Ode to the Moon 艺术装置丨意大利丨Paradisiartificiali 工作室

Based in Desio, Italy, the design studio led by Veronica Mazziotti and Marco Vanucci created a film set for the balloon-like installation Ode to the Moon for the 29th edition of Miart, an international modern and contemporary art fair. Designed by Studio Paradisiartificiali for the fair’s ArtOnStage project, Ode to the Moon reflects on two sisters trying to arrange comforts for their mother who is far away. The installation is intended to symbolize the setting for “an intimate connection between two women.”

According to Studio Paradisiartificiali, the installation in Desio, Italy, endeavours to symbolically transfer motherly feels onto a 100-square-metre installation. “It’s an intimate family plan, made up of solidarity between two generations and a strong feminine connection,” co-founders Veronica Mazziotti and Marco Vanucci elaborated. “We believe that the best things are always the result of sincere involvement, and if we want ‘Form to follow Emotion,’ we must be unconditionally open to empathy.”

The studio said that because of this personal project, the team tried to envision it as a “gravitational pull between two stars.” “We had to invent something more open: secluded, yes, but certainly not enclosed,” Mazziotti and Vanucci continued. Desio-based art production organisation Arteas confirmed selecting Studio Paradisiartificiali because of the company’s “high value cultural research.”

“The great inspirations of Studio Paradisiartificiali’s approach are Federico Fellini, Jean Cocteau and Dante, whose poetry and imagination feed their continuous investigation of the frequented paths of creation and the re-experience of the worlds of decorative arts, cinema, theatre and mythology.”

Interior Features Painted Tests and Shiny Objects

Surrounded by topiary hedges, the installation includes a geometric pergola, a circular fountain, tall red earth flowers, a catriol of pink-silver edges and blue hanging curtains, night-vraiser-baskets and tropical foliage. Upon entrance, visitors see two sides of the same interior in the form of a vertically split, fully-furnished object. Each has a set of bright blue doors and identical ornaments.

According to the studio, the project references a garden – a space of inner peace and joy. “The intense green of the leaves or the red clay of the earth fills every void,” Mazziotti and Vanucci described. “Dusk is now approaching, and a magnetic presence leads us to the most hidden, secret point of the garden, the nymphaeum.”

Other interior details also include a floor made of red earth simulated as a spring and an astronomical map at the bottom. Further, the complementing hallway features an opening guarded by two female figures. “The perimeters of the rooms, like those of our thoughts, are outlined by topiary hedges,” the studio added. “Thoughts are free to roam.”