The
Venetian sculptor Gianfranco Meggiato enters history being the first Italian
living artist to present his works in a personal exhibition at the Heydar
Aliyev Center in Baku, Azerbaijan, one of the largest and most important
cultural centers in Asia.
The exhibition, entitled “Lines of the Invisible”, was inaugurated on May 23
rd
and will be open to public until October 26
th
, 2024. There will be
39 artworks showcased, 19 of which are site specific installations, created by
the artist who took inspiration from the architecture of the complex. The
building is made through sinuous, fluid and harmonic lines, the same goes along
with a play of lights and large windows.
The curator is Amina Melikova, the Director of the Organization Department for
Event and Exhibition at the Heydar Aliyev Center.
The works are located both outside, in the surrounding park and in the square
at the entrance, and inside in the various spaces, such as the hall on the
ground floor and a special dedicated room in the heart of the complex.
The theme of the exhibition is the union between physics and spirituality:
man’s relation with the invisible; the possibility of “living” the matter, of
giving it a meaning that goes beyond materiality; the relationship with energy,
taking inspirations from the theories of quantum physics; the use of shapes
that recalls the elements of nature.
Between the
19 site-specific works, the most significant are
Germination
,
Primordial
Sphere
,
Mistral
,
Science and Knowledge
,
Creation
.
Germination
is certainly one of the most impressive works, more than 6
meters high, placed in front of the entrance to the Heydar Aliyev Center. It
appears like four elements that come together to shape a sprout of a tree,
therefore a reminder of life and of the respect due to nature and its balance.
This is not a coincidence. In fact, Baku is the city that will host the net COP
29, the United Nations Conference on Climate Change, next November. The author
himself underlined the importance of that specific work, arguing that all men
are leaves of the same tree, parts of the same system, a unique Being and that
therefore is necessary to live all in harmony. He invites us to believe in the
concepts of unity and brotherhood, with the communitarian aim to make this “organism”
continue to exist.
Mistral
, on the other hand, is a 4 meters high sculpture, bright red and
very elongated, which refers to the concept of the wind and the flame of fire,
symbols respectively of the city of Baku and the State of Azerbaijan.
Primordial Sphere
is a work that takes inspiration from the quantum
physics, which seems to be composed of strings of energy that wrap around a
nucleus.
Samsa Sphere
, in turn, is inspired by the cycles of life. The theme of
death and rebirth and the possibility of man of living different cycles.
The
director of the Heydar Aliyev Center, during the official presentation of the
exhibition, expressed gratitude towards Gianfranco Meggiato and his work, for
the ability that his works have to capture visitors and induce them to reflect
on profound, contemporary and important themes for humanity.