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MARCONEREOROTELLI THE SEEN (press) |
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ART SEEN: CHICAGOTHE FIELD MUSEUM // MARCO NEREO ROTELLI: DIVINA NATURADivina Natura Transforms the Field Museum Divina Natura, June 24, Photo by Jim Prinz Last Monday night, in celebration of 2013 as the Year of Italian Culture in the U.S., Italian artist Marco Rotelli transformed the facade of the Field Museum into an oversized illuminated manuscript in Divina Natura, an elaborate light projection installation and collaborative performance based on the text and imagery of Dante Alighieri’s Inferno. Divina Natura, June 24, Photo by Jim Prinz The air was cool from a thunderstorm which had threatened to intervene just a few hours before. Enormous text written in projected light embellished the left and right sides of the building’s exterior, the looming front entrance blank in anticipation. Artist and curator Arica Hilton and School of the Art Institute Assistant Curator Kate Zeller began with a brief introduction. Zeller, relaying the words of Rotelli, expressed a most appropriate sentiment for an event so steeped in literary tradition: “Even a single moment can be filled with time.” Divina Natura, June 24, Photo by Jim Prinz As the soundtrack by composers Adrian Leverkuhn and Thomas Masters began, accompanied by Karolina Dvorakova’s soprano vocals, the facade was engulfed with Renaissance-style illustrations. The Field’s classical columns incorporating seamlessly into the black and white compositions. Divina Natura, June 24, Photo by Jim Prinz During the projection, poets from around the world, curated by Hilton, read poems in a variety of languages from French to Hebrew. The result felt primordial— sentiments of love and suffering transcended language boundaries, and the words floating through the dense air united over the human condition. Divina Natura, June 24, Photo by Jim Prinz The poets also selected and read cantos directly from Dante’s Inferno. Abstract imagery, color, text and Rotelli’s invented scrawling hieroglyphics danced in response. Angry blood red faded into pensive blue, mirroring the range of emotions the participants proclaimed. While Divina Natura was one night only, Hilton-Asmus Contemporary Gallery is exhibiting Marco Rotelli: Field of Light, a collection of Rotelli’s preliminary paintings and drawings for the installation, through August 23. For more information, visit www.hilton-asmus.com. Sierra Nicole Rhoden is a New Arts Journalism student at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. She is the comics editor of F Newsmagazine and writes for the online arts archive Sixty Inches From Center. She is also freelance illustrator, painting monthly portraits for the Chicago Tribune. July 3, 2013 | Filed under Art Seen: Chicago and tagged with Chicago, Divina Natura, Field Museum, Marco Nereo Rotelli. Tags: Chicago, Divina Natura, Field Museum, Marco Nereo Rotelli → LEAVE A REPLYYour email address will not be published. Required fields are marked * Name * Email * Website Comment You may use these HTML tags and attributes:<a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <strike> <strong> Privacy & Terms |
