Colossal: With hundreds of yards of wire mesh artist Edoardo Tresoldi has built an interpretation of an early Christian church that once stood in its place at the current Archaeological Park of Siponto, Italy. Built with the assistance of the Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities and the Archaeology Superintendence of Puglia, the installation connects ancient archaeology with contemporary art. The sculpture stands on the former church’s site with a ghostly presence, looking almost like a hologram illuminated in the park. Despite its sheer appearance the installation contains detailed architetural elements including tiered columns, domes, and statues that stand within the structure.
2 comments:
As both an artist and a student in an architectural history class, I really appreciate this sculpture. The fact that it is build right on top of the historical sight is like seeing a sliver of history right in front of you. In my architecture history class, we spent a good amount of time on early Christian churches and for the most part you either get ruins or church that have been renovated using a new style so much of it is using your imagination to envision what they would have looked like. I especially like that it was made out of mesh instead of rebuilding the church completely. Building techniques have changed so much over the centuries that if they tried to rebuild it, even with reusing the same plan, the effect would not be the same. With mesh, it makes the church look like a ghost image sitting on the horizon, giving the effect of the church without rebuilding it completely.
Wow, this sculptural installation is insanely beautiful. I’ve always loved when artist combined classical architecture with modern mediums. There’s a magazine clipping I’ve kept from when I was collaging in high school art class of a photo of a beautiful grecian building overlaid with green laser jets of light highlighting the detail of it’s architecture. This installation reminds me a lot of that photo because it is combining something bright and metallic and inherently modern looking with the shapes and forms of something ancient and sacred and preserved. I love how it blends into the landscape since the material is see through yet also has so much presence. While the overall shape of the installation is definitely impactful, I think the most interesting shots are the ones that are slightly more zoomed in that show the details, from the mesh statues to the individual architectural elements in the archways and columns. The grandeur of this statue would act perfectly as a scenic design for some kind of strange, other- wordly play.
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