Lombardy was the Italian region hit the hardest by the spread of Coronavirus. In March Bergamo turned into the epicenter of the tragedy: pictures and footage of the convoy of military vehicles carrying hundreds of coffins away from the city at night as the local graveyard was full, were the most shocking and moving images of the pandemic in Italy. While nobody will ever manage to forget those terrifying moments and the sorrow, pain and anxiety felt during those long weeks of lockdown, Bergamo is trying to stand up again with an art project that will hopefully bring back lights and colours to the city.
The exhibition "Daniel Buren per Bergamo. Illuminare lo spazio, lavori in situ e situati" (Daniel Buren for Bergamo. Lighting up the space, on site and situated works; on until 20th November) opened indeed last week at the Palazzo della Ragione.
Organised by Galleria d'Arte Moderna e Contemporanea di Bergamo (GAMeC), the exhibition features works that move from Buren's first experiments in 1965 with outdoor sun shades.
The French artist used at the time sun shades conceiving them as backgrounds for his minimalist "degree zero" paintings characterised by vertical white and coloured 8.7 cm strips that then turned into the artist's trademark.
There is something unusual for Buren in this Bergamo-based installation - for the first time in his life Buren didn't work in situ. Because of the Coronavirus restrictions he had to reinvent his modus operandi and, like many of us, had to work remotely, providing his instructions from France to the team in Italy.
The installation combines the outdoor shade format with Buren's passion for lights and colourful landscapes. Visitors stepping into the of the Medieval Sala delle Capriate will indeed find themselves in a futuristic environment filled with optical fiber canvases, showcased for the first time in Italy after they were displayed in a number of major European galleries and museums.
The luminous fabrics, in soft pink, grass green, lemon yellow, burnt orange and sky blue and characterised by Buren's trademark stripes and geometrical motifs, create a new spatial dimension and an unprecedented dialogue with the space where they are installed.
The Palazzo was indeed the place where the administrative and judicial functions of the city were performed, but the canvases represent a contrast in this historical location.
The works should be considered as paintings and sculptures from the future that talk to the past, represented by the architectural elements of the palazzo and the frescoes that were removed from the city's houses and churches to be preserved in this space in the 1980s.
Buren's works recontextualise the historical space, while they are also used in a conceptual and metaphorical way: they are here to dispel the darkness of a global pandemic and a local tragedy, they aren't white burial shrouds, but bright fabrics, shining through the night, reminding visitors that the light always follows darkness.
As optical fiber fabrics have already been used in fashion, you naturally wonder if these works will inspire some kind of fashion collaboration in the future.
Time will tell, but, in the meantime, let's hope that these shiny striped canvases and tapestries of minimalist light will bring visitors hope and rekindle a collective sense of wonder that too many of us lost in the worst months of this global pandemic.
Image credits for this post
Images 1, 5 and 10
Daniel Buren, Fibres optiques tissées.
Illuminare lo spazio, lavori in situ e situati, GAMeC, Palazzo della Ragione, Bergamo, 2013 - 2020
© Daniel Buren by SIAE 2020
Photographs by Lorenzo Palmieri
Images 2, 3, 4, 6, 7 and 8
Daniel Buren, Fibres optiques tissées. Detail
Illuminare lo spazio, lavori in situ e situati, GAMeC, Palazzo della Ragione, Bergamo, 2013 - 2020
© Daniel Buren by SIAE 2020
Photographs by Lorenzo Palmieri
Image 9
Daniel Buren, Fibres optiques - Vert. K1, Detail
Illuminare lo spazio, lavori in situ e situati, GAMeC, Palazzo della Ragione, Bergamo, 2013 - 2020
© Daniel Buren by SIAE 2020
Photographs by Lorenzo Palmieri
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