E-Straordinario for Kids

The workshop held by the Fondazione Casoli with Elisabetta Benassi was centered on the need for cross pollination between the worlds of contemporary art and business.

The excited cries of children having purposeful fun marked the third “E-straordinario for kids”, an annual educational workshop held by the Fondazione Ermanno Casoli in Fabriano in September, shortly before school reopens.

The artist Elisabetta Benassi and Fondazione Ermanno Casoli's artistic director Marcello Smarrelli presenting the workshop to kids. Photo Andrea Pacioni

The initiative centres on the need for cross pollination between the worlds of contemporary art and business, in order to educate and grow. It is an activity successfully tried and tested for years by the Fondazione Casoli, in collaboration with many companies in the Marche area and elsewhere. “E-Straordinario for Kids 2015” was curated by Marcello Smarrelli, the Foundation’s art historian and artistic director. Entitled Prototypes, this process of growth in close contact with contemporary art involved the children of Elica employees, a company that has always been close to the world of artistic production.

Under the guidance of Rome artist Elisabetta Benassi – a fascinating presence on the Italian and international scenario – the children were asked to create a collective sculpture by assembling Elica hood components, in an approach reminiscent of the rectified ready-made tradition, an experience spawned by the historical avant-garde artists of the early 20th century, with Duchamp to the fore.

The day started early and, in the morning, the children were briefly introduced to the world of hoods, one that plays a key role in their parents’ lives: what is a hood? how does it work? what materials is it made of? and so on. Then they were given a number of drawings illustrating hood composition in exploded axonometric views, most importantly the assembly of the components to generate the finished product, with which we are all familiar as we use them in our kitchens every day.

At this point, the children entered into action. Elisabetta Benassi asked them to draw their own hood on large sheets of paper and they were given total freedom to combine together the parts shown in the exploded axonometric views provided.

The end result was a mix of previous educational-theoretical experience and an attempt to reproduce existing hoods although the desire to play, have fun, experiment and surprise prevailed, with these everyday objects being seen from a different angle, as children always do.

In this particular case, they produced completely new designs, totally the fruit of their imaginations, in a process that might be described as the desemanticization of the real object. Only one of the drawing compositions produced and displayed during the day was actually chosen for construction, by assembling the components as imagined by the children. The artist Elisabetta Benassi was responsible for the concrete and faithful construction of this new “prototype” – hence the title of the day.

The greatest enthusiasm was seen in the afternoon when the young artists were left free to colour the creation that had taken shape.

Initially moving a little awkwardly and almost fearfully, perhaps because their interested parents were watching a few metres away, they gradually let themselves go and started acting freely, following the rhythm of the swift brushstrokes, as if playing a game won by whoever was best at smearing and getting smeared. The final result was a spontaneous chorus of colour, anything but contrived or planned – demonstrating children’s strong and innate sense of beauty, the product of unconscious observation of the world of objects around them.

The Elica Group’s President, Francesco Casoli, son of Ermanno Casoli after whom the Foundation is named, and Elisabetta Benassi, the protagonist of the day along with the children, appeared hugely enthusiastic and happy with the success of the initiative.

After supervising the children’s every move, the artist said: “I’ve never had an experience like it; it’s wonderful, an exhilarating sense of joy and freedom. I have never wanted to teach. I did some supply teaching just after graduating from university and got no pleasure from my role behind the desk but I have always enjoyed exchanges, trying to give and communicate my work. Today was a very special experience.

I’m sure the children will carry today with them. They won’t realise right away, they are just amused and happy but later on, at some time in their lives, they will remember what they did today and I’m certain it will be of use to them.”

Casoli reiterated the need to continue with this and many more projects by the Foundation.

The most striking images of the day include the strange composition assembled by Benassi and the many plastic beakers used to hold paint but left empty, soiled with paint and scattered all around.

The empty beakers symbolise all the energy unleashed by these young prototypers, a physical and mental commitment founded on touching materials and conceiving new forms, and getting their hands dirty with colours and brushes – actions increasingly rare at a time when the virtual world of the Internet and social media seems to prevail over the real one. Benassi’s composition, spawned by refunctionalising an everyday object, is totally uncommon and unreal, a demonstration that in times of major crisis we can and must seek out a different reality, but to succeed we must go back and look at the world through the eyes of children.

E-Straordinario for Kids

The workshop held by the Fondazione Casoli with Elisabetta Benassi was centered on the need for cross pollination between the worlds of contemporary art and business.

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