Eight Art Project
Eight Art Project
Ca' Corniani. Alberto Garutti. East Threshold

THESE LIGHTS WILL VIBRATE WHENEVER
LIGHTNING STRIKES IN ITALY DURING THUNDERSTORMS.
THIS WORK IS DEDICATED TO ANYONE PASSING BY
WHO WILL THINK OF THE SKY

Conceived as a means of inviting the viewer to take in the vast expanse of sky above the cultivated plain of Ca’ Corniani at a single glance, the work is writing in the landscape, a luminous structure and its own caption.
A large inscription in light—whose letters reproduce my handwriting— has been installed in the fields on a metal supporting structure. Visible from close by and at a great distance from the roads that cross the area, it is a luminous sign spread out in the landscape.
Through a control mechanism linked with the CESI (Centro Elettrotecnico Sperimentale Italiano), the lights of this work will increase in brightness for a few moments whenever a bolt of lightning strikes the territory of Italy.
The work is a threshold between earth and sky. It is a caption to the celestial panorama. The present time of Ca’ Corniani and all of Italy’s skies. Here, now.
The work, a true device for curation of the landscape, re-directs the viewer’s gaze and thoughts upward, turning a fragment of Ca’ Corniani into a sensitive piece of territory in which art “reveals” and explores, through a luminous sign, the enigmatic character of natural phenomena and their alluring mystery. The atmosphere, lightning and the sky: the art contains the mystic sense of nature.
This work-caption—an operation of writing in the place and on the place—was created with the simple intention of prompting visitors to focus their attention and thoughts on what already exists, the natural scenery that surrounds them; it is a move toward getting them to take responsibility for their gaze.

Client
Genagricola S.p.A.
Generali Italia S.p.A.
Project of landscape enhancement and art competition idea
Land Srl - Milano
Project and landscape curatorship
Andreas Kipar, Giovanni Sala
Art competition curated by
Eight Art Prject Srl
Artistic curatorship
Elena Tettamanti e Antonella Soldaini
Photo
Agostino Osio - Alto Piano