L’ARTISTA DIETRO ARTE DI PINO // ECONOMIA.HU

http://www.itlgroup.eu/economiahu2020/arte-di-pino-chiacchierata-con-giuseppe-scelsa/
L’intervista a Giuseppe Scelsa é stata affascinante sotto vari punti di vista. Quello creativo senza dubbio, sul piano della sostenibilità e l’arte del riutilizzo (il noto upcycling), e su quello umano, perché l’artista dietro Arte di Pino é una persona con un “sesto” senso: vede negli oggetti piú comuni, rotti e ammaccati quello che potrebbero essere, non quello che sembrano alla maggior parte delle persone che li lascia prendere polvere nelle cantine e nelle soffitte. Giuseppe Scelsa, italiano in Ungheria dal 1999, ha una passione per trasformare materiali ed oggetti in arte, che si avverte in ogni sua parola. Ne abbiamo parlato con Giuseppe, Zsuzsa sua moglie e “mente organizzativa” di Arte di Pino e con Alessandro Farina, direttore di ITL Group. Pubblichiamo di seguito la prima parte dell’incontro.
English Transcript ITL 2021.06. #1
The interview with Giuseppe Scelsa was fascinating from various points of view. The creative one without a doubt, on the level of sustainability and the art of reuse (the well-known upcycling), and on the human one, because the artist behind Arte di Pino is a person with a "sixth" sense: he sees in the most common objects, broken what they could be, not what they seem to most people who let them take dust in the cellars and attics. Giuseppe Scelsa, Italian in Hungary since 1999, has a passion for transforming materials and objects into art, which is felt in every word. We talked about it with Giuseppe, Zsuzsa his wife and "organizational mind" of Arte di Pino and with Alessandro Farina, director of ITL Group. We publish below the first part of the meeting.
How was Arte di Pino born?
"Thanks to the fact of having to think about what I had to say today, I remembered that for a period of my childhood I lived abroad in Africa (Zambia) where from the local boys I learned to build machines in wire. In Iraq, we used clothes turned into soccer balls. With the used wheels of the cars, we competed to make more meters in straight rotation. It has always been normal to reuse materials that would otherwise have been thrown away. It has always been a pleasure, with time becoming a passion not to see things wasted. Looking at a discarded object or material that again acquires a purpose, a feature is the object of infinite pride, fun and reflection."
In this period, we hear about up-cycling and the importance of reusing objects when they are no longer needed. When you started your experience, did you know the world of up-cycling? How did you find yourself in this world? Do you recognize Arte di Pino as up-cycling?
"Maybe it was a parallel thing. But reuse is becoming increasingly important because it gives me more satisfaction. It is pleasant to see the expressions in the faces of friends looking at objects given by them, transformed into nice and usable things (for example: a wrench transformed into a dinosaur; an old radio that has become a dog-table lamp) and they are amazed. All this gives me incredible emotions".
How did you manage to approach even the youngest? How did you beat the games to the computer?
"Where we live is a fairly small country and often the boys in winter go almost into depression. I try to involve them by pointing out a metal, a stone, a material as it could be transformed. At first, they are convinced that they do not know how to do it, then the opposite happens, I take cues from their ideas, and I also make my workshop available. It's a passion for me."
Is it possible to give advice to families or to activities that can be done in these days when we are very often at home, with their sons and daughters?
"Look around more. Look at the things that give more memories, renew them, reuse them, revive them. It's super simple. One thing that has always excited me is my aunt's story:
His father, in the 50s made an agreement with a district of Rome. He, instead of the municipality, taking the stairs, collected all the waste of the families. Waste that thanks to reuse created an economy that allowed workers to ride with the Fiat 1500 which was then a car for management classes. Think of how much money his father made in the '50s simply by withdrawing waste from families. It should be automatic to reuse everything because it is the most logical form. It makes sense to reuse anything. Reuse should become a habit."