2003 Poggio Valicaia Park, Scandicci, Florence, (Italy) Permanent environmental intervention
Materials: 300 vases in enameled terracotta (h 60 cm x 40 cm)
Perfumed essences:
lavender, vanilla, coconut
Dimensions: m 43 x 63
Maria Dompè created for the park of Poggio Valicaia at Scandicci a suggestive environmental incursion, in empathy with the appeal launched by Alain Simon (French musician and producer): Gaïa — A walk for life — Charter for environmental planetary urgencies. Alain Simon’s initiative took place on March 15th, 2003 in a magical place; on the roof of the world, at 4,000 meters above sea level, where 350 musicians of diverse nationalities all met to join in with this campaign of awareness promoted by the composer.
The music, always a vehicle of intense spiritual communion, spread from Tanglung, a sacred Himalayan place between Nepal and Tibet, to the sinewy hills of Tuscany: a single wave of emotion that Maria Dompè had seized and amplified by her work.
An olive grove with ochre earth opens up in the thick forest, between the peaks infiltrated by cypresses and the branchy heads of pine trees. With a gesture that is both essential and eloquent, the artist traces two semicircles, one contained in the other. Inside, there is a long procession of red enamelled terracotta vases, filled with apples on the inauguration day: “an offering from the earth to the earth”. The extraordinary fusion of nature and art reveals the importance of pursuing sustainable development, aimed at safeguarding the entire planet.
The sign of the artist, therefore, does not aggressively disturb the landscape, or change the physiognomy of the place; on the contrary, it seems to seize the intrinsic energy and to multiply it due to its dynamic and positive force. The semicircular shapes close in a hug and, at the same time, they expand like a music that is infinite. Here it is possible to regain the symbiosis that has been lost with the “All”, freeing ourselves from the routine and from our daily neuroses.
A performance of Thai-chi, introduced during the event, expresses the potential for catharsis of this place; where, unexpectedly, the elasticity of movement, the connection to space, and the harmony of our own bodies are rediscovered. The vases, in their turn, embody the potential of the project, the opportunity of leaving a mark on the great book of Being. The work embodies a deep ethical value, stimulating an intimate, dialectical approach in our relationship with nature: a rare and precious good, which has been blindly degenerated by the insane thirst for progress. We need, instead, to transcend the narrow horizon of a individualistic and egocentric vision, and to plunge ourselves into the incessant flow of the universe. Gaïa, magna mater and source of life, represents the authentic scenery of affective and communicative exchange.
In the green of the Tuscan hills, among the indigenous perfumes and those chosen by the artist, skilled director of the senses, the ritual eternity of memory repeats: that native instinct of belonging to the circle of Being, that cannot be dissipated in the transience of an empty immediateness. The Park of Poggio Valicaia, golden reserve of energy, stimulates the rediscovery of a native bond to nature, a bond that needs to be defended and consolidated in time.
Maria Egizia Fiaschetti