David Byrne Journal:2004-03-20
David Byrne's journal entry for March 20, 2004 was titled Reggio Emilio, Italy. This was the second entry on David Byrne's journal.
Body
Met up with Sergio, whose English is less than perfect, but better than my Italian.
We went to look at the proposed future art space here in Reggio Emilio, which was a former clothing store, or a factory, located on the edge of town. (Sergio has a foundation that wants to present a show of my art.) The town is small, 10,000 people.
The proposed space is a warehouse-type building in a nondescript part of town, set back from the street by a small vacant lot, now mostly rubble, with some patches of grass trying to grow. A few cars are parked near the entrance doors, in no particular place, like they stopped and got out without actually parking.
Across the street there is a small football field, and, as it's Saturday, the local boys are playing in their nylon uniforms.
The building is "in remont," as they say in Russia - still being renovated. Sergio said the pace of renovations has slowed because my show was postponed. The outside is of old funky yellowing stucco with bits of graffiti on some portions.
Inside there are large white spaces. First there is a large foyer type space - to be a bookstore, they said - a series of smaller rooms open off of this, and further on, behind an octagonal glass-enclosed skylight atrium, there was a fairly large room for the main exhibitions. Off to the side of the "bookstore" is a room with a new wood floor. It will be a bar, they said.
He said we have a jpeg of the floor plan. I took some pictures of the rooms.
No foot traffic would pass through this part of town at all. The town itself is pretty ugly, mostly buildings from the 60s, I guess - boxy stucco and concrete apartments and shops. Sergio says that it is a wealthy town. Maybe the wealth lies outside. The town square has a museum with what I suspect are plaster casts of Roman statues along the top, and a Romanesque style (but not era) church on the other side. The other 2 sides are mostly shops and ice cream parlors. The punky kids hang outside shop windows displaying elegant suits and dresses.
Sergio said, "you are disappointed by the space?" (I guess he could tell.) "The space in Parma was much better," he continued. "A historical building" (Was that supposed to make me feel better or worse?)
He said the first show here will be in May, of local artists, I think, something to do with suburbanism. Then there will be a show of Sol Le Witt and Robert Morris in June or July. Then, later, Dennis Oppenheim.