GIUSEPPE LO SCHIAVO: WIND SCULPTURES

The latest series „Wind Sculp­tures“ (2014/15) by the London-based sou­thern Ita­lian artist (* 1986) that is shown for the first time is rep­re­sen­ted by eight small-, medium– and large-sized works and one instal­la­tion. It’s a pho­to­gra­phic expe­ri­ence that pre­sent unpre­dic­ta­ble sculp­ture crea­ted by the wind that only the instant of a high-speed camera can sculpt and keep it fore­ver. The ent­ire pro­ject was taken around Europe, Italy, Greece, France, Switz­er­land, Por­tu­gal, UK and Ice­land. The artist is also a sub­ject of this thea­tri­cal sculp­ture where human and nature col­la­bo­rate in a per­for­mance with even chan­ging results.
The mate­rial used for this series is a wea­t­her blan­ket, a spe­cial low-weight and very thin alu­mi­nium sheet, gold or sil­ver, deve­l­o­ped by NASA in 1964 for the US space pro­gram. It is used for emer­gency kits as a ther­mal insu­la­tion or as a loca­tor bea­con. “Only by col­la­bo­ra­ting with Nature our race could be safe, and the sal­va­tion is also a con­cept inside my pro­ject. The alu­mi­nium foil, wrap­ped on my body, crea­tes ever chan­ging shapes lea­ving all the con­trol of our per­for­mance to the nature. The first time I saw the emer­gency blan­ket, the foil I use in my Wind Sculp­tures pro­ject, as a poten­tial mate­rial for my series I was in the South of Italy where thousands of migrants from Africa arrive almost every week from the sea tra­ve­ling with crum­bling boats loo­king for sal­va­tion. When they arrive the first thing Ita­lian coast guards res­cu­ers do is to cover every migrant with a gold emer­gency blan­ket, in order to pro­tect them from the cold or from the sun. So for me, this beau­ti­ful gold mate­rial deve­l­o­ped by NASA is also a sym­bol of sal­va­tion and gene­ro­sity of the human being.” (Giu­seppe Lo Schiavo)