The Invisible Real – The Web
Il Reale Invisibile – La Ragnatela
The Enchanted Mountain, Castelmezzano, September 1999
An installation between rocky peaks, over 6,000 square metres. Red ribbon, rope, nails and climbing equipment, mirroring elements, sound elements. See the publications
In the harsh, fascinating landscape of the Lucanian Mountains, a great Web of Red Thread was woven between two rocky peaks.
Built in the spirit of Land Art – understood not as the artist superimposing on and manipulating Nature, but as an empathetic, synergetic action with it – through its fleeting beauty it symbolises the search for harmony and balance with Mother Earth, and the renewal of the respect for her that human beings seem to have forgotten. In this way the Artist can be the catalyst of new awareness.
The very lightness and “fragility” of the Work, its “defencelessness” before the forces of Nature – wind, rain, sun – and the very possibility of being damaged or destroyed by them, are meaningful, since transience is in the natural order of things. At the same time, those same elements are, together with the artist, authors of the work of art: the Wind, the sound inspirer, the Sun, the light operator, making the Web vibrate with sounds and flashes of light. Moreover, the figure designed for this performance – the Web – is meant as a metaphor of the deep, though invisible, connection that exists among human beings and among all living creatures and the Planet.
Just as in a real web every slightest vibration is felt at every other point, even the most distant, all our actions have deep repercussions on ourselves and on others, without our even being aware of it. Everything that happens, anywhere on the planet and in the Universe, influences each of us.
Only by becoming sensitive again to this connection can we improve our lives and perceive the needs of the whole of which we are part. If an imbalance arises in a real web, even at a single point, it weakens the whole structure: if it is not remedied and the imbalance grows, the very existence of the whole is endangered. A Web of Red Thread, a living “mandala” – prompting reflection, reminding us of our individual and social responsibilities – can urge us to act, not only to avoid causing further imbalance but to rebuild a new world, respectful of all the beings of nature.
A work of participatory art, a symbolic action, to bring about a change in reality.
Photos by anTheòs
HYPERTEXT BOOK “THE INVISIBLE REAL – THE WEB”: a 50-page publication, available online by kind permission of the artist: in Italian · in English – The Real Invisible, The Web
Making the Web as a mandala: Castelmezzano seen through the Web during construction
Photos by Ferrara
Light Art: detail of the small mirrors. Castelmezzano, September 1999
To document and bear witness to the Event, and to share it with those who could not be there, a VIDEO (a short film in digital Betacam) was made and distributed by the Cultural Centre.
Video summary: The Web