 | Im boarding on a paper boat, 1993 (Su barca di carta mi imbarco)
Maria Lai
The space created in this room, attempts to convey the emotions of the travelers toward the great islands of the Mediterranean: Sicily and Sardinia. This art work draws inspiration from the bath, a place dull of water and energy. The guest finds himself/herself under a roof (a water-fall) dipped in an iconographic jouney of fishes and marine colors. Then, he/she emerges from water and in the room finds the black and the blue, that together with the wind and the sea are the two dominating colors and elements in Sardinia and Sardinia. The silence of both islands is contained in the force of a split stone placed before the bed. The imaginary constellations are represented by the large bed cover and the brass wires crossing the room all over. This great tangle shows us how emotions and astonishment may originate from the chaos. The lighting system deeply studied and the intense colors contribute to create an atmosphere suspended between sea and earth, between light and shadow. A night to find again, in this dark environment, the light of a star, "escaping for a moment from the world of the division and entering in the world of the unit, where one thing, a creature says to the other this is you. Antonio Presti
The prophet room (La stanza del profeta)
Tribute to Pier Paolo Pasolino, 1995 (Omaggio a Pier Paolo Pasolini)
Antonio Presti, Dario Bellezza, Adele Cambria
Its Antonio Prestis tribute to Pier Paolo Pasolini, his works, his prophecies, his life. The guest enters into the room through a door not to be opened, but knocked down. On the door a prophetic poem written by Pasolini is inscribed: a text revealing its great modernity of offended and violated values. After treading on the inscription, the guest goes through a long corridor and right after a labyrinth, find the great Yemenite room, kneaded with straw and mud. The room is inspired by the Flower of the Arabian Nights. The same poem from the main door is written in Arabic along the walls and delimits the space. The large bed brings our mind back to a powerful image (Andrea Mantegnas Christ Deposition) and enhances the strong sacredness of the place. The large window offers the guest the great directors cinematographic experience: in fact, an extraordinary vision was here obtained, where cosmos is the absolute protagonist. Under the great window, symbolically, it was placed the sand from Ostia hydroport Pasolinis murder place. Here there is no inscription at all, and we do not care about the murderers name. This way, in the realization of the bath, Antonio Presti wants to assert our belonging to the system, our potential being eiter murderers or prophets. On the bath door, a wonderful poem written by Dario Bellezza exalts all the great love for his friend Pier Paolo. The roof is covered by pipes and ventilators, creating a car-was atmosphere: A place where our bodies are washed and centrifuged, just like the car which crushed Pasolinis body. An accusation space to be used to reflect, and to mature of the conscience. One night to spend with strong emotions and abandonment.
Trinacria, 1993
Mauro Staccioli
Here the artist created a very narrow entry, by letting a door revolve on a hinge. Therefore, an atmosphere dominated by the semi-darkness is opened, whipped by rays of light that hit the chines which penetrate like fissures in the night. In the entire environment dominate triangular shapes, clear-cut volumes, pure geometric shapes, in perfect coherence with the plastic research of the artist: from the door, an heavy stone in prisma shape, to the largest bed, a withe and thin mattress which crosses the space from wall to wall. The room was inspired by Sicilys triangle form, and its basic colours are red and black, the sun and the volcanos that dominate the island landscape that have affected the inhabitants history and mentalities. An imposing red triangle stands on one of the three vertices of the white triangular bed. Functionality is offered by these two large triangular shapes marking the whole place. The walls are made out of a knead containing the Etnas lava: such stone symbolically represents the fire of the volcano, from where Sicily was born from. |