Friday, December 11, 1998
Press Conference: 11.30 a.m., East-Ovest Hall, Provincia di Firenze, Via Ginori, Florence.
Elisabetta Del Lungo, Florence Culture Councillor, Mario Dal Co, Enel External Relations and Fred Licht, curator of the exhibition and of the Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Venice, will attend the press conference.
Exibition Press Review: from 12.30 p.m. to 5 p.m..
Inauguration: 6 p.m., Palazzo Medici Riccardi, Via Cavour 1, Florence.
From 12 December 1998 to 24 January 1999 in the Palazzo Medici Riccardi, Florence, Enel and the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation will present Illuminations, an exhibition of twentieth century sculpture which explores the importance of illumination for the display of three-dimensional works of art. Light not only enhances the ‘legibility’ of sculpture; it may also be used as a means of ‘interpretation’. The selection of sixteen sculptures, different in their materials, format, modeling and color, underlines the expressive force of light and allows the public a better understanding of the work of the curator and of the manifold problems involved in the illumination of sculpture. Special and interactive displays invite visitors to gain their own experience in illuminating works of art.
The exhibition is jointly organized by Enel and the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation. With the program Luce per l’Arte Enel promotes and employs the use of light as a means to communicate the aesthetic value of art (from the Basilica of San Marco in Venice to San Francesco in Assisi, from the Altare della Patria to Palazzo Altemps in Rome). For Enel light is daily activity, service and image — it is a means of communication. The figurative arts and architecture exist in light even before they exist in space. The exhibition Illuminations represents the ideal development of the program Luce pel’Arte, in which the most advanced technology enhances the legibility of works of art, while remaining discreetly ‘behind the scenes’.
As pointed out by curator Fred Licht, “the illumination of sculpture is more complex than that of painting. Painting is the passive recipient of light. Sculpture, being three-dimensional, is an active participant in illumination. It casts shadows on its surroundings just as it often does on itself. It can absorb light just as it can reflect it. Light can be used to isolate a sculpture or to link it with its environment. Ideal light conditions for sculpture only exist in nature, where the changing directions and intensities of sun light as well as changing atmospheric conditions guarantee an infinite variability of lighting that allow a vitality which cannot even be approximated by any other kind of illumination”.
The exhibition includes two experimental installations which allow the visitor to gain a direct experience of illuminating works of art. Three commissioned replicas of Kan Yasuda’s sculpture Kaisei (The Cycle of Life) are lit in differentiated ways to show the extent to which light can be used – or misused – to influence the meaning and expressive power of a work of art. Having trained his/her eye by means of this multiple lighting, the visitor is then invited to test his/her own hand in an interactive display of Costantino Nivola’s white marble sculpture Figure.
Sculptors have been chosen on grounds of their artistic diversity and their preference for a specific material. The exhibition includes one work by each of the following sculptors: Rinaldo Bigi, Andrea Cascella, Pietro Cascella, Chryssa, Ettore Colla, Pietro Consagra, Naum Gabo, Alberto Giacometti, Arturo Martini, Costantino Nivola, Arnaldo Pomodoro, Francesco Somaini, Adolf Vallazza, Cordelia von den Steinen, Alberto Viani and Kan Yasuda.
The Florentine showing has been organized in collaboration with the Provincia di Firenze. Illuminations will travel to Padua, Palazzo della Ragione (February 5 – February 28, 1999), Turin, Castello Stupinigi (March 16 – May 10, 1999) and Palermo, Palazzo dei Normanni (May 22 – June 27, 1999).
The catalog includes essays by Fred Licht of the Peggy Guggenhiem Collection, Venice, on the development of the function and illumination of sculpture, and by the American light engineer Steven Weintraub on the technical dimension of lighting. (Ed. Gli Ori and Maschietto & Musolino, Prato, Florence, Siena. 120 pp.).