{"id":98506,"date":"2024-12-30T16:40:06","date_gmt":"2024-12-30T16:40:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/us\/?post_type=articles&p=98506"},"modified":"2024-12-30T16:41:39","modified_gmt":"2024-12-30T16:41:39","slug":"history-in-the-making-grazia-usa-winter-2024","status":"publish","type":"articles","link":"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/us\/articles\/history-in-the-making-grazia-usa-winter-2024\/","title":{"rendered":"History in the Making"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"history\"
COLLEGE PARK, GEORGIA – MAY 19: Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson speaks onstage during the 137th Spelman College Commencement Ceremony at Georgia International Convention Center on May 19, 2024 in College Park, Georgia. (Photo by Paras Griffin\/Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Words by Cynthia Martens<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

With Donald Trump’s re-election, the divisive U.S. political scene is poised to deliver ever more legal discord.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Stare decisis, the principle that interpreting past decisions, or precedent, should guide the resolution of new legal questions, is the core doctrine of the common law system. Adherence to precedent provides stability; yet society changes, technology evolves, and sometimes the law is just wrong, created by fallible human beings who are creatures of their time. Progress requires reckoning with the past without allowing it to dictate the future.<\/p>\n

When the Supreme Court reversed Roe v. Wade<\/em> on June 24, 2022, Ketanji Brown Jackson hadn\u2019t been sworn in yet. Her ceremony took place just six days later. What does Justice Jackson make of the decision, in which the Court\u2019s majority spurned stare decisis and ruled that women do not have the constitutional right to terminate a pregnancy? And in her role on the Court, how does Justice Jackson balance respect for the past with duty to the future?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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LOVELY ONE: A MEMOIR<\/strong>
By Ketanji Brown Jackson published by Random House<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The newly published Lovely One: A Memoir<\/em> by Ketanji Brown Jackson is an opportunity to meet America\u2019s first Black female Supreme Court justice at a highly charged moment in politics, a welcome chance to see how one of the nation\u2019s most influential legal scholars \u2013 a former public defender who once dabbled in musical theater \u2013 thinks. In her memoir, she mentions finding inspiration in the Lin-Manuel Miranda lyrics from Hamilton<\/em>, \u201cBut remember from here on in \/ History has its eyes on you,\u201d and observes that her parents, who attended her swearing-in ceremony, came of age in the segregated South.<\/p>\n

Diverse personal narratives allow us to make sense of shared history and our own. This winter, we\u2019ve assembled a new list of artsy suggestions that will get your creative juices flowing.<\/p>\n

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“Unlike many archaeological sites, a wreck represents a single event in which most of the objects were in use at that time and can often be closely dated.” \u2014DAVID GIBBINS<\/b><\/h4>\n<\/blockquote>\n
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Parthenope<\/strong>
Directed by Paolo Sorrentino
To be distributed by A24 Films in North America, with a targeted release date of February 2025<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The sound of the rolling tide, sometimes muffled and sometimes sharp, is ever-present in Parthenope<\/em>, the latest film by director Paolo Sorrentino. Parthenope, a mythological siren who, the story goes, drowned herself when she failed to seduce Odysseus, is also the original moniker for the city of Naples, where Sorrentino grew up. How much choice do we have in life, and to what extent is the die already cast, from the moment we are born into a name, a family, a society?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

There is always a bit of melancholy in Sorrentino films; the director, known for his rich visuals, likes to explore splendor and decay, the passage of time and how a person\u2019s sense of self evolves, all themes at the heart of The Great Beauty, Youth<\/em> and the semi-autobiographical The Hand of God<\/em>. Here, the director takes us on a ride through the turquoise waters of the Gulf of Naples, in which a young woman, played by Celeste Dalla Porta, grapples with the power of her beauty and pursues a career in anthropology. There are sweaty dance parties, cigarettes and sequins, but also a funeral procession that runs into a sanitation truck, a reference to the cholera outbreak of 1973. There\u2019s a lascivious cardinal painting his hair black, an aging drama coach who won\u2019t show her face but longs to be kissed, a troubled young man who takes his own life. Everyone is waiting for a miracle, for the relic containing the blood of San Gennaro to liquify. Parthenope may not always make the best choices, but she asserts herself, turning down an affair with a wealthy playboy and choosing to have an abortion. In contrast, she sees a young man and woman from rival clans of organized crime forced to have sex in front of their families to cement a new alliance.<\/p>\n

The film was released in Italy last October after premiering at the Cannes film festival, and reviews have been mixed (\u201ctroppo bello but mostly just troppo,\u201d said The Hollywood Reporter<\/em>) \u2013 all the more reason to see it for yourself.<\/p>\n

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Francis Ford Coppola\u2019s Megalopolis: A Fable<\/strong>
Directed by Francis Ford Coppola
Released in U.S. theaters September 27, 2024
lionsgate.com\/movies\/megalopolis<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Another film dividing cinephiles is Francis Ford Coppola\u2019s Megalopolis: A Fable<\/em>, a sci-fi epic starring Adam Driver \u2013 whose character, Cesar Catilina, can pause time on command \u2013 and Giancarlo Esposito. Set in a city called New Rome that looks a lot like New York, the movie explores the tension between art, beauty and idealism, on the one hand, and business-as-usual on the other. Coppola had been tinkering with the idea for this film for decades, and finally financed the project by selling part of his wine business in California. Summing up his thoughts on the meaning of utopia in an interview with NPR, Coppola said he wanted audiences to have discussions and to ask themselves: \u201cis the society we have the only one available to us?\u201d<\/p>\n

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A History of the World in Twelve Shipwrecks<\/strong>
By David Gibbins published by St. Martin\u2019s Press<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Art and artifacts are not just an expression of ideals or dreams for the future; they also provide a ladder connecting the past to the present. In a fascinating new book, archeologist David Gibbins, who is also a professional diver, shares musings based on his exploration of shipwrecks around the world, observing that \u201cunlike many archaeological sites, a wreck represents a single event in which most of the objects were in use at that time and can often be closely dated.\u201d Moreover, the wrecks \u201cprovide access to individuals, and that allows us most clearly to empathise with the past.\u201d In A History of the World in Twelve Shipwrecks<\/em>, immerse yourself in the stories of a merchant from the time of Tutankhamun and the last survivor of a torpedoed ship that went down in the North Atlantic, among others.<\/p>\n

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Distance of the Moon by Shuang Li<\/strong>
Prada Rong Zhai
No.186, North Shaan Xi road, Jing\u2019an District, Shanghai, China
rongzhai.fondazioneprada.org
Through January 12, 2025<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Personal relationships forge our sense of who we are, and while modern tools make it easy to keep in touch \u2013 witness the prevalence of group chats \u2013 some argue that all these devices actually impede communication. That\u2019s the position of Chinese artist Shuang Li, whose first solo institutional exhibition, Distance of the Moon<\/em>, relies on a combination of performance, sculpture and multimedia to explore the pitfalls of tech gadgetry. \u201cAll of the tools that were supposed to make communication easier \u2013 instant messengers, video calls, stickers \u2013 have lost their magic, and actually create more distance. Words seem to lose their meaning when sent digitally,\u201d she said in a statement, noting that her exhibition aimed to highlight \u201cthe shadows of technological \u2018progress\u2019.\u201d The show, supported by Fondazione Prada and held at Prada Rong Zhai, a Jazz Age mansion in Shanghai, is open through January 12, 2025. Its title refers to a book by Italo Calvino, Cosmicomics<\/em>, in which people regularly use ladders to climb to the moon and collect \u201cmoon milk\u201d until suddenly gravity changes, pulling the moon away from Earth and dividing families.<\/p>\n

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“There is always a bit of melancholy in Sorrentino films; the director […] likes to explore splendor and ruin, the passage of time and how a person\u2019s sense of self evolves.”<\/h4>\n<\/blockquote>\n
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Lizzie Fitch | Ryan Trecartin: It Waives Back<\/strong>
Prada Aoyama Tokyo
5-2-6 Minami Aoyama, Minato-ku, Tokyo, Japan
prada.com
Through January 13, 2025<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Fondazione Prada is also promoting an exhibition in Tokyo. Through January 13, 2025, visitors to the sixth floor of the Prada Aoyama Tokyo can experience the first Japanese solo show by American collaborative artists Fitch | Trecartin, Lizzie Fitch<\/em> | Ryan Trecartin: It Waives Back<\/em>. The exhibition builds on the artists\u2019 2019 \u201cWhether Line\u201d project, which merged film, animation and sound and debuted at the foundation\u2019s Milanese venue, a 20th<\/sup> century industrial distillery-turned-arts hub. In \u201cIt Waives Back,\u201d Fitch and Trecartin re-examine footage from that initiative in a sweeping new installation, two movies and a sculptural theatre with various gaming elements, exploring contrasting notions of physical and social boundaries: indoors and outdoors, viewer and participant, work and leisure.<\/p>\n

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Aurelio Amendola for Michelangelo.\u00a0<\/strong>
The primacy of the informal<\/strong>
Rifugio Digitale\u2014Via della Forance, 41, 50125 Florence, Italy
rifugiodigitale.it
Through January 5, 2025<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In Florence, architecture firm Archea Associati developed an exhibition space on the foundations of a World War II-era bomb shelter. Called the \u201cRifugio Digitale,\u201d or digital refuge, its interior is now entirely adorned with rectangular blue-green tiles, while the walls are mounted with 16 screens spanning the bunker\u2019s 33 meters. Situated steps away from the Arno River, across from the Basilicata di Santa Croce, the Rifugio Digitale hosts cocktails and lectures, and serves as an ongoing photography exhibition \u2013 the perfect hideout from winter chill. Through January 5, stop by to see Aurelio Amendola for Michelangelo. The primacy of the informal<\/em>, an examination of Amendola\u2019s sensual, textured black-and-white photography of Michelangelo\u2019s sculptures, including the recently restored Bandini Piet\u00e0, also known as The Deposition<\/em>, depicting a dead Jesus Christ taken down from the cross, with the Virgin Mary, Mary Magdalene and a hooded figure whose identity is disputed.<\/p>\n

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Dream On\u2014Berlin, the 90s<\/strong>
C\/O Berlin at Amerika-Haus
Hardenbergstra\u00dfe 22\u201324, 10623 Berlin, Germany
co-berlin.org
Through January 22, 2025<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Berlin Wall came down on November 9, 1989, the first major step toward a tumultuous German reunification. Through January 22, the C\/O Berlin exhibition space at Amerika Haus, a cultural institution that opened in the aftermath of World War II, is presenting Dream On\u2014Berlin, the 90s<\/em>, a show featuring over 200 works by nine original members of the OSTKREUZ group. Founded in 1990 by a team of East Berlin photographers, OSTKREUZ is now recognized as one of the country\u2019s leading photographic agencies. Sibylle Bergemann, Harald Hauswald, Ute Mahler, Werner Mahler, Annette Hauschild, Thomas Meyer, Jordis Antonia Schl\u00f6sser, Anne Sch\u00f6nharting and Maurice Weiss all captured the social upheaval of those years and the emergence of a new city identity.<\/p>\n

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“Wonderwall has been streamed more than 2 billion times on Spotify, with a daily estimate of well over a million streams.”<\/h4>\n<\/blockquote>\n
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Oasis Live \u201825<\/strong>
For more information,\u00a0
visit oasisinet.com<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Speaking of walls, though reportedly not songwriter Noel Gallagher\u2019s favorite Oasis ballad, Wonderwall<\/em>, released in 1995 on the album What\u2019s the Story, Morning Glory?<\/em>, has been streamed more than 2 billion times on Spotify, with a daily estimate of well over a million streams. Something about those lyrics, with their winding roads and blinding lights, have made the song a Millennial touchstone. Fans of the Brit rock band, which split in 2009, rejoiced last summer at the announcement that Noel and Liam Gallagher are reuniting for a 2025 tour, including in various North American cities. \u201cAmerica. Oasis is coming. You have one last chance to prove that you loved us all along,\u201d the duo said in a press statement. Take note: most dates are sold out, and the Ticketmaster pricing has been contentious. But even if you can\u2019t attend a live concert, maybe it\u2019s time to revisit the music. Whether that\u2019s a trip down memory lane, or to a champagne supernova you never experienced, it\u2019s worth the journey.<\/p>\n

Read GRAZIA USA\u2019<\/em>s Winter Issue<\/a> featuring cover star Natasha Lyonne<\/a>:<\/strong><\/h4>\n