Since we lost a member and the collective became a quartet, we’ve remained without an official portrait. We used to have that glamorous 5-faceless-dancers pic, but… we’re not a quintet anymore. We’re kind of making experiments, conveying uncanny images and using them as Rorschach inkblots, to understand something about ourselves at this point of our existence as a group.
Picture above: The bodies belong to Quartetto Buganè, a folk-music combo that was popular in dance clubs around Bologna during the 1960′s and 1970′s. They played filuzzi, the kind of high-speed dance music we described in our novel 54. The face belongs to جمال عبد الناص, the famous Pan-Arabist leader and non-aligned head of state. Click on the image to enlarge it.
2000-2010, the old website
Books… We write them. It's what we do for a living.
Giapdigest archive. A newsletter we used to send out from 2000 to 2007
Manituana – The novel's website
Our channel on YouTube
Podcast
Vintage writings on copyright and intellectual property
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…Ahoy! and we too are still here!
Great portrait – but why the face of the ‘Arabist’ leader, or am I missing the point here, in that, the faces can be nameless or simply anyone and EVERYONE?
Also
Sorry to hear the quintet has become a quartet. Why (if I can ask)? And are you recruiting?
I have been following your work since ‘Q’ first came out. I remember reading an English review, some years back and when ‘Q’ was first released in England of the Luther Blissett/Wu Ming basis – and simply marveled at the work and ideas you produce. (I have long studied art and a member of the Socialist worker Party, obsessed and loathing the lone and star artists – craving to work as a collaboration or in a communal setting/works…so you immediately resonated the right chords for me).
Loved ‘Q’. Left my edition back in England and re-bought a copy to accompany me on my jaunts in the U.S.
Loved ’54′. Both works and your blog I cannot put down… Currently waiting till October until Manituana is released here.
SO – thank you! Thank you for your works, your words, your inspiration and vital sense of community and humor!
p.s. Was pleased to read earlier, that El Pais have released one (of many) photographs of the Italian Premier doing what he does best: misogynistic style of political substance. I’ve never liked the man – NEVER! It’s a horror story: as I fear Murdoch could one day attain further political powers. I wept openly, when Italy voted Berlusconi BACK in…
Take care you 4! Thank you for your commitments here!
C
Hi there, thanks to you! Of course we were expecting that question :-)
There’s no particular logical reason for inserting جمال عبد الناص ‘s face on those musicians’ bodies. The act followed a partly inexplicable chain of free associations: the Mediterranean as a common space for different cultures (and Italy’s closeness to the Northern shores of Africa), the 1950′s models of proletarian stylishness explored in 54, the fact that one of the most important characters in that novel was another non-aligned leader etc. This is just an experiment, and a kind of “screw-yourselves” answer to those mags and journals that frequently ask us: “What picture can we use to illustrate the interview?”
Luca aka “Wu Ming 3″ left the group about one year ago, for personal reasons. Now there’s a baffling gap in the numbers of our noms-de-plume: we’re 1,2, 4 and 5!
To help you visualize the way Pierre and his friends dance in 54. This is traditional acrobatic “Filuzzi” dancing. The two guys TAKE OFF at 0:24!
[...] La foto è presentata da Wu Ming nel blog in lingua inglese nel post 1999-2009. Hey, you bastards, we’re still here! Experiment #1 [...]