Moleskine notebooks imagined by 100 creative minds, including young promises and protagonists of art, design and fashion, on view in the AtWork exhibition I had a dream organized by Moleskine Foundation, in an immersive setting created by the studio Design Group Italia. 100 participants, 100 dreams, 100 projects… Can creativity change the world?
Notebooks as canvases on which to put strokes, signs, fields, collages, photographs, words… And fabrics that intertwine in a chromatic explosion, pages and covers transformed into sculptural works.
The protagonists at the Africa Center in Harlem are the dreams of 100 creative talents, shaped on Moleskine notebooks during the AtWork Tour 2018 workshops organized by Moleskine Foundation at N’Djamena (Chad), Kampala (Uganda), Harare (Zimbabwe), Rome (Italy), guided by Simon Njami and co-directed by the photographer Andrew Tshabangu and the curator Elise Atangana.
“A school of freedom and social commitment,” Njami explains, “because no change can be achieved by one person alone. If Nelson Mandela, Mahatma Gandhi or Martin Luther King Jr., to name several dreamers, were able to make a difference, it was mainly because they were able to convince people, beyond the ego. It is time to tell the kids who represent our future that no such thing as fatalism exists. We are born for what we were born to do, but we become what we have done. In other words, I Had a Dream is an invitation to take action, here and now.”
At the Africa Center the first international exhibition of AtWork, I Had a Dream, was opened for the launch of the Moleskine Foundation in the States: as the CEO of the foundation Adama Sanneh says, “we are enthusiastic about bringing our mission to the United States, and we can’t wait to develop new, unique initiatives in this vibrant cultural space that can have a global resonance, amplifying the role of creativity to construct our collective future. As is demonstrated by this first partnership with the Africa Center, our presence in New York will increase our impact on both the local and the international level, providing access to our unconventional educational experiences for young people all over the world.”
The works shaped by the emerging young talents are immersed in a striking setting created by the studio Design Group Italia, helmed by the designer Gabriel Zangari, amidst reflecting walls that double the tiny details and semi-spherical cases: “A labor of love. Our design sets out to create a strong interaction between Africa and New York City, unwinding a subtle red thread that connects them in a direct way. Mirrors, quotations, message books, iPads with in-depth information have been placed strategically to create a conversation between artist and viewer.
Quotations that have become key points of the exhibition for us – says Gabriel Zangari – written by young people from Africa and Europe, arranged to make the dream accessible to all, so they will challenge themselves and transform that dream into reality. Messages that are so strong that they have been imprinted on all the walls of the Africa Center in Harlem and screen-printed, for the opening, on Moleskine notebooks. To be conserved, like a heritage.” The itinerary winds through the 100 dream projects flanked by notebooks by international celebrities like Spike Jonze, Pascale Marthine Tayou, Jean-Claude Ellena, Joël Andrianomearisoa, Joana Vasconcelos, Carlo Stanga, Paula Scher, Libri Finti Clandestini, donated to the Moleskine Foundation Collection, which contains over 1000 artists’ notebooks. In a collective project that urges us to think about how creativity might really be able to change the world.
AtWork “I had a dream” by Moleskine Foundation
100 participants, 100 dreams, 100 projects
Until 29 July 2019
The Africa Center – New York City
