Architectural presence using absent matter

The presence of matter is the essence of architecture. Indeed, through a material form, a construction rises in a place previously empty: an architectural appearance comes to existence. When abandoned, any building will succumb to time and become a ruin.
A ruin represents, partially, the previous existing architecture; with a part no longer existing. What if we could build an architectural presence using absent matter? Artist Edoardo Tresoldi has done it and calls it a “metaphysical ruin.”

Photography: Courtesy of Edoardo Tresoldi.

//The artist and his vision

Edoardo Tresoldi, class 1987, was born in Milan (Italy). Since the early age of 9 started to experiment with different art techniques. Later on, he moved to Rome and started to work cross-discipline: cinema, music, scenography, and sculpture. He had the chance to experiment, and this period provided him with a vision and a broad sense of what art can be.

Photography: Courtesy of Andrea Mete.

Nowadays, Edoardo is an internationally well-known artist. His projects are often temporary, but there is one permanent installation that sums up his vision and approach.
The project at the Basilica di Siponto was commissioned by the Ministry of Cultural Heritage of Italy, and it is located in the archeological park of Siponto, Manfredoania, in the province of Foggia. Edoardo’s intervention uses art to rebuilt what time has destroyed by reinterpreting the volumes of the ancient early Christian Basilica.

The aim was challenging to achieve. Our society has a conservative approach to art and percieves ex-novo buildings as an ugly-copy of the original. How to rebuild something so ancient without compromising its heritage? Using wire mesh, Edoardo played with transparencies, and the final effect somehow is difficult to comprehend to the eyes, at first. Is it a projection? A 3D printed cathedral?

The artist created an architectural presence using absent matter; he captured non-existing material and cast it with wire mesh. As a result, we can appreciate how the original basilica looked like initially without compromising the relationship with the archeological park and with the original ruins. Moreover, this installation represents the union of past and future, where archeological ruins were brought back to splendor thanks to contemporary art.

Photography: Courtesy of Blind Eye Factory.

//His last work: Simbiosi

Edoardo’s last installation is in a place special to me. Arte Sella is a Land Art Museum located in the mountains of Valsugana (Italy), where I grew up. Simbiosi is a site-specific art installation that allowed Tresoldi to investigate further how to create an architectural presence using absent matter and the relationship with the surroundings. Using his trademark material, wire mesh, the artist collected local stones to create a basement around which he erected his unmaterial construction. Instead of a ruin organically deteriorated, he reproduced it, using local rocks.

Simbiosi is an interpretation of the surroundings and will surrender to the transformative action of the passing of time. Every installation at Art Sella establishes a unique connection with nature that will continuously reshape the way they look as the whole mountain did at the end of 2018 when a storm transformed the shape of the forest forever.

Photography: Courtesy of Edoardo Tresoldi.

If you want to read more about other artists and designers that are thoughtful with the environment and nature in their artistc process, read here.