graziano cecchini has rome by the balls.

Only three months after dying the Trevi fountain red, 54 year-old Italian artist and activist Graziano Cecchini has done it again.

Yesterday he dumped 500,000 multi-coloured plastic balls down Rome’s famous Spanish Steps – causing insanity, mayhem, a whole bunch of tourists to wonder what the hell was going on, and several Italians to look up from their espressos and roll their eyes.

The area was quickly roped off and city workers were soon on hand to scoop up the protest balls, but not before a bunch of gleeful witnesses began gathering their own souvenirs and a good number of them ended up bobbing in the Barcaccia fountain. Apparently the significance of it all is in the Italian word for “balls” (“palle”) which can also mean “untruth”. The symbolism behind 500,000 “untruths” rolling through town is beautiful in it’s simplicity, noticeability, and ability to totally piss people off.

Detained by the police for “interrupting public services”, Cecchini said, ”This is an artistic operation which documents through art the problem that we have in Italy. They’re always telling us lies, both the Left and the Right.” You know this isn’t the last we’ll hear from Mr. Cecchini…

In an interesting side note, only a few hours after the stunt several of the balls were already for sale on eBay at the bargain basement price of 50 Euros (about $75 CAD)…for a plastic ball. An hour later a second seller appeared online. Though only offering one red ball for grabs, it was cleverly positioned as being “coloured red for positive feelings”.

gimme gimme: napkin.

There’s always an opportunity to take something boring and ghetto (wet wipes) and turn it into something irresistably chic. That’s just what Italian company Napkin has done with it’s range of freeze-dried goodies. Their line-up of hand and body towels (and even some tee shirts…) come suction-packed into little circular pills. All you need to do is add a little water and you’ve got your own personal hand towel, or tee shirt, no matter where you are. Ridiculously unnecessary… and I really want some.

the art monastery.

This article originally appeared on Josh Spear

In the immortal words of Sophia Petrillo…Picture it: Italy, 2008. In the green hillside of Calvi dell’Umbria sits a cherished 17th century Baroque convent. A group of artists, dedicated to their passion for finding new ways to communicate and collaborate, have come together to create, imagine, inspire and tend the walled garden that grows their food. At the end of the day, they meet together to sing a Gregorian chant before bedtime. Sounds a little too good to be true, doesn’t it?

This idyllic “life as art vision” is about to be realized by The Art Monastery Project. Soon Californian artist couple Peter Fülling and Betsy McCall will lead 30 artists to Italy and bring this dream to reality. Over the next few years they hope to build a community of artists and musicians, allowed to live in the monastery in exchange for renovating and caring for the property. Those retreating there, both visitors and long-term residents, will share a regular schedule (not unlike the convent’s former residents) designed to focus their minds and add fuel to their creative fires.

After searching 25 locations in Italy, there were formally invited by the Mayor of Calvi dell’Umbria to use the convent following a June 2007 visit of 30 artists that included a concert in the town’s oldest church, dancing in the piazza, and a great deal of wine.

McCall says their goal is to foster “an intentional community where the depth of collaboration and vitality of discussion produces genuinely transformative art.” Wow.

If it wasn’t for my lease (and job… and goldfish…), I’d be heading for the Alitalia terminal right now.