Taken from Sign magazine
Saturday 7 December 2013, the SMS San Michele degli Scalzi Exhibition Centre in Pisa e Villa Pacchiani in Santa Croce sull'Arno, they are inaugurating Moataz Nasr. A bridge between Pisa and Santa Croce sull'Arnoa joint exhibition by the Arab artist Moataz Nasr; curated by Ilaria Mariotti, with the support of the Municipality of Pisa and the Municipality of Santa Croce sull’Arno, funding from the Tuscany Region as part of Toscanaincontemporanea 2012 and in collaboration with GALLERIA CONTINUA, San Gimignano / Beijing / Le Moulin and Associazione Arte Continua.
A project that has been in the pipeline for some time, it is the result of several site visits and meetings between the artist and the Tuscan territory over a period of nine months. During this time, Nasr was able to observe, experience, and make his own the traditions of a place that still bears the traces and symbols of a connection with Arab culture. One ancient and significant gesture struck the artist: the placement of the bronze griffin of Islamic origin, installed in the 12th century on the roof of the Pisa Cathedral (the original, replaced by a cement sculpture, is currently housed in the Museo dell’Opera del Duomo in Pisa). A witness to the ancient encounter between Pisa and Arab culture, the animal with its dual leonine and aquiline nature becomes a significant pretext for Nasr to tell a story of cultural exchanges that have lasted from the Middle Ages to the present day. The cathedral's griffin, originating from an Islamic land (likely the Balearic Islands), also becomes a document of one of the many sea voyages undertaken by the Maritime Republic of Pisa. Thus, Nasr imagines the continuation of this long journey by presenting the project at Villa Pacchiani in Santa Croce sull’Arno. THE journey of a Griffin with the work The return of a Griffin, a griffin made entirely of leather. The use of this material pays homage to the local tradition of leatherworking and recontextualises through the shape of the Tap the convergence of Arab culture and local culture in a place that is currently characterised by a multi-ethnic population (211% of the population of Santa Croce sull’Arno consists of migrants).
The artist's same dual attention towards contemporary social fabric and the historical matrix of local culture can be found in the project Harmony for the SMS San Michele degli Scalzi Exhibition Centre in Pisa, where the installation Roman Holiday, formed by eight Piaggio Vespas arranged in an octagon and connected to each other by sharing a wheel, it reinterprets one of the most widespread local products in the world through the symbolism of the octagon, common to both Arab and Western culture. With the title of Roman Holiday Nasr clearly recalls William Wyler's famous film, thanks to which the Vespa was made famous worldwide, and at the same time, it seems to have wanted to evoke the ancient Romanitas Pisana of which the Cathedral's architecture is a spokesperson.
