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Scultura Internationale a Racconigi

A biennale exhibition of International Sculpture in Turin, Italy, where each sculptor was invited by country. I was invited as one of four British sculptors including Phillip King, David Nash and Peter Randall-Page to represent the UK. My work included two life size bronze sculptures. The specific questions asked of the project were to relate contemporary work to the landscape and history of a 17th century castle (Racconigi Palace). I chose a site which would enable my work to capture the landscape, and relate directly to the building and its associated things (seating), whilst exploring the idea of an action in the landscape, sitting and climbing. Each work is geometric and utilises cast bronze bells echoing the castle bells. The context of the work conflates history by adapting surrealist notions of transformation and displacement with regard to the use of objects in a contemporary exhibition set in historic grounds: the ladder cannot be climbed, the seat is too small to sit on, and the bell does not ring. The sculptures play with the context of the place and its history whilst maintaining a contemporary use of bronze with its Italianate references to the history of sculpture. ‘Ladder’ balances on its edge a top, which is a bronze circle holding a bell, frozen in the moment of its chime; ‘Seat’ is a bronze work consisting of back to back three legged bronze seats holding three diminishing circles and a bell. The exhibition was curated by Prof Luciano Caramel, University of Milan, who also contributed a text to the catalogue. Essays by Barbara Tuzzoline, Giovani Cordero, and Renato Balestrino.