Of Earth and Art
Curated by Francesca Alfano Miglietti
Curatorial assistant Gaia Morgana Gualandris
“Art is impossible without an awareness of nature. And the most direct awareness is of the earth on which we walk...
(...) I seek to stay rooted to the earth, nature and animals which are fundamental to my every action; and to elevate to the celestial”.
(Joseph Beuys)
Curatorial assistant Gaia Morgana Gualandris
“Art is impossible without an awareness of nature. And the most direct awareness is of the earth on which we walk...
(...) I seek to stay rooted to the earth, nature and animals which are fundamental to my every action; and to elevate to the celestial”.
(Joseph Beuys)
A characteristic common to any territory is its mutability, its subjection to continuous change, thereby metamorphosing its landscape.
Nature is, to all intents and purposes, the only work of art that changes over time and which cannot be brought into a gallery, other than by rearranging it.
Thus Ballasanti’s Of Earth and Art project proposes the cultivation of a relationship: the relationship between art and nature, which has been inherent to art since its very inception. The project’s concept is that artists will leave their oft-evolving impression on an ever-changing landscape.
The project has multiple references, from the Land Art movement, to more recent art parks, to The Man who Planted Trees by Jean Giono: “… a pretext for asking ourselves: how will we leave the world and who will come after us? What does the word community mean? How can we feel close to those we do not know?”.
Nature is, to all intents and purposes, the only work of art that changes over time and which cannot be brought into a gallery, other than by rearranging it.
Thus Ballasanti’s Of Earth and Art project proposes the cultivation of a relationship: the relationship between art and nature, which has been inherent to art since its very inception. The project’s concept is that artists will leave their oft-evolving impression on an ever-changing landscape.
The project has multiple references, from the Land Art movement, to more recent art parks, to The Man who Planted Trees by Jean Giono: “… a pretext for asking ourselves: how will we leave the world and who will come after us? What does the word community mean? How can we feel close to those we do not know?”.
A project where place is central and not just the frame, a place where the artist accepts that nature will change and complete their work.
Any works we put forward will be born of our wish to amaze, to introduce poetry and art where nature and art are in dialogue, creating and changing shape … an open-air exhibition, with works of art created with stone, leaves, branches and tree trunks, rustic materials which belong to the land, involving local workers and craftspeople. Works, some of which will be housed in a gallery, while others will be left in the open to become one with the land.
The project speaks to artists’ ability to open up new vistas, to pose new questions, in an unconventional artistic language. A poetic horizon in which the artist positively takes on their environment, and their work takes root in a spatial, natural, physical and historical context. Until their work merges and becomes part of its setting, even if by contrast.
Any works we put forward will be born of our wish to amaze, to introduce poetry and art where nature and art are in dialogue, creating and changing shape … an open-air exhibition, with works of art created with stone, leaves, branches and tree trunks, rustic materials which belong to the land, involving local workers and craftspeople. Works, some of which will be housed in a gallery, while others will be left in the open to become one with the land.
The project speaks to artists’ ability to open up new vistas, to pose new questions, in an unconventional artistic language. A poetic horizon in which the artist positively takes on their environment, and their work takes root in a spatial, natural, physical and historical context. Until their work merges and becomes part of its setting, even if by contrast.
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