Paper Ostriches at Tenuta del Buonamico
2022 sees the opening of the eleventh edition of Lucca Biennale Cartasia, the first international art festival dedicated to paper and its forms, an open-air exhibition where artists try their hand at creating large paper works. Lucca Biennale is, therefore, a city, a territory and its excellence, told by the artists through its main product, paper, a tradition of the territory since the early 1300s. It runs from 31 July to 25 September, period during which paper art artists create works following the theme that is chosen every year by the Biennale, always selecting topics related to contemporary dynamics as a stimulus on which to design all the activities, events and exhibitions, with the aim of creating a link between companies and art.
This year the theme chosen was “The blank page”. As the Cartasia page itself says “What is a blank page? Endless possibilities. A different future, a dream to be realized, an ambition, a different perspective, an alternative to routine. The feeling of being able to design a different, new and better world. At the same time it is the anxiety of the whole, of the negative eventuality, of the unexpected implications; a leap in the dark. An inability to act. It is a bridge between the past and the future, the opportunity for free writing or the anguish of the unknown infinity, the loss of a comfort zone or the courage to choose. “
“This eleventh edition of the Lucca Biennale Cartasia speaks of a possible rebirth, a new vision, a regeneration. The creation of this new perspective is a creative act that starts from a destruction: in the void of a blank page one can imagine billions of creations, and this edition aims to be a stimulus – together with the artists who make up the selection – towards the public to observe the future with its possibilities, starting from a present to be reimagined.” This is supported by Emiliano Galigani, artistic director of the Lucca Biennale Cartasia.
In addition to the exhibitions organized at Villa Bottini and Palazzo Ducale (which hosts the ‘Indoor’ section of the exhibition with the large monumental rooms of the Province headquarters that will host sculptures, engravings, artifacts and so on, all made with paper), various areas of the city are enriched by sculptures by international authors. Piazza San Michele, Piazza San Giusto, Piazza Anfiteatro, Piazza San Frediano and other locations have been chosen to host works of art, all rigorously made of recycled paper, to ensure respect for the environment and sustainability.
The works were created by 6 Italian and international artists – Daniele Cornacchia (Italy), Eu Tazé (Peru), Kazuya Katagiri (Japan), Papier Atelier (Turkey), Sebastian Blomqvist (Sweden), Zofia Chamera (USA) – created during a one-month residency held at the Polo Fiere in Lucca, joined by Olivier Bertrand (France), an artist with a solid experience in paper art.
Tenuta del Buonamico, always attentive to the city and its traditions, has also seen the installation of two magnificent paper ostriches that sink their heads into the sand. One was positioned in front of the entrance to the Syrah restaurant, and the other in the green space located near the main door of the Buonamico estate. Two points where the visitor’s attention is focused, who is captured by the beauty and originality of this subject. The No_Dump association, engaged for years in the recycling of materials to create works of art, explains how these sculptures were born from 140 hours of work, and explains their meaning: it is said that the ostrich, in moments of fear, hides his head in the sand, as if to flee the imminent danger. This same behavior is similar to that of man, who tends to ignore and shy away from incoming dangers, from the most banal and harmless ones to the most risky ones. The loss of the perspective necessary for the vision of the world around us does not appear as painful as the acceptance of who we are, whether it is our own life or the responsibilities of the society in which we are used to living. Even if, like the ostrich, we are unable to fly, we have the intelligence that would allow us to get out of the boundaries that we self-impose and that limit our view of the world, but we often remain with our heads in the sand, locked in a fence. which is actually open.
Come and admire these works of art at Tenuta del Buonamico and you will be captivated by their beauty and their profound meaning
