The large-scale light installation We Rise by Lifting Others by artist Marinella Senatore invites us to reflect on the idea of community, closeness and relationship at a time when the concept of social distancing is conditioning everyone’s daily lives.
Related articles: 'Back to Nature' at Villa Borghese - The multisensorial compositions of Ryoji Ikeda - Superblue, the latest project by Marc Glimcher
Over ten meters high and made up of hundreds of LED lights, We Rise by Lifting Others is inspired by the traditional illuminations of southern Italy and is produced in collaboration with artisans from Puglia. At the end of 2020, a year dominated by isolation and distancing, Marinella Senatore, known for her participatory projects, reflects on the role of art as social activator and community builder.
The project is intended as a space for connecting the public courtyard of Palazzo Strozzi and the individual sphere of each person. A space where these two dimensions come together in a reflection on the meaning of community: an open work that suggests to people a need for listening and caring about themselves and about the space they live in.
"I imagine my works as fluid containers, created by taking into account the specific 'environment' in which they develop and based on a potentially infinite inclusion of the elements involved. For me, art is a horizontal space on which different elements, of equal value, generate energetic movement and therefore shared narration," says Marinella Senatore.
Marinella Senatore, One of the Italian most internationally renowned artists, creates a participatory and relational art that crosses different disciplines, visual arts, dance and theatre. She has created performances, paintings, collages, installations, videos and photographs, involving entire communities around social issues and urban questions, such as emancipation and equality, aggregation systems and workers' conditions.
The exhibition, We Rise by Lifting Others, curated by Arturo Galansino and located in the courtyard of Palazzo Strozzi, Florence, will be on view until 7 February 2021.
Cover image: Marinella Senatore, We rise by lifting others, Palazzo Strozzi, Florence.
Written by Giulia Cami
Stay Tuned on Kooness magazine for more exciting news from the art world.