Roman Signer
Horloge (Clock)
A new permanent project opening September 22, 2012
Fondazione Zegna
Via Marconi 23
13835 Trivero (BI)
www.fondazionezegna.org/allaperto
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ALL’APERTO, a contemporary art project curated by Andrea Zegna and Barbara Casavecchia, is an initiative of Fondazione Zegna, a non-profit organization that since 2000 supports cultural, social, medical and environmental projects in different parts of the world.
For its fourth edition, ALL’APERTO is proud to present Roman Signer’s first permanent public project in Italy. Entitled Horloge (Clock, 2012), the work is a four metre high “time-sculpture,” as the artist defines it. Akin to an oversized railway station clock, Horloge has an enameled dial but no hands; every quarter of an hour, the time is marked by a long puff of high-pressure steam, each time different and about to vanish, like all the fleeting moments of our life. With irony and lightheartedness, Signer thus invites the viewers to engage in a periodic existential reflection. “Only the human time seems to run on a regular basis,” says Signer, “while nature and energy follow a different flux, where perpetual change is the rule.”
With its unexpected puffs, Horloge wants to surprise the public, as if it was a surreal apparition, but also quietly mingle with the town pace. The sculpture is located in via Roma, in front of Zegna’s wool mill main entrance, because its project unfolded during a walk the artist took on top of the factory’s roof, under its towering old brick chimney and among the emissions of vapour coming from the plant. With his “trail of smoke” Signer established a connection between work time and free time, and also between Trivero and his homeland landscape of Canton of St. Gallen, where the hills are studded with the chimneys of the local lace factories.
Roman Signer born in Appenzell (CH) in 1938. He lives and works in St. Gallen (CH). Among his recent solo shows: Camden Arts Centre, London (2001); OK Centrum für Gegenwartskunst, Linz (2005); Ludwig Forum, Aachen; Aargauer Kunsthaus, Aarau (2006); The Fruitmarket Gallery, Edinburgh; Hamburger Bahnhof, Berlin (2007); Bonnefantenmuseum, Maastricht; Helmhaus Zürich, Zurich (2008); Kunsthaus, Zug (2009); Swiss Institute, New York; Sprengel Museum, Hannover, (2010); Sala de Arte Publico Siqueiros, Mexico City (2011); Hangar à Bananes, Nantes (2012).
Events
On Saturday September 22nd, 2012 at 3:30pm, to celebrate the opening of Horloge and unveil the sculpture, Roman Signer will stage a public action in Via Roma 99, Trivero.
On the same day a selection of Signer’s recent videos will be screened in five public locations of the nearby Centro Zegna.
On Tuesday September 18th, 2012 at 6:30pm, Roman Signer will hold a Lectio magistralis at the Milan branch of the Istituto Svizzero di Roma, in collaboration with Fondazione Zegna, introduced by Barbara Casavecchia and Salvatore Lacagnina (Head of Arts Programme, Istituto Svizzero di Roma).
Tuesday September 18, 2012, at 6:30pm
Lectio magistralis
Istituto Svizzero di Roma – Milan branch
Via del Vecchio Politecnico 3
T +39 02 76016118
milano [at] istitutosvizzero.it
www.istitutosvizzero.it
Saturday September 22, 2012, at 2:30pm
opening of ALL’APERTO fourth edition
Fondazione Zegna
Via Marconi 23 – Trivero (Biella)
www.fondazionezegna.org/allaperto
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Catalogue published and distributed by Mousse, with texts by Anna Zegna and Andrea Zegna, and a conversation between Roman Signer, Giovanni Carmine (director of Kunsthalle St. Gallen) and Barbara Casavecchia.
ALL’APERTO project is under the patronage of the Municipality of Trivero, the Province of Biella and the Region Piedmont.
Press contacts
ALL’APERTO
Press office: adicorbetta, T +39 02 89053149 / stampa@adicorbetta.org
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Skype: adicorbetta stampa
Fondazione Zegna
Press office: Federico Amato, T +39 02 89077394 / federico.amato@efficere.it
