Spazio Volta becomes a space-time portal

3 years ago

Artist Gregorio Vignola (born in 1995, Como) intervenes in the former Roman fountain in Piazza Mercato delle Scarpe in Bergamo Alta, transforming Spazio Volta into a space-time portal. For those unfamiliar with the concept of a wormhole, the analogy provided by curator Riccardo Vailati in the curatorial text can help clarify the ideas. «The vivid analogy by John Wheeler, in which the universe was likened to an apple, led him to imagine a worm traveling on its surface. He then decided to carve alternative paths, allowing it to bypass the determining rules of the universe. The term ‘wormhole’ was coined for this hypothetical tunnel that traverses the apple halfway, and the narrative trajectory of what passes through it is called the ‘throat’—literally, the throat carved by this worm.» We find ourselves in a transitional space, a “place between places,” or even a “non-place,” animated by three inhabitants, namely three sculptures, two of which are suspended in the air. Everything revolves around a central body, a flow of cables culminating in a monitor that reproduces an audiovisual work. The title of the exhibition – “Warm Hole Throat” – takes its name from the previously mentioned wormhole, referring to the throat but replacing “worm” with “warm,” citing «temperature, corresponding to the walls of a fleshy throat and thus involving the sexual and carnal resonances evoked by these terms.»

Once again, Spazio Volta welcomes an artist capable of transforming it. After Franco Mazzucchelli with his inflatable works, in stark contrast to the historical space, Gregorio Vignola reflects on the stratification that the place has undergone over the centuries. Initially a Roman fountain, then covered to build the current former church of San Rocco (now undergoing restoration by the Association), and subsequently a secular space for art. The same stratification is found in the three sculptures, created using 3D printing technology. Another connection to the place can be found in the arrangement, which replicates a religious dimension, with the two “Papyraceous” sculptures positioned on either side of the space, creating a scenic convergence at the center, the focal point of the installation.