By Tao Ruspoli
Located in Morongo Valley, CA
'The Exaltation of Imagination' (Burning Man) Edition 2/10, 20x30cm, 2016, Black and White Print, printed on Velvet Watercolor, 310gsm, Bright White, Acid Free, Signature label and Certificate.
About
Tao Ruspoli (born 7 November 1975) is an Italian-American filmmaker, photographer, and musician.
Background
He is the second son of occasional actor and aristocrat Prince Alessandro Ruspoli, 9th Prince of Cerveteri by Austrian-American actress Debra Berger. Tao was born in Bangkok, Thailand and raised in Rome and Los Angeles. He graduated from the University of California, Berkeley with a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy.
Career
Moviemaker magazine singled out Ruspoli as one of the 10 Young Filmmakers To Watch in its spring 2008 issue. His feature narrative debut, Fix, was one of 10 feature films to screen in competition at the 2008 Slamdance Film Festival and soon afterward at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival where Ruspoli was awarded the Heineken Red Star Award for 'most innovative and progressive filmmaker.' Fix also won the Festival Award for Best Film at the 2008 Brooklyn Film Festival, Vail Film Festival and the 2008 Twin Rivers Media Festival, as well as other prizes at several international festivals. His most well-known documentary is Just Say Know, a personal discussion of his family's drug addiction. His other films include Flamenco: A Personal Journey, a feature length documentary about the flamenco way of life as it is lived by Gypsies in the south of Spain. He has directed a number of other short documentaries, including El Cable (also about Flamenco), and This Film Needs No Title: A Portrait of Raymond Smullyan (a portrait of the renowned logician, mathematician and concert pianist Raymond Smullyan). Tao founded LAFCO in 2000. The Los Angeles Filmmakers Cooperative, is a bohemian collective of filmmakers and musicians who work out of a converted school bus. Through LAFCO, Tao has produced several films and helped dozens of filmmakers to make their first films and discover the wonders of digital media. His producing credits include the feature film Camjackers, which he also acted in and co-edited. Camjackers won the best editing award at the 44th Ann Arbor Film Festival. Tao is an accomplished flamenco guitar player, and his first CD, FLAMENCO, was released on Mapleshade Records in 2005. He married actress Olivia Wilde in 2003. They divorced in 2011. He currently lives and works in the High Desert, California. He is the co-founder of the Bombay Beach Biennale.
The Exaltation of Imagination
Photographs and Musings in Defense of Burning Man
by Tao Ruspoli
The press around Burning Man had gotten so bad that I almost felt embarrassed to be going this year. Even Daniel Pinchbeck, famed psychonaut and burner par excellence, had written a thoughtful piece explaining why, after 15 consecutive years, he wasn’t going back this year: the festival had changed too much-the rich had taken over, it had gone from a relevant and fascinating social experiment to epitomizing the worst elements of capitalist excess. Besides, he seemed to be saying, the world is going through too many crises, both ecological and humanitarian, to justify the extravagance of an event like this.
Keith Spencer...
Category
2010s Contemporary Levi Mendes Photography
MaterialsArchival Ink, Archival Paper, Black and White, Archival Pigment
