PRINCIPIO

PRINCIPIO. Cosmo, …lunare.

2012 – 2013, Torino

 

Environmental Art intervention created in the inner garden of the Luigi Einaudi University Campus in Turin, consisting of two works, Cosmo and …Lunare, which define the two ends of the garden. Designed in 2012, it was inaugurated in the fall of 2013.

Principio consists of two works, Cosmo and …Lunare, positioned at the two ends of the garden, with a central pathway bordered by continuous low walls that raise the lawn by about half a meter. The artist intended to counter the exact geometry of the garden with soft, freely shaped, almost primordial forms that, in some ways, contrast with the futuristic and technological appearance of the buildings.

The work Cosmo occupies an area of approximately 100 square meters, formed by two “small hills” that reach a height of 1.70 meters at their peaks. Their arrangement creates a passageway aligned with the garden’s central pathway.

The two small hills are partially constructed with cement mortar and Nanto stone, and partially with grassy soil, as if a precious, unknown material had trapped some organic parts of the ground, preserving them in a primordial image.

One of the hills represents the top of a “crater,” crafted with a metal structure and welded mesh to anchor the cement mortar. Inside it rests a round sculptural element made of Nanto stone, which has left a blue trace in the smooth, perfect concavity of the “crater.”

At the opposite end of the garden lies the work …Lunare, which occupies a triangular area of approximately 170 square meters. It is also formed by two hills—one lower, made of cement mortar and Nanto stone, and the other higher, composed of grassy soil with a deciduous Prunus tree at its peak. The shapes are gently contoured, with gradual level changes, creating a peaceful and less complex environment that invites calm and reflection. Toward the edge of the area, a rectangular base block, incorporated into the flowing shapes of the hill, supports a corten steel plate inscribed with Luigi Einaudi’s thought: “Conoscere per deliberare” (“To know in order to decide”).

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