The “Michelangelo Buonarroti” State Art High School hosted the Seventh International Day of Light in Latina, organized by Enzo Bonacci in collaboration with the UNESCO Club of Latina. It is one of the few Italian events accredited on the official website of the International Day of Light.
The objective of the day, established during the 39th Session of the UNESCO General Conference, is to provide a permanent follow-up to the achievements of the International Year of Light in raising the profile of Science & Technology and its application to stimulate Education, to improve the quality of life around the world and to achieve the sustainable development goals. The chosen date is intended to commemorate the first laser light obtained by Theodore H. Maiman on May 16, 1960.
The event on May 16th at Liceo Buonarroti had the theme “Light in our lives: walking with young people, for legality and rights” and was divided into two sessions (scientific and artistic) both live streamed by Fabio Testa.
The Department of Mathematics and Physics selected the audience in the Auditorium on the basis of interest and motivation: two students from each of the fourth and fifth classes of the institute. The students of class 3A were tireless in welcoming and maintaining order.
At 9.30am Anna Rita Leone opened the proceedings in the Aula Magna by thanking all the participants. Chief Commissioner Valeria Morelli spoke and praised the institute where “you can breathe Art in all corners” and is at the forefront in the fight against cyberbullying and gender violence. The spokesperson of the Latina Police Headquarters wanted to correct the obsolete and misleading vision of the work of the police in terms of mere repression of violent behaviour, recalling both the crime prevention paths implemented in collaboration with schools and the delicate task of balance between the protection of individual rights and the guarantee of public safety to which women and men in uniform are called daily in democratic societies; democracy that needs the free and heartfelt participation of young people in a framework of legality and trust towards the institutions which must reciprocate with a commitment to closeness to the citizen. Even the Municipal Councilor for Youth Policies Andrea Chiarato, who spoke immediately afterwards bringing greetings from the Mayor of Latina Matilde Celentano, underlined the need for young people to express their ideas with determination, especially in contexts of obvious injustice. After complimenting the very high level of the initiatives implemented by the Liceo Buonarroti and the international caliber of the teaching staff, Councilor Chiarato recalled that we human beings are animated by an energy and provided with a light that we must spread wherever there is darkness; metaphor aside, he invited young people to intervene, because making one’s voice heard is never irrelevant as recently demonstrated by Holocaust survivor Sami Modiano on a visit to Latina. The President of the Club for UNESCO of Latina Mauro Macale expressed his appreciation for the interventions to raise awareness of legality carried out, in their areas of competence, by the Police Headquarters and the Public Administration. President Macale then focused on the poster of this seventh edition of IDL24, describing it thus: in addition to the yellow sun, the desire to live of young people, to whom UNESCO would like to leave a better world, there is the red sun, symbol of rights, and the blue sun that determines man’s duties (in line with Giuseppe Mazzini’s lesson of 1860). Macale concluded the part of the institutional greetings by urging those present and all the schools of the Province of Latina, connected in streaming, not to be that “majority” that prefers to complain rather than roll up their sleeves to change the things that Giovanni Falcone spoke about.
Following this, Bonacci coordinated the scientific interventions. The speakers on stage were, in order: Paola Dimauro who explained electromagnetism in an exemplary manner from Maxwell’s equations to the Theory of Relativity and recalled the meritorious activities of the APA-lan in the Pontine territory; Federica Perazzotti who described her suggestive doctoral project on the “Study of paleoclimate and luminescence in the Quaternary deposits of the island of Mallorca”; Angela D’Angelo who illustrated the importance of radiology in our lives, with a nice excursus between medicine and art; Daniele Mercuri and Simone Ciotti, both at La Sapienza University of Rome, who proposed practical experiments with optical fiber accompanied by an exhaustive lesson on the history and functioning of this technology, whose geopolitical importance is destined to grow.
Immediately afterwards, Bonacci opened the artistic session by calling Marilena Seminara, Deputy Director of “Luogo Arte Accademia Musicale”, who introduced the performances of the students of the Academy together with a very young presenter: the violinist Elio Luca Carta. Martina and Giulia Assenza, Lorenzo Favero, Eliana and Martina Esposito, Angelo Leahy, Laura Buzulan performed on the piano; the latter also changed instrument to perform Ignaz Pleyel’s final piece “Duo in G major for two violins” together with Sofia Visentin.
Following this, the Collective Art Exhibition “Blow-up: photographic enlargements” was inaugurated, curated by the Department of Graphics, Audiovisual and Multimedia and the RiScatto Photographic Association. Ten professional photographers and nine students from the Art School exhibited their creations, in black and white and colour, to complete the educational project inspired by the film of the same name (Blow-Up, 1966). The choice of the famous work by director Michelangelo Antonioni had an ethical and aesthetic value, as clarified by President Prosseda who then retraced the evolution of the relationship between man and light through various forms of light sources, from fire to laser, on an imaginary journey called “Lumen in Fabula”.
The Music Art Jam group from the Art School concluded the day with pop and rock songs from various decades, starting with “Here comes the sun” by the Beatles. Directed by Paolo Ciarlo, Raimondo Failla and Fabio Testa; the students who sang and played on stage.
