Solo exibition at una boccata d’arte (Fondazione Elpis / Brunate, Italy / 2025 )
Curator by Edoardo De Cobelli
Developed in resonance with the atmospheric phenomena of Brunate — a village located 1,600 feet above Lake Como — Sleeps the lake is a site-specific project that translates the emotional impressions I experienced during my time there into a series of tactile and interactive works. The installation was conceived for the “castello,” a centuries-old house in the historic center of Brunate, reopened for this occasion. In the first room, the work Feeling is all evokes the frequent fog that shrouds the village, often hiding the lake and horizon from view. On certain days between autumn and spring, a dense mist rises to the town’s edge, creating the sensation of a sea beneath. Fascinated by this ephemeral phenomenon, I created a tactile wall that produces curling smoke in response to the pressure of a hand, allowing viewers to engage physically with the intangible. Interactivity is central to the exhibition. Just as the lake and atmosphere are living and ever-shifting, so too are the works. In Horseshoe, I reproduced a horseshoe discovered on the door of the building’s old well. Captivated by the Italian belief in its power as a protective amulet, I reimagined it in glass, filled with a reactive gas that responds to touch — a gesture that symbolically “calls luck,” echoing local traditions. Using singular tones and the luminous quality of glass, I sought to capture the temporality and emotional depth of these colors. The interplay of light, air, and energy in these works creates a poetic interface between body, landscape, and the invisible forces that shape our experience of place.
Photo_Andrea Benedetta Bonaschi