permanent collective artwork, Risalita San Francesco Siena May 2008
coinceived by Fabio Mazzieri and Monica Putti, critical essay in brochure by Esther Biancotti
Franca Marini Raku ceramics and copper thread, 7¾x7¾ inch, 2008
La Risalita500 by Esther Biancotti
translation Heather Holloran
Tuscany has been an important laboratory for experiments and the poetics of environmental art and for new models of initiative and interpretation of urban spaces ever since the 1970s: Volterra, still today a point of reference, Prato and the repeated experiences of smaller city councils launched a series of initiatives and interventions which underline the necessity of developing procedures of contamination as regards the fabric of the city. A city is dynamic, it exists, it lives, it grows, what we now consider masterpieces of ancient, Renaissance or modern art were once contemporary: art brings into play affinities and reciprocities which no civilization can do without, it gives meaning to actions which have as motive only a freely given love and as a reward the maintenance of the universal order. The urban landscape is in continuous evolution, it tends to join, creating new metropolitan formations which need characterizing elements, an identity in order to become a part of the collective imagination. Experiencing contemporary reality means accepting the challenge and being prepared to perceive the unconscious language of change which answers to new anthropological profiles, to give back to the city a desire to confide, to reveal itself and reclaim those "non-places" which mark modern society, as Massimo Bignardi points out. These become in fact the absolute protagonists, the most sought after elements, which in changing, change the image of the city. It is in this context that the artistic initiative Risalita 500 is set, an integral part, as Enrico Crispolti hopes, of a on-going project which appears to be taking shape in an orderly fashion and becoming a constellation of contemporary signs even in a historical city like Siena, whose great traditions can be revisited for their ability to suggest experiences which speak to our present-day sensibilities. They are interventions which express the desire to rethink the relationship between city and contemporary culture and that give a renewed strength to our collective imagination with a new project of urban reality as a as a space for living, a place of ethics and a terrain for public life. And this is also the aspiration of the contemporary artist who feels the necessity of reclaiming urban areas, of leaving museum walls blank in order to open his eyes to the present urban reality, to xperience it and leave a sign of his passage.
And so, after the much discussed “Cragg pear”, the ceramics of Sauro Cardinali on the panoramic terrace of the “Orti del Tolomei”, anticipated by Fabio Mazzieri's “Campo stellare” and the outdoor sculpture of Metzgler, here is the new mural, concieved by Fabio Mazzieri and Monica Putti. A mosaic where every tile has a different identity, a different form of expression which interacts with the others to create a skin, an epidermis which breathes, dilates; the spacing lines flow away quickly, they lead the eye and transform the perception of the space. A choral work, collective, a body of voices which speak in unison but each from his own position, signs exposed to the noise of the life which accompany us when we go up or down what will, from now on, be universally known as "Risalita 500". From international names like Loris Cecchini, Maro Gorky, Mattew Spender, Franca Marini, Neil Tetkowski, Jay Milder,to top young national artists Francesco Carone, Fabiano Mattiolo, Cristian Posani, and well known local names like Ro Convertino, Gabriella Furlani, Alessandro Grazi, Daniele Ricco, Amedeo Lanci ,Vittorio Fosi, Oscar Staccioli, Plinio Tammaro, Gabriele Perugini, Antonio di Tommaso, Giuseppe Calonaci, Piergiorgio Balocch, to mention but a few to the young pupils of the Sienese Art Institute who contribute with the creation of more than two hundred tiles in black and white. The initiative is completed, or perhaps rather starts, with another work of Fabio Mazzieri, “Cielo Klee”, which welcomes the passer-by at the entrance to the moving staircase. An expanse of sky before entering the crevice in the earth, a reminder for the eye which will be attracted by the elliptical form above, a tribute to Klee, and simultaneously to the blue of medieval primitive art panels, a dialogue which is renewed in a dialectic between past and present, between the contemporary functionality of the site and the medieval, historic character of the church of San Francesco, exit point of this underground journey.
An exhibition on the move, visual solicitations which offer themselves spontaneously to the eyes of the community and in which preserving the meaning of the single artwork isn't as important as appreciating the overall aesthetic effect, a pleasant " visual stumble" during the comings and goings of our daily lives, for the curious who will enjoy discovering them but also for those who will give them but a distracted glance. The prospective action therefore comes about in a poetic dimension of the urban environment which gives the individual back his identity as active participant in the 'narration', marking a new way of bringing art to the public.
La Risalita500 by Esther Biancotti
translation Heather Holloran
Tuscany has been an important laboratory for experiments and the poetics of environmental art and for new models of initiative and interpretation of urban spaces ever since the 1970s: Volterra, still today a point of reference, Prato and the repeated experiences of smaller city councils launched a series of initiatives and interventions which underline the necessity of developing procedures of contamination as regards the fabric of the city. A city is dynamic, it exists, it lives, it grows, what we now consider masterpieces of ancient, Renaissance or modern art were once contemporary: art brings into play affinities and reciprocities which no civilization can do without, it gives meaning to actions which have as motive only a freely given love and as a reward the maintenance of the universal order. The urban landscape is in continuous evolution, it tends to join, creating new metropolitan formations which need characterizing elements, an identity in order to become a part of the collective imagination. Experiencing contemporary reality means accepting the challenge and being prepared to perceive the unconscious language of change which answers to new anthropological profiles, to give back to the city a desire to confide, to reveal itself and reclaim those "non-places" which mark modern society, as Massimo Bignardi points out. These become in fact the absolute protagonists, the most sought after elements, which in changing, change the image of the city. It is in this context that the artistic initiative Risalita 500 is set, an integral part, as Enrico Crispolti hopes, of a on-going project which appears to be taking shape in an orderly fashion and becoming a constellation of contemporary signs even in a historical city like Siena, whose great traditions can be revisited for their ability to suggest experiences which speak to our present-day sensibilities. They are interventions which express the desire to rethink the relationship between city and contemporary culture and that give a renewed strength to our collective imagination with a new project of urban reality as a as a space for living, a place of ethics and a terrain for public life. And this is also the aspiration of the contemporary artist who feels the necessity of reclaiming urban areas, of leaving museum walls blank in order to open his eyes to the present urban reality, to xperience it and leave a sign of his passage.
And so, after the much discussed “Cragg pear”, the ceramics of Sauro Cardinali on the panoramic terrace of the “Orti del Tolomei”, anticipated by Fabio Mazzieri's “Campo stellare” and the outdoor sculpture of Metzgler, here is the new mural, concieved by Fabio Mazzieri and Monica Putti. A mosaic where every tile has a different identity, a different form of expression which interacts with the others to create a skin, an epidermis which breathes, dilates; the spacing lines flow away quickly, they lead the eye and transform the perception of the space. A choral work, collective, a body of voices which speak in unison but each from his own position, signs exposed to the noise of the life which accompany us when we go up or down what will, from now on, be universally known as "Risalita 500". From international names like Loris Cecchini, Maro Gorky, Mattew Spender, Franca Marini, Neil Tetkowski, Jay Milder,to top young national artists Francesco Carone, Fabiano Mattiolo, Cristian Posani, and well known local names like Ro Convertino, Gabriella Furlani, Alessandro Grazi, Daniele Ricco, Amedeo Lanci ,Vittorio Fosi, Oscar Staccioli, Plinio Tammaro, Gabriele Perugini, Antonio di Tommaso, Giuseppe Calonaci, Piergiorgio Balocch, to mention but a few to the young pupils of the Sienese Art Institute who contribute with the creation of more than two hundred tiles in black and white. The initiative is completed, or perhaps rather starts, with another work of Fabio Mazzieri, “Cielo Klee”, which welcomes the passer-by at the entrance to the moving staircase. An expanse of sky before entering the crevice in the earth, a reminder for the eye which will be attracted by the elliptical form above, a tribute to Klee, and simultaneously to the blue of medieval primitive art panels, a dialogue which is renewed in a dialectic between past and present, between the contemporary functionality of the site and the medieval, historic character of the church of San Francesco, exit point of this underground journey.
An exhibition on the move, visual solicitations which offer themselves spontaneously to the eyes of the community and in which preserving the meaning of the single artwork isn't as important as appreciating the overall aesthetic effect, a pleasant " visual stumble" during the comings and goings of our daily lives, for the curious who will enjoy discovering them but also for those who will give them but a distracted glance. The prospective action therefore comes about in a poetic dimension of the urban environment which gives the individual back his identity as active participant in the 'narration', marking a new way of bringing art to the public.