Projects for Buonconvento, Lucy Orta, 2004

"Time, eroded by heat, drips until it comes to a halt. Ideas, imprisoned by time and conventions, now sneak freely in and out of the shadows. The passage from Oscura to Sole suddenly reveals multiple possibilities for architectural exploration…

Lucy and Jorge Orta, journey to Buonconvento
Reflections on architecture, on the inhabitants

Dear James,

Of all the sites in the town, the one that stimulates us the most is the Museo d’arte sacra, with its exhibited Renaissance artworks. The works I hope to create will reflect a spiritual approach to the religious symbols omnipresent in Tuscan art and architecture.

The first exploration is triggered by the growing interest that the community shapes in the form of ‘Body Architecture’, meaning individual forms that can be worn, separable yet connected, intertwined to form a single collective body: Connector Body Architecture. Echoing the verticality of Tuscan doors and towers, and the principle of the linear axis of cities, a linear “connector” sculpture will be suspended at the main gate. The multicolored bodies exemplify the ascent to the sky—bodies that climb endlessly—and reflect the Tuscan tradition of hanging brightly colored flags and banners on architecture.

The second exploration is activated by the Annunciation by Girolamo di Benvenuto in the Museo d’arte sacra. A series of sculptures imagined for the Museum and inspired by my recent research into the microstructure of the architecture of the human body and the potential for creating new architectural forms, the ‘dwelling cells’.

La prima scultura è una vecchia culla riempita di forme organiche in cristallo: In Vitro. Contrapposta al dipinto rinascimentale che annuncia la nascita alla Vergine, l’opera esprime una ‘visione’ o nascita dell’architettura come ‘estensioni’ organiche agli edifici storici toscani.

Al centro della galleria saranno sette modelli che reiterano il simbolo biblico dell’infinito e il processo di differenziazione cellulare: Totipotent Architecture. Riflettendo sulla trasformazione della cellula embrionale, attraverso la crescita e le fasi di evoluzione, per rivelarne infine le strutture architettoniche. Questi modelli, in ferro sottile saldato e incrostato di forme organiche in cristallo, saranno collocati su un ‘tavolo a specchio’, creando un insolito gioco di luci sulle forme in vetro soffiato.

Il settimo modello rappresenta il campanile di Buonconvento: Tower of Dreams. La Torre dei sogni è pensata per raccogliere sogni in centinaia di bottiglie di vetro in miniatura (provette di piccole dimensioni). È un invito agli abitanti a scrivere i propri sogni su una strisciolina di carta da inserire nelle bottiglie. I sogni sono idee per un’Utopia ‘reale’, speranze e desideri per il futuro, per amici, familiari, per la comunità, la regione e la nazione…”

— Lucy Orta, Arte all’Arte IX, 2004

Art Exhibitions

Talks

The IX edition of Arte all’Arte, curated by Achille Bonito Oliva and James Putnam, invited Lucy Orta to intervene in Buonconvento.

”Il progetto di Lucy Orta per Art to Art IX a Buonconvento è composto d’elementi separati che si correlano con la struttura della comunità e all’architettura della città.

Her Connector Body Architecture is a ten-meter-long colorful textile work, made of wearable and interconnected forms that will be suspended from one side of the town’s main gate.

This is inspired by the Tuscan tradition of hanging colorful flags on buildings and aims to emphasize the verticality of gates and towers. The installation on the town’s architecture will appropriately coincide with the annual banquet of Buonconvento, Val d’Arbia.

The other part of her project consists of installing a series of works specially created in glass and steel in a gallery of the Buonconvento museum dedicated to sacred art. In Vitro is a modified antique cradle containing ‘organic’ forms in blown glass, and Totipotent Architecture is a series of architectural models with ‘organic’ blown glass extensions. These works are inspired by her recent research into the microstructure of the architecture of the human body and the potential to create new architectural forms—‘dwelling cells’.

In the context of Buonconvento, placed in contrast with the Renaissance painting of the Annunciation, these new architectural signs express a ‘vision’ or creation of futuristic architectural forms as ‘organic’ extensions to the historic buildings of Tuscany.”

Arte all’Arte IX, 2004

Credits

LUCY ORTA
Connector Body Architecture, 2004
Tessuto/textile,
Progetto per Art to Art IX
Porta Senese, Buonconvento
Courtesy Associazione Arte Continua – San Gimignano, Italia

LUCY ORTA
In Vitro, 2004
Ferro, cristallo/iron, crystal
Progetto per Art to Art IX
Museo d’Arte Sacra della Val d’Arbia, Buonconvento
Courtesy Associazione Arte Continua – San Gimignano, Italia

LUCY ORTA
Totipotent Architecture, 2004
Progetto per Art to Art IX
Ferro, cristallo/iron, crystal
Museo d’Arte Sacra della Val d’Arbia, Buonconvento
Courtesy Associazione Arte Continua – San Gimignano, Italia