Two floating eyes looking at the sky, made up of boats and made with fragments of wood, pipes and colored plastic to give the impression of two irises that scan the horizon with an attentive gaze. He made them Stefano Ogliari Badessi, in art S.O.B., a nomadic artist who draws inspiration from nature and dreams for his installations. He didn’t do it all by himself though. The sculpture is in fact the result of a workshop which, from 14 to 16 May, involved nine very young people in its final phase pushing them to question themselves on the indissoluble relationship that exists between the water and the city of Venice. A unique experience, designed for involve and bring students closer to the world of art, particularly important at a time when, with schools closed, the sense of isolation was experienced by children in a more intense way.
With the deposition in water of the work Who watches what? ends Overcoming, artistic practices for a new present initiative created by Peggy Guggenheim Collection in partnership with Swatch Art Piece Hotel. Wanted by Nick Hayek, president of the group Swatch, the structure was designed in 2011 to allow creatives from various disciplines (visual arts, dance, music, writing, photography and video, but not only) to be able to live and work for a few months in total freedom, in spaces created especially for their. A real creative lab as well as one community that it considers experimentation and freedom as its own supporting pillars. Located a Shanghai, the hotel has so far hosted more than 400 artists from 50 different countries and symbolizes the bond that for more than thirty years has linked the Swiss brand to the world of art.
«The structure allows us to host up to 18 artists at the same time. Depending on the discipline they belong to, everyone has at their disposal a tailor-made space, so much so that rehearsal rooms have even been created specifically for dancers, ”he says Carlo Giordanetti, CEO of Swatch Art Piece Hotel, which continues «we we do not foresee strict dates for the experience of our guests, it all depends on the individual duration of each project, which can last for days or months. Furthermore, the space we have created is the ideal opportunity to meet and collaborate. If the resulting project is interesting, then the group also supports it later, for example on the occasion of events such as the Biennale d’Arte. In exchange for hospitality, the only thing we ask of the artists is to leave their mark, which we then exhibit in the large gallery attached to the hotel. Admission is approved by a commission of experts but there are no limits on age, nationality, disciplines and time, like that it’s all very transversal“. In the special structure he lived and worked his own Stefano Ogliari Badessi, artist who led the final workshop of Overruns.
Goes on Giordanetti «The meeting with Stefano in his golden ball within the walls of ours artist residence in Shanghai it was the first episode of a journey along which Swatch, in full harmony with the creative values of S.O.B., has always accompanied him in magical places. From terrace of the Excelsior hotel on the Lido of Venice during the Biennale Arte 2015, at icy peaks of Verbier, to the roof of the Milanese headquarters of the company, in a transparent box in the middle of Via Montenapoleone in Milan: always a new dream, a new experience, a new exciting game in which Swatch and SOB involved the public. Today this trip is enriched by a magical stage that attracts young people to the island of Certosa, thanks to the cooperation with the wonderful and exciting Peggy Guggenheim Collection. We are excited, happy, curious to open new eyes!».
So the two pupils looking at the sky from the lagoon they are the result of an initiative that has been able to arouse curiosity and inclusion, at the same time allowing participants to have fun in difficult times. Great attention also for a theme very dear to the Gen Z, the sustainability: not only that, in fact, the work was carried out with recycled materials but it was also pulled into the water by boats equipped with a very quiet electric motor, which does not emit pollutants. Why the eyes? For some ancient civilizations they symbolize the divine: for this reason, with his laboratory S.O.B. he wanted to do resurface the soul of Venice to then symbolically allow it to float in its waters.
In gallery in apertura all the images of the event.
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