We The Italians | Italian art: Mountain, winter and art

Italian art: Mountain, winter and art

Italian art: Mountain, winter and art

  • WTI Magazine #138 Apr 17, 2021
  • 1031

The interesting trend of museums inserted into nature, without any part that constrains them, is increasingly being consolidated. Museum cities such as Gibellina, protected parks such as Fiumana d'arte or monothematic ones created by the artist himself such as the Tarot Garden. In Trentino Alto Adige, there is an art collection made up of installations that dialogue with the luxuriant surrounding nature, questioning it to trigger the mechanism of involvement in the user: it is Arte Sella.

Arte Sella was born in an experimental way in 1986, when a group of friends living in Borgo Valsugana met in Val di Sella, in the garden of Villa Strobele, to imagine the combination of contemporary art and nature. Thus began a period of contacts with local cultural institutions, with the population and with artists, mainly foreigners.

Strong partnerships were born, such as the collaboration with the Association Amici di Borgo, led by Livio Rossi. It was in this first moment of Arte Sella's life that some key principles were established, which still inspire the activity of Arte Sella. First of all, the artist is not the absolute protagonist of the work of art, but accepts that nature completes his work. Second, nature must be defended as a treasure chest of memory. Then, nature is no longer only protected, but also interpreted in its absence: the relationship with ecology therefore changes. Finally, the works are placed in a hic et nunc and are built by privileging natural materials. They emerge from the landscape, only to return to nature.

Since 1996, the Arte Sella project has developed along a forest path on the southern side of Mount Armentera: this is how the ArteNatura route was defined, a forest path of great charm that winds through the woods. Since 1998, the area of Malga Costa has been added to the ArteNatura trail. This structure was once dedicated to the pasture of animals, and over time has become first an exhibition space and then a space dedicated to meetings, events and concerts.

2001 represents an important year for Arte Sella, with the realization of the Vegetal Cathedral by Giuliano Mauri. For a long time symbol of Arte Sella, this imposing natural architecture is now almost completed thanks to the patient intervention of nature. Since then, Arte Sella has grown more and more, thanks also to important collaborations with the masters of Art in nature such as, to name a few, Nils-Udo, Arne Quinze, John Grade, Michelangelo Pistoletto, Henrique Oliveira and Edoardo Tresoldi.

Since 2016 Arte Sella has made the park of Villa Strobele usable again with a new project related to architecture: the garden hosts in fact installations made by internationally renowned architects, such as Atsushi Kitagawara, Kengo Kuma and Michele De Lucchi.

The magic of this place, which makes it different from all other outdoor exhibition areas lies in the extreme change of the works throughout the year. In winter many installations change shape, color and impact thanks to the snow that surrounds and sometimes constitutes them.

Creating a parallel, temporary and alternative collection to the one that can be seen during the summer season in which green takes the place of pure white.

Today Arte Sella is an international reality, in continuous evolution, inserted in networks such as ELAN (European Land Art Network), Dancing Museums, Grandi Giardini Italiani and Great Gardens of the World.