I SEGRETI DELLA NATURA
I SEGRETI DELLA NATURA
2006, Capannoli (PI).
ROTONDARTE, 2006. Competition promoted by the Municipality of Capannoli.
Titled The Secrets of Nature.
Awarded out of competition.
This artwork has a small story I’d like to share. It’s not easy to find a competition that aligns perfectly with the criteria and requirements one usually brings to their work. In this case, the preliminary conditions were exactly those, and The Secrets of Nature was created as a proposal for a competition promoted by the Municipality of Capannoli, called ROTONDARTE. This provided the opportunity to naturally and effortlessly merge my personal artistic journey with the themes requested in the brief.
Unfortunately, the courier I relied on delivered the materials to a different Tuscan municipality. Attempts to retrieve and redeliver it were in vain. The jury had already judged and recorded their decisions. However, the project was retained and acknowledged by the jury as worthy of being displayed out of competition alongside the awarded works.
THE LANDSCAPE COMPONENT
Recognizing the importance of the landscape component in any intervention on the site means not overlooking details, considering even the most insignificant places as important, including those that are not particularly distinctive; it is the accumulation of many unconsidered small spaces that creates disorder. And where there is disorder, there is no harmony. Roundabouts belong to this category of spaces, being unused spaces that are inaccessible. An artistic approach that takes context into account and makes it the focus of its work attributes an exquisitely aesthetic quality to these spaces, making them enjoyable and in harmony with the landscape.
THE THEME OF RURALITY
One of the themes of the competition was to highlight the concept of rurality. Rediscovering the relationship between humans and nature in contemporary society as one of mutual care, consideration, and respect aligns with the theme of rurality, as the countryside exemplifies human intervention in nature with respect for the landscape and the gifts it spontaneously offers. The entire intervention also serves as a call to the earth, implicitly in some cases and more directly in others.
THE THEME OF TRANSIT
The second theme required by the competition was that of transit, which is reflected in the compositional choices of the work. Given that those driving around the roundabout have a dynamic visual perception of the setting, the image of the central island should appear “stable and solid” yet not monotonous or conventional—evocative, familiar yet surprising, reassuring from afar, intriguing up close. Visual perception varies depending on the point of view while also maintaining the functionality of the traffic node, with an unobstructed view on the left approach. The surrounding area should facilitate the integration of the new spatial arrangement with the context, functioning as a link between interior and exterior spaces. In the competition’s second phase, selected designers were to conduct an on-site inspection to further develop the submitted project. In this phase, I reserved the option of adding simple elements around the central island to connect with it visually.
THE WORK
In the roundabout, with a diameter of 32 meters, a furrow like that of a plow has overturned the earth, and within the split between the two clods, “constructed” elements create a new surface equilibrium. Between the two clods, a mysterious shape emerges: a fruit, a seed? Freshly plowed earth is beautiful! But it is a transitory state; its appearance changes and must always change. In the roundabout, time has stopped at the moment when the plow passed and lifted the soil.
MATERIALS AND TECHNIQUES
The front of the raised clod has a variable height from 0 to 1 meter and stretches about twenty meters in length, cutting sinuously across the entire surface of the roundabout. It is constructed from brown-colored paramano bricks; the material’s ductility and texture recreate the image of freshly plowed earth. Behind the clod, the surface is not grassy but treated with a mixture of mortar and crushed brick to retain the look of freshly turned soil. Only the area in front is covered with grass, as seen in fields where cultivated land alternates with spontaneous vegetation. The sculpture that disrupts the continuous brick front forces the bricks to compress and mold around its rounded surface. A mysterious fruit or seed, created in terracotta, is nestled beside the stone, almost as if containing it.
