By Dawn Lindson
After a busy day leaving behind a sunny cultural island that has plenty of natural beauty and so much Art to explore… In case you hadn't guessed, the place I was describing is Majorca! I was pleased to arrive home in time to catch Roberto Alborghetti’s Ghost Bus 2019 performance live at the Bartons Garage. I had heard so much about him through ACT and how he has a special interest in Beeston so I was very curious to learn more.
He spoke of how he sees colours, I found this fascinating and it prompted questions from the audience. He said "Colours are our energy.....our life!" A comment I couldn't agree more with, especially since I have a craze for colourful things. I guess we all see colours differently and his perspective was quite unique. Roberto loves the colour red and when he first came to Nottingham he saw that in the bricks, which for him are a symbol of structure and history of our city. This became the inspiration for his first production called "Colours of Nottingham." He collaborated with singer Jeanie Barton (who I met at my first ACT event) to create visual and musical films which will be on her new CD album called "Moments of Clarity". However the things that I found struck a chord with me most were listening to him discuss some of the 6 books he had recently published. One of them "Dining with Pope Francis" covers his passion of food for survival and how we are what we eat. As a world we waste so many consumer goods which is totally unnecessary and is having negative effects on our world. Roberto described how he believes food waste is the biggest problem in our world today and said Italy wastes 40 billion euros of food each year.
He also aims to have a positive influence on school children with his "Social or Dis-Social" guide. He rightly acknowledges that the use of digital technology is a great source of education when used appropriately. However, 90% of children are using it inappropriately by spending too much time chatting online and playing violent video games. He has concerns that children as young as 6 are losing as much as 4 hours a day on their smartphones, this also increases to 6 hours for teenagers.
Not only is this causing negative social effects but they are being affected by blue light. He is concerned that some people are allowing the digital world to destroy their lives and recognises the importance of a sensible approach to using the internet. The important message he wants to get across to school children, is to use their smartphone to better themselves and create a better world for everyone to live in.
It was interesting listening to him having a discussion with the presenter William Ranieri live on stage and I also enjoyed watching the videos which were displayed on the large screen. He has a very imaginative approach to taking photographs, which would inspire photographers all around the world. However, he is not just a great Artist but also a great influencer on important sociological issues the world is facing. He finished the evening by answering questions from the audience. I will look out for his next event in Beeston and perhaps next time I will be able to meet him in person.
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Roberto shared Dawn's blog on his webite/blogsite on 20th June and here is the link, with photos by Tracey Whitefoot, Inna Schutts and William Ranieri. https://robertoalborghetti.wordpress.com/2019/06/20/nottingham-uk-building-bridges-and-positive-rebellion-around-an-old-bus/