WP3S-3.1

Changes and perspectives of human mobilities in euro-Mediterranean area

Conferenza
internazionale

ART and MIGRATION

Sabato (Simon) Rodia and the Watts Towers of Los Angeles

2/4 April 2009

Sabato (detto Simon o Sam) Rodia (1879-1965) era un immigrato italiano negli Usa, dove lavorò come minatore, operaio, muratore e piastrellista. Tra il 1921 e il 1954, in assoluta solitudine, edificò a Los Angeles, nella zona di Watts, le Watts Towers, un fantastico complesso di strutture in acciaio e cemento, due delle quali raggiungono i 30 metri circa di altezza. Oggi le torri sono unanimemente considerate un capolavoro dell’arte e architettura del Novecento e uno dei monumenti più significativi della metropoli americana. La loro storia si intreccia a quella di una delle comunità urbane più popolose di los Angeles, al punto di rappresentarne le istanze di rinascita sociale e culturale.

Il convegno, organizzato congiuntamente dall’Università di California (Los Angeles) e dall’università di Genova intende mettere a fuoco i molteplici significati connessi alla straordinaria vicenda delle torri: il contributo dei migranti e degli artisti indipendenti all’arte del Novecento, gli aspetti misconosciuti dell’emigrazione italiana, il rapporto tra tradizioni locali e cultura globale, le inaspettate relazioni tra il lavoro migrante e il conflitto sociale e urbano nelle metropoli americane.

 

Report

Sabato Rodia’s Watts Towers in Los Angeles, a historic meeting devoted to one of the most significant works of art and architecture of the last century, and to the Italian immigrant artist who created them, took place at the Università di Genova, Italy, from April 2-4, 2009.  By all accounts the international academic conference provided participants a rare opportunity to consider the monument and its maker across a diverse spectrum of disciplinary perspectives.  Artists, sociologists, architectural historians, ethnologists/folklorists, oral historians, filmmakers, scholars of literature and cinema, community activists, heritage and conservation specialists, as well as civic arts administrators came together to take historic stock of a unique artist and his highly idiosyncratic work of art.  They acknowledged the artwork’s enduring mysteries (why did Rodia build them and what do they mean?), they suggested new directions for research and finally, they agreed to reassemble in Los Angeles in the Fall of 2010 to continue the fruitful exchange of ideas begun in Genova.  Plans are also underway to gather some of the conference papers for publication in order to render the results of this exchange more tangible and broadly accessible. 

A novel feature of this gathering was that it took place under the rubric of “Art and Migration,” adding a welcome new dimension to the Towers’ multiple meanings and discursive power.  Participants considered Rodia and his Towers within the context of global migrations, contested social and urban spaces, the relations of art and economic development, the imaginaries of local, traditional, and Italian (North and South) American immigrant cultures.  At the same time, careful consideration was given to Rodia’s individual artistic and architectural genius, to the theoretical and conceptual implications of this work, to its place in the history of art, and to the multiple challenges of conservation and administration that art environments such as the Towers pose. 

Following introductory papers by the conference organizers, formal presentations were divided into four sections:  1)  The Community of Watts and its Monument:  Physical, Socio-Economic and Political Realities; 2)  Art Environments, Vernacular Traditions, and their Imaginaries; 3)  Italian Migrations:  Literary, Artistic, and Visual Legacies; 4)  Reproducing Nola.  [see program] The conference also offered opportunities for viewing several documentary films on the Watts Towers (Edward Landler and Brad Byer:  I Build the Tower—simultaneously translated for the audience into Italian; Tom Koester, 3-dimensional: The Watts Towers, which entailed heroic technical support from across Italy (Udine); as well as the account of the history and development of the Watts Towers Art Center, by Rosie Lee Hooks and S. Pearl Sharp:  Fertile Ground: Stories from the Watts Towers Arts Center, narrated by Congresswoman, Maxine Waters). 

Because the best academic meetings foster open dialogue (which is their very raison d’être), the conference was not without lively debate.  (Indeed, the Watts Towers have engendered controversy from their very inception.)  Speakers engaged in a sometimes pointed exchange of ideas despite limited time dedicated to discussion, question and answer. Given the many administrative, civic, no-profit, arts, and conservation entities responsible for or affiliated with the Watts Towers, it is not surprising that they have alternatively collided, aligned, and/or mutually reinforced one another over the span of decades.  Some of this disagreement however, may be structurally entrenched (e.g., the City as opposed to the Committee for Simon Rodia’s Towers in Watts over conservation methods and management; the City of L.A. administration as opposed to the local community of Watts on issues of economic development).  Other dichotomies may have evolved synergistically (e.g., Watts Towers Community Arts Center vis-à-vis the Rodia Towers, separate yet symbiotic units).  The challenge that emerged from the Genova conference, and as it might appear to third-party observers, is that of bridging divergent discourses and goals, and fostering and/or creating “common ground.” The continued wellbeing of this much-loved Los Angeles structure and icon, and of the Watts community too (which has respected and cared for them for decades), seems to depend on it. 

The most debated issues of the conference (despite, once again, the limited time devoted to debate), pertained to the first and fourth panels.  Panel 1 reviewed the history of ownership, the role of various state, city, and arts agencies, and the challenges of funding conservation of the Towers.  The well-known Committee for Simon Rodia’s Towers in Watts (CSRTW)—the very Committee that saved the Towers from demolition in 1959 (and which this October will commemorate its 50^th anniversary)—was not present to represent its current perspective on the Towers.  However, the CSRTW provided conference organizers in advance with a one-page, 10 point-summary of objections to the current status and/or methods of Tower conservation, which was circulated.  Given the already set conference schedule, there was not as much time to discuss these points as some would have liked.  Many conference participants expressed the desire to achieve greater clarity about these issues of concern (e.g., perhaps by receiving a studied response to the ten points from administrators and conservators, or by engaging in a guided visit of the Towers site itself). No collective plans were formulated in Genova, however several were aired informally (in conversation with City representatives).  Certainly, after reviewing the precarious situation of other art environments (e.g., in Spain), many of which have been neglected and are even currently in process of demolition, the attention the Watts Towers receive might appear fortunate by comparison.  Rodia’s Towers enjoy the benefit of a concerned and pro-active community, conservators, an adjacent art center, and international attention!

Another issue of great interest and curiosity, but also of indirect contention, revolved around the Italian content of Rodia’s work:  e.g., the relevance of the relationship between the Towers of Rodia and the festive Gigli of Nola.  How exactly does the work of this “independent” or “outsider” artist respond to his specific cultural heritage, to his immigrant experience, and worldview?  Granted that Rodia displayed identifiable marks of an Italian/American folk aesthetic, artisan work traditions, motifs and themes, as well as an immigrant worldview, is the application to the Towers of a potentially “essentializing” discourse of ethnicity problematic?  The fault line on this issue seemed to divide Italian or Italian American scholars of ethnology and American immigration studies from others interested in framing art and architecture within the broader context of Modernism and/or global migration studies.  In light of the celebration of Rodia’s “Italianness,” historic and contemporary migrations were highlighted by way of a poignant comparison of the U.S. and Italy:  would the building of an artwork such as Rodia’s Towers, by an immigrant, be tolerated today in Italy?  The implicit answer offered was:  no. 
 

This conference demonstrated that Rodia and the Towers continue to inspire scholarly analysis, induce animated discussion, and foster controversy—testimony to the fact that they matter passionately to so many, representing as they do a site of extraordinary human creativity, resilience, and redemption.  This, some conference participants concluded, may well be the “common ground” which gives this unique civic icon the ability to bridge the many “continental” divides determined by class, race, ethnicity, and migration status.  To focus on such common ground (rather than on heightened fault lines) may be for Angelinos a welcome occasion for civic re-engagement, compassionate action, and renewed concern for issues of social equity.

Building on the momentum generated by the Genova conference, initial work is already underway to create a multimedia festival and conference entitled “The Watts Towers Common Ground Initiative,” scheduled for Fall 2010.  While re-affirming and re-focusing attention on the extraordinary Rodia and his Towers locally, this occasion will also address questions of art, migrations, human and community development, and endeavour to create partnerships and collaborative art, theatre and music projects, across cultural, geographic, and socio-economic borders throughout the city (contact organizer:  luisadg@humnet.ucla.edu). The Towers have become a symbol of creativity and sustained resolve under adversity.  They also stand as a source of identity and history to its local African American and Latino communities.  How can the Towers be embraced by all Angelinos?  Further, how can the many economically-depressed “Watts”-like neighbourhoods on our urban landscape benefit from art and community development, especially those that have no Towers?  Increased visibility for and a celebration of the Towers can only help lead us out of our current existential and societal dilemmas. 

Luisa Del Giudice, Independent Scholar, Los Angeles