AND PRODUCED THEATRICAL EVENTS AT SALONE PIER LOMBARDO, MILAN (NOWADAY TEATRO FRANCO PAREN- TI), WITH FRANCO PARENTI AND ANDRÉE RUTH SHAMMAH. IN 1977, SHE BECAME THE DIRECTOR OF THE THEATRE. IN 1982, MONICA MAIMONE CREATED STUDIO FESTI TOGETHER WITH VALERIO FESTI. SINCE THEN, SHE HAS BEEN THE DIRECTOR AND THE PLAYWRIGHT OF ALL STUDIO FESTI’S PERFORMANCES IN MORE THAN 200 CITIES ALL OVER THE WORLD. MONICA MAIMONE IS THE PRESIDENT OF FONDAZIONE IPAZIA, ART FOUNDATION FOR THE ENVIRONMENT, THAT ENCOURAGES ARTISTS TO FOCUS ON ENVIRONMENT. ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT EVENTS PRODUCED BY THE FOUNDATION WAS “DELUGE”, THAT PREMIERED IN SINGAPORE, 2010 GP FORMULA 1 LAIKIPIA, KENYA, IN 2005 AND SUCCESSFULLY RAN FOR 3 YEARS. FOUNDERS VALERIO FESTI UNA VITA IN PIAZZA (LIFE ON THE SQUARE) VALERIO FESTI OBTAINED HIS DEGREE IN 1978 AT THE UNI- VERSITY OF BOLOGNA, STUDYING THE ART OF ENTERTAINMENTS. HE BEGAN HIS ARTISTIC CAREER BY DESIGNING AND STAGING URBAN CELEBRATIONS, CHOOSING THE SKY AND THE CITY SQUARES (PIAZ- ZA) AS THE STAGE FOR HIS SHOWS. IN THE EARLY 1980S, HE GAINED FAME BY REVAMPING THE ITALIAN TRADITION OF LIGHT INSTALLATIONS AND OF BAROQUE- STYLE FIREWORK PROJECTS. IN 1982, HE ESTABLISHED STUDIO FESTI TOGETHER WITH MONICA MAIMONE, MARKING THE BEGINNING OF A NEW FIGURE – EVENTS ARCHITECT, DESIGNING THE STORIES, SHOWS AND DREAMS OF ANY SPACE, SQUARE AND A CITY. VALERIO FESTI HAS BEEN THE ARTISTIC DIRECTOR OF A CONSIDERABLE NUMBER OF OPEN-AIR EVENTS AND INSTALLATIONS ALL OVER THE WORLD: NEW YORK, PARIS, MOSCOW, MADRID, TOKYO, HONG KONG, PRAGUE, REYKJAVIK, HOUSTON (WHERE HE WAS AWARDED BY THE ASSOCIATION OF AME- RICAN ARCHITECTS), MILAN, BOGOTA, BEIJING, LI- ADELAIDE (AUSTRALIA), 2006 SBON, BILBAO, SYDNEY, TORONTO, TORINO, ROME, ETC. “dancing Sky” SHOWS STUDIO FESTI’S SPECTACLES ARE UNEQUALLED, DUE TO THEIR UNIQUE INVENTION OF STAGE MACHINERY, THEIR IMAGINATIVE USE OF AERIAL DANCE, THEIR INTRODUCTION OF VIDEO PROJECTIONS AS SCENIC AND DRAMATURGICAL ELEMENTS, AND THEIR VISIONARY REVISITATION OF RITUALS SUCH AS THE PARADE. STUDIO FESTI HAS PERFORMED IN MORE THAN 200 CITIES OF THE WORLD: NEW YORK, PARIS, MOSCOW, MILAN, MADRID, ISTANBUL, SYDNEY,TOKYO, HONG ONG, BEIJING, LISBON, BILBAO, SAINT PETERSBURG, TORONTO, TORINO, DAMASCUS, ROME, PRAGUE, REYKJAVIK, SEONGNAM, BOGOTA, ECC. ROME (ITALY), 2009 OPENING CEREMONYOF THE 13TH FINA WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP ROME (ITALY) – 2009 OPENING CEREMONY OF THE 13TH FINA WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP MORE THAN 12,000 PEOPLE WITNESSED THE EVENT (AMONG THE GUESTS WERE ALSO THE PRESIDENT OF ITALY, GIORGIO NAPOLITANO), CALLED “THE SYMPHONY OF OCEANS,” WHICH WAS CREATED BY MONICA MAIMONE AND VALERIO FESTI. THE VISIONARY SCENERY MADE THE STADIO DEI MARMI PART OF THE EVENT, CAPITALIZING ON ITS IMPOSING APPEARANCE AND SIZE, AND USING A SCREEN OF SOME 10,000 SQUARE FEET, NEVER BEFORE USED IN AN OFFICIAL CEREMONY. APPRO- XIMATELY 200 ARTISTS, 201 TECHNICIANS, 20 STA- GE MANAGERS AND 400 VOLUNTEERS CAME TO- GETHER TO CREATE THIS MAGNIFICENT SPECTACLE. DAMASCUS (SYRIA) - 2008 “LE RIDEAU SE LEVE” (“THE CURTAIN RISES”) OPENING CEREMONY OF: DAMASCUS, THE CAPITAL OF ARABIC CULTURE 2008. THE SHOW AFFORDED CITI- ZENS OF SYRIA THE FIRST OPPORTUNITY TO WITNESS A GRAND ‘PIAZZA’ CELEBRATION. TO THE COLLEC- TIVE EMOTION THAT THE SHOW AROUSED THE GRAND FINALE WAS ADDED: A FIREWORKS CONCERT WITNESSED BY 1,6 MILLION INHABITANTS OF DAMASCUS, LAUNCHED FROM THE HILLS OF QUAISUN. ISTANBUL (TURKEY) - 2007 FENERBAHÇE SPOR KULÜBÜ 1907 - 2007 CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION OF TURKEY’S PREMIER SPORTS CLUB THIS WAS A YEARLONG CELEBRATION TO SALUTE THE 100TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE MOST POPULAR AND CELEBRATED SPORTS CLUB OF ISTANBUL, WHICH IS A MAJOR SUPPORTER OF THE DEMOCRATIZATION OF TURKEY UNDER MUSTAFA KEMAL ATATURK. THE INSTALLATIONS AND PERFORMANCES CREATED FOR THIS LANDMARK OCCASION BY STUDIO FESTI, WERE THE FIRST IN WESTERN STYLE TO HAVE BEEN SEEN IN THIS LOCATION. «THE LIGHT OF SUCCESS»: LIGHT ARCHITECTURE WAS PER- FORMED IN THE CITY. «LOOK BACKWARDS TO SPEED FORWARD»: SPECTACLE AT SÜKRÜ SARAÇOGLU STADYUMU. «PARADE OF STARS»: EVENING PARADE IN WHICH OVER 1 MILLION PEOPLE PARTICIPATED. LAIKIPIA (KENYA) - 2005-2007 “DELUGE” THIS PERFORMANCE WAS SET ON THREE STAGES BUILT SPECIFICALLY FOR IT. BEHIND THE STAGES WAS A BREATHTAKING BACKDROP OF GREAT RIFT VALLEY. THE SHOW WAS INSPIRED BY AN ORIGINAL TEXT BY MONICA MAIMONE, AND BASED ON THE INTERPRETATIONS OF THE UNIVERSAL FLOOD BY FOUR TRADITIONS: SUMERIC, HEBREW, MASSAI AND INDO- AMERICAN. NINETY PERFORMERS FROM AROUND THE WORLD WORKED IN A MULTI-RACIAL AND MULTI-CULTURAL WORKSHOP TO REALIZE THIS SPECTACLE. THE PRODUCTION WAS PROMOTED BY THE IPAZIA FOUNDATION, WHICH AIMS TO DISSE- MINATE ENVIRONMENTAL THEMES THROUGH ARTISTIC ENGAGEMENT. THIS SHOW WAS PREMIERED IN LAIKI- PIA IN 2005 AND RAN SUCCESSFULLY FOR 3 YEARS. MACAO (CHINA) - 2008 “THE BEAUTY OF HARMONY” TO LAUNCH THE 100-DAY COUNTDOWN TO THE BEI- JING OLYMPIC GAMES, WITH THE OCCASION OF THE ARRIVAL OF THE OLYMPIC FLAME ON CHINESE TERRITO- RY, THE GOVERNMENT OF MACAO REQUESTED TO STU- DIO FESTI A GRAND SPECTACLE OF LARGE PROPOR- TIONS TO TAKE PLACE ENTIRELY ON NAM VAN LAKE, TO PROMOTE THE INTERNATIONAL IMAGE OF THE ALTER- NATIVE CITY AND THAT OF A CITY TIED TO GAMBLING. NEW YORK CITY (USA) – 2006, 2010 COLUMBUS DAY PARADE TO CELEBRATE THE ANNIVERSARY OF THE DISCOVERY OF AMERICA BY CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS, STUDIO FESTI SUC- CESSFULLY EXECUTED AN ITALIAN PARADE DOWN THE FIFTH AVENUE THAT DRAMATICALLY EMPHASIZED THE HISTORIC, ARTISTIC AND CULTURAL ASPECTS OF ITALY’S REGIONS. MUNICH (GERMANY) - 2008 850TH ANNIVERSARY OF MUNICH THIS EVENT WAS A FANTASTICAL PROCESSION CON- VEYING MUNICH’S HISTORY FOR THE OCCASION OF THE CITY’S 850TH ANNIVERSARY.