Africa is the future.
AFRODISIA is a brand, an event, a radio program, a guarantee when it comes to an authentic contemporary Africa experience.
After last semester’s partnership, RADIO officially presents the project Afrodisia and the 2012 program of events in Milan and Rome. A varied calendar of monthly concerts, at club BIKO (Milan) and Angelo Mai (Rome), that refuse to be labeled with a specific genre, ranging from folk to jazz, and from blues to funk, resulting in a vast mixture of styles that come directly from their motherland.
On January 20, 2012 RADIO will host Anthony Joseph & Spasm Band, a major international afro-rock band, on tour with their new album produced by Malcolm Catto.

FRIDAY JANUARY 20TH
7:00 p.m.
Afrodisia Presentation
showcase preview: ANTHONY JOSEPH & SPASM BAND
RADIO Via Pestalozzi, 4 Milan
—
The concert begins at 11:00 p.m. at Arci BIKO,
Via Ettore Ponti, 40 Milan

ANTHONY JOSEPH & THE SPASM BAND
One of the most interesting and innovative voices in the United Kingdom, poet, novelist, musician, and teacher, Anthony Joseph was born in Trinidad and has been living in the United Kingdom since 1989.
He is the author of three poetry collections, a spoken word album, and a cult afro-futuristic novel (“The African Origins of UFOs”) published by Salt Publishing in 2006.
But his talent is expressed at its best with his music: 3 marvelous albums with Spasm Band (“Leggo de Lion”, 2007, “Bird Head Son”, 2009, and “Rubber Orchestras” 2011), which rewarded him with international fame, also thanks to astonishing live performances. A musical and cultural imaginary that gravitates between Sun Ra and Last Poets, whom in their last amazing album “Rubber Orchestras”, expand their horizons toward African icons such as Fela Kuti and Mulatu Astatke.
The album, released in September 2011, was produced by Heliocentrics’ Malcolm Catto, and features among its historical musical UK guest figures The Specials’ Jerry Dammers.
A combination of sinuous and vivacious compositions that range from Afro-rock and Ethio-jazz, to Afrobeat and Free-funk, marked by the magnetic flow of his unique voice.
Anthony Joseph, messenger and prophet, will perform in Italy for the first time in January with the Spasm Band in two must see concerts: Friday, January 20th and Saturady 21st, respectively at the Circolo Arci Biko in Milan and at the Angelo Mai in Rome.
A high profile Afrodisia event.
The leader of the Black avant garde in Britain Ikley Literature Festival.

// anthonyjoseph.co.uk

Darker Than Black is monstrous.

A calendar for the year 2012, inspired by the obscure Heavy Metal universe.
Created by Scarful, Studio Allucinazione and xister, the project traces the most unique and extreme seminal bands’ album covers, viewed through a glossy and grotesque filter.
On December 2nd, RADIO will host a special exhibit with the project’s photographs.
A limited edition of numbered copies will be produced.
During the presentation event, complimentary copies of the calendar will be distributed upon request until supplies last. The calendar is not for sale.
Friday, December | 7:00 p.m. — 11:00 p.m.
RADIO Via Pestalozzi, 4 Milan

SCARFUL
Roman artist and designer born in 1968. After completing his university studies in art and architecture, he begins working as a graphic designer.
In 1995, together with other writers and artists from the graphic design community in Rome he founds the Hateful Graphic Vandals collective, where he produces his first works with the name Scarful.
He participates in exhibits and events with the group Why Style, in some of the most important art galleries in Italy, including MondoPOP Gallery, Rome;
Museo di Arte Contemporanea MADRE, Naples; Auditorium Parco della Musica,
Rome; Romberg Gallery, Rome; Spazio P4, Milan. He has created artwork for bands such as Zu, Antiyou, Truceklan, Dimension X, Ius Primae Noctis, Ardecore
// scarful.com

Federica Chiesa
Born in Tuscany in 1979, at an early age he discovers his fascination for images and begins studying photography in Rome, where he currently works and resides.
He collaborates with the most important companies and agencies in the advertising industry.


Studio Allucinazione
Allucinazione is the place where photo shoots and commercials happen in Rome.
It’s the leader among photo agents and video production companies.
The studio works on both a national and international level, and it is the biggest rental service in central Italy.
// allucinazione.com

In occasione del lancio italiano dello smartphone Galaxy SII,
Samsung organizza a Milano il suo primo “SAFARI”: un workshop sulla fotografia che ha come obiettivo l’esperienza diretta con fotografi fortemente connessi al territorio urbano.

Attraverso il confronto con Joao Paulo Ribeiro e Andrea Boscardin, tutors per il SAFARI di Milano, Samsung invita due gruppi di partecipanti ad una serie di incursioni per le strade milanesi volte a sperimentare tecnica, approccio e velocità di chi vive in modo frontale il reportage fotografico.

RADIO-OFF* will be hosting The Milan Review, an independent publishing company based in Milan that proposes to publish “ host of narrative titles, art books and fanzines, and anything else they happen to want to publish”.
Founded by Tim Small (editor) and Riccardo Trotta (art director), The Milan Review is an ambitious project of the Italian book publishing industry directed at the international scene.

On May 12th, on RADIO’S premises, the first publication will be presented: a self-titled biyearly literary magazine in English, which will constantly vary both in form and in content.

The first number, The Milan Review of Ghosts, will include short stories by Dave Cull, Jonathan Dixon, Glen Hirschberg, Noy Holland, Jonathon Keats, Tao Lin, Clancy Martin, E.C. Osondu, Dawn Raffel, Nelly Reifler, Rebecca Rosenblum, Deb Olin Unferth, Corinna Vallianatos, Brent Van Horne. Illustrated by Matt Furie and Maison Du Crac.

The Milan Review of Ghosts, will subsequently be presented in London and New York

Opening: Thursday May 12th | from 19.00 — 22.00

In collaboration with Royal Norwegian Embassy and Snob Production

Friday 15th of April Radio focus on NOW NORWEGIAN WAY, a project born to promote contemporary Norwegian art expressions in Italy.

On the occasion of Milano Design Week, Radio meets 17 Norwegian designer who expressed themselves in the art and design world without any limit achieving a prominent position on the international level.

Radio becomes the cultural link between the Scandinavian and Italian art scene.

In March 5th Radio honors Chaz Bojórquez.
“THE ART AND LIFE OF CHAZ BOJÓRQUEZ” is the first monograph on Charles “Chaz” Bojórquez, an artist of Mexican origin who at the end of the 1970’s started out in his district of Los Angeles, following the tradition of Cholo graffiti which was widespread in the suburbs of the Californian metropolis.
Chaz Bojórquez soon found a style of his own that has influenced whole generations of street artists, writers and tattooists. His symbol or “tag”, created in 1969, is a stylised skull called Senor Suerte (Mr Luck): inspired by Mexican folklore and especially by the cult of Holy Death it is one of the first examples of stencil art applied to the street and it subsequently became an image for protection against death among the street gangs.
The other feature of this artist’s aesthetic is calligraphy: in fact Bojrquez was one of the first writers to employ special typographical characters, hard to read but of great aesthetic impact, creating an original synthesis of psychedelic style, Fraktur and Chinese calligraphy. Bojórquez was also one of the first to pass successfully from street art to the galleries: today his works are in the permanent collections of American museums such as the National Museum of American Art and the Orange County Museum of Art, inasmuch as they are considered expressions of South Californian Latino culture.