Concrete Blocks, Sol Lewitt, 1997

Associazione Arte Continua celebrates its thirtieth anniversary with a double event: the permanent re-installation of one of the works that marked the remarkable journey of “Arte all’Arte”, and a visit to several artworks that, thanks to this project, have remained part of the public heritage of the cities.

“Concrete Blocks” – the installation that Sol LeWitt conceived in 1997 for Colle di Val d’Elsa, when he took part in the second edition of “Arte all’Arte” – curated that year by Giacinto di Pietrantonio and Jan Hoet – will once again be hosted in the garden of the Palazzo Pretorio in the city, the very place for which the artist originally designed and created it. The re-installation of “Concrete Blocks” will be officially inaugurated on Sunday, September 27, 2020, at 10 a.m.

The commitment shown by Associazione Arte Continua, the Municipal Administration of Colle di Val d’Elsa, and the Sol LeWitt Foundation has made it possible today to permanently reinstall “Concrete Blocks” in the place for which the artist conceived it: the Palazzo Pretorio of Colle di Val d’Elsa, home to the city’s Archaeological Museum. “Following the artist’s wishes, we decided to involve local workers, such as Edilcostruzioni, which handled the realization of the work, and Unibloc, the same company that in 1997 provided the concrete blocks used for Sol LeWitt’s original piece,” explains Mario Cristiani. He continues: “My father was a mason, and I too, when I was young, placed those blocks. I know they’re fragile, but the meaning of this work is that each single unit—even if fragile and humble—can be noble and important, because its essence is… because it’s not the material that makes something noble, but the care and love it asks of you in order to grow.”

The re-installation of Sol LeWitt’s work represents Associazione Arte Continua’s desire to resume and continue the dialogue—never truly interrupted—of “Arte all’Arte” and its work on the district of Architecture – Contemporary Art – Countryside.

Sol LeWitt was invited by curators Jan Hoet and Giacinto di Pietrantonio to create a permanent work in the courtyard of the Museum of Colle Val d’Elsa.

“…If what passes from form follows the function of the modernists, then after form follows the idea of the conceptualists.

Today’s architects don’t hold ziggurats in high regard… Ironically, the new Whitney Museum is an inverted ziggurat—highly praised—while office buildings are not considered particularly elegant… perhaps, then, this could be the right time to reconsider ziggurats. Many of them may eventually be recognized as valuable works of art.

Ziggurats themselves recall many of his works, from the modular structures to more recent sculptures such as the piece exhibited at the Giardini of the Venice Biennale, or the one built in the courtyard of the Museum of Colle Val d’Elsa.

A work of art involves many elements; the most important ones are the most evident.

They reveal a rhythm and an organization of basic geometric elements, such as the parallelepiped, that suggest a constructive system—which LeWitt swears, this time, does not exist. If that impression arises, it means the artist’s purpose—the idea before the form—has nonetheless been achieved. They recall ancient architectures—Aztec, Mayan—and the form and structure of modern cities—New York, Hong Kong—and the artist agrees. That seriality and standardization do not necessarily generate identical forms and images, but rather different ones.”

Jan Hoet, Arte all’Arte II, 1997