Greetings from Gibellina
Alberto Burri creates art on a truly monumental scale.
Gibellina, an isolated town in the western hills of sunny Sicily!
It was one of five towns totally destroyed by the Belice Earthquake of 1968.
Alberto Burri, who is best known for his collages of burlap and construction and industrial materials, created a monument to the town during the 1980s.
The street plan of the town is preserved on its original site in a vast concrete slab, with the areas that were occupied by buildings raised up to about eye level.
It is, among other things, the largest example I've encountered of a historical map rendered at a scale of 1:1.
And an effective memorial, it seems to me. I'm trying to decide whether I would rather (if anyone asked my opinion) think it was preferable to tend it in its pristine form, or let it gradually be colonized and reclaimed by nature.
Burri left the Infinite Art Tournament earlier this month, having gone two-and-out against Burra and Alexander Calder. He stuck around long enough for me to warm up to him some, though. I don't know about you.
2 comments:
Glad to see they rebuilt the town using earthquake-resistant architecture.
It would be interesting to see how it cracks in the next quake...or what it is like in a serious downpour. Not to mention what the extraterrestrial archaeologists of the future make of it. But me, I think it is one fairly stellar piece o'land art.
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