Isgrò erases brixia

on 8 January 2023 the exhibition of Emilio Isgrò held in Brescia in the Archaeological Park and in the museum of Santa Giulia will close. This exhibition aims to celebrate the nomination of Brescia and Bergamo as Italian Capitals  of Culture 2023. In reality, more than an exhibition, these are five events that unfold in five distinct places. The actual exhibition takes place in the Museum of Santa Giulia, the installation called "The harmonium of crazy larks" is placed in the Renaissance cloister adjacent to the museum, the "Bees of Virgil" are panels placed in the Capitolium, "The incacellabile Vittoria" is located in the metro station stop,  the drama "Didone Adonàis Dòmine"  was held in the months of June and July last in six replicas in the Roman Theater. In particular, we focus our attention on the exhibition of the Museum of Santa Giulia in which Isgrò draws a parallel between the Athens of Pericles, which lived a fruitful period for the arts, and Brescia, Italian capital of culture 2023, which is preparing to celebrate the event with a series of cultural initiatives of considerable depth. The exhibition opens with a discobolus with the arm carrying the disc that is detached and placed on the ground in a corner of the room. This is to distract the viewer from the figure of the discobolus athlete and rather to want to focus on the beauty of the sculpture itself that goes beyond the gesture and fame that the competitive victory will bring. In other words, Isgrò wants to celebrate Greek sculpture and with it the challenge in sports competition to make it rise to the role of "art" too. In the panels Isgrò represents scenes of life in ancient Athens with white erasures. However, nothing new for Isgrò's art. What instead in our opinion is an installation of strong emotional impact is "L'armonium delle allodole impazzite". At the center of the cloister stands this monument of considerable size and weight built in Trentino fir wood and carrying on all four sides a piano keyboard. The background music is the aria "Casta Diva"  from Vincenzo Bellini's Norma in the version set to music by Chopin for piano but which is whistled by larks. The shape of this sculpture is reminiscent of the Mesopotamian "Ziqqurat" which, among other functions, had that of a religious monument in honor of the gods. The piano keyboard is a reference to the piano version of Bellini's mentioned aria while the form is a tribute to music deified and therefore celebrated with this modern ziqqurat.  The choice of larks, which in this installation metaphorically emerge from many cages placed high along the perimeter of the cloister, derives from the fact that the larks, with their return from the wintering places, announce the beautiful season, that is, the fertile season of crops and fruit, like these events, born from the fervent mind of Isgrò, announce the season of cultural events that will celebrate Brescia Italian city of culture 2023. 

Tags: Emilio Isgrò - Isgrò - Brescia - Athens