Culture Del Mondo

Per la prima volta vengono esposte le opere di artisti che, fin dai suoi esordi, hanno partecipato al Movimento per la Coscienza di Krishna insieme a quelle di altri autori internazionali che hanno interpretato in una chiave personale il messaggio di Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada (Calcutta 1896 – Vrindavana 1977) e della Bhagavad Gita: 

Enzo Barchi (Ekadasinath), Miriam Briks (Dhriti) & Kevin Yee (Ramdas), Marek Buchwold (Baradraj), Claudio Bianchi, Aurelio Bulzatti, Tommaso Cascella, Bruno Ceccobelli, Harvey Cohen (Haridas), Anna Maria Colucci (Samagra), Teresa Coratella, Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami, Baldo Diodato, Bruna Esposito, Govinda Dasi, Uemon Ikeda, Jadurani,  Mark Kostabi, Patrizio Landolfi (Pandu Putra), Massimo Livadiotti, Ria Lussi, Andrea Orlo (Acarya Prema), Tito Marci, Muralidhara, Pariksit, Alberto Parres, Jacelyn Parry, Paola Princivalli Conti, Salvatore Pupillo, Puskara, Jack Sal, Andrea Tagliaventi, Tarshito, Giampaolo Tomassetti (Jnananjana).

The spreading of the core beliefs proposed by the Hare Krishna primarily involves the contemplation of Bhakti yoga as a relationship with the divine through love and devotion, vegetarianism, aryuveda and in particular, the visual arts and music played an important role in inspiring young American people to contribute with their creative impulses to the Movement. It was Prabhupada who in the sixties, inspired the early artists who eventually affectionately named the art space Swamiji’s art studio, located in the East Village, New York. It was also in the same neighborhood, in Tompskins Square Park, on October the 9th 1966,  where he initially sat down with a group of first followers under the American elm (known as the Hare Krishna Tree) and held the first session of chanting outside of India accompanied by it’s rhythmic dances, percussions and the fervent devoted chanting of the mantra Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare.

Nella divulgazione dei valori proposti dal Movimento, si contemplano il Bhakti yoga come relazione con il divino attraverso l’amore e la devozione, il vegetarianismo e l’ayurveda. In particolare l’arte visiva e la musica, hanno prestato un ruolo importante nell’ispirare i giovani americani ad offrire la loro energia al movimento attraverso il loro impulso creativo.  Fu lo stesso Prabhupada, negli anni Sessanta, a stimolare la creazione di ciò che poi sarà chiamato affettuosamente dai primi artisti lo Swamiji’s art studio nell’East Village, a New York. Nel Parco di Tompkins Square, il 9 ottobre 1966, egli con un gruppo di primi seguaci, sedette sotto l’olmo americano (conosciuto come Hare Krishna Tree) e tenne la sua prima sessione di canto fuori dall’India, tra danze ritmate da strumenti a percussione, recitando il Mahamantra: Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare.

In the first section of the exhibition, showcases the first twenty years of the movement. This period saw the birth of works by authors such as Harvey Cohen (Haridas) with his poster for the Mantra Rock Dance (1966), Govinda Dasi with the cover of the Bhagavad Gita in 1968 and Baradraj & Jadurani Dasi with the cover for the 1972 edition. Before in the New York studio, in Boston, then followed by Los Angeles, the artwork that would grace the books of Srila Prabhupada, were realized with the same techniques descended from the bottegas of old European art masters, interpreting the ancient Vedic iconography in a modern key. With the acquisition in 1979 of Villa Vrindavana – a property that once belonged to the Machiavelli family – some of the first American artists amongst which, Ram das Abhiram with Dhriti Dasi and Pariksit, were invited to form a European branch of the school and it was there, together with Jananjana (Giampaolo Tomassetti) and Acarya Prema where they renewed the artistic output that successively came to be identified as Neo-Vedic. From 2015, Villa Vrindavana became the seat of the Italian Museum of Sacred Art – MOSA and continued the dissemination of sacred texts either through painting or through the popular Radio Krishna Centrale network (RKC), where until up to the early nineties, prominent Italian figures such as musicians and composers Claudio Rocchi (Krishna Chaitanya Das) and Paolo Tofani (Krishna Prema Das) were a frequent mainstay.

Ai primi vent’anni del Movimento risalgono le opere di autori come Harvey W. Cohen (Haridas) con la grafica del Mantra-Rock Dance (1966), Govinda Dasi che disegnò la copertina dell’edizione della Bhagavad Gita del 1968 e Baradvaja & Jadurani Dasi con la copertina per l’edizione del 1972. Nello studio di New York prima, poi Boston e successivamente Los Angeles le opere che avrebbero illustrato i libri di Srila Prabhupada erano realizzate con le tecniche delle antiche botteghe d’arte d’Europa, interpretando l’iconologia classica Vedica in chiave moderna. Con l’acquisizione, nel 1979, di Villa Vrindavana una villa Medicea alle porte di Firenze, aIcuni tra i primi artisti americani tra cui Ram das Abhiram con Dhriti dasi e Pariksit, sono invitati a formare una scuola europea ed è lì che danno vita insieme a Jnananjana (Giampaolo Tomasetti) ed Acarya Prema ad una rinnovata produzione successivamente definita Neovedico. Dal 2015 Villa Vrindavana è anche la sede italiana del MOSA – Museum of Sacred Art ed un’oasi spirituale volta alla divulgazione dei Testi Sacri sia attraverso l’arte pittorica che al popolare network Radio Krishna Centrale (RKC), di cui fin dai primi anni Novanta tra i principali animatori ci furono i musicisti e compositori Claudio Rocchi (Krishna Caitanya) e Paolo Tofani (Krsna Prema).

The second section of the exhibition is dedicated to artists primarily from different cultures and approach who have contributed in expressing the spiritual themes of the Krishna Consciousness movement though art: Enzo Barchi, Claudio Bianchi, Aurelio Bulzatti, Tommaso Cascella, Bruno Ceccobelli, Anna Maria Colucci (Samagra), Teresa Coratella, Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami, Baldo Diodato, Bruna Esposito, Uemon Ikeda, Mark Kostabi, Patrizio Landolfi (Pandu Putra), Massimo Livadiotti, Ria Lussi, Tito Marci, Alberto Parres, Jacelyn Parry, Paola Princivalli Conti, Salvatore Pupillo, Jack Sal, Andrea Tagliaventi, Tarshito.

La seconda sezione del percorso espositivo è dedicata a quegli artisti che, interagiscono con la filosofia della coscienza di Krishna attraverso un diverso approccio culturale: Enzo Barchi, Claudio Bianchi, Aurelio Bulzatti, Tommaso Cascella, Bruno Ceccobelli, Anna Maria Colucci (Samagra), Teresa Coratella, Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami, Baldo Diodato, Bruna Esposito, Uemon Ikeda,  Mark Kostabi, Patrizio Landolfi (Pandu Putra), Massimo Livadiotti, Ria Lussi, Tito Marci, Alberto Parres, Jacelyn Parry, Paola Princivalli Conti, Salvatore Pupillo, Jack Sal, Andrea Tagliaventi, Tarshito.

In the exhibition, there will be displayed the memorabilia of Alan and Carol Kallman, George Harrison, John Lennon and Yoko Ono, along with the short films by Giorgio and Jonas Mekas and a video with Allen Ginsberg chanting Hare Krishna. These works together document the impact that the words and teachings of Prabhupada had on the culture of that time. Various events were organized within that context and the most important one being the Mantra Rock Dance that took place on January 29th, 1967, in San Francisco. It was a fund raising concert in which the Grateful Dead and Janis Joplin played along with Big Brother & The Holding Company.

Other supporters of the movement were Ravi Shankar, author of the music of the documentary Hare Krishna (A Giorgio Film, 1967) and, especially, George Harrison who produced the album The Radha Krishna Temple (1969), including the Hare Krishna Mantra in the song My Sweet Lord and financed the printing of the book Krishna the Supreme Personality of Godhead produced by ISKON.