Dalya Luttwak - What if roots could grow in the waters of Arsenale?

Dal 1° giugno alk 27 novembre 2011

La scultrice Dalya Yaari Luttwak presenterà la sua creazione "…what if roots could grow in the waters of Arsenale?..." ("...e se le radici crescessero nelle acque dell'Arsenale?..." che sarà posta tra le due torri dell’antico Arsenale di Venezia durante la 54^ Biennale d’Arte. La conferenza stampa avrà luogo giovedì, 12 maggio alle ore 10 presso il Circolo Ufficiali della Marina Militare – Castello 2168 – Venezia. Nei giorni tra il 9 e il 12 amggio prossimi alla fine del Rio dell'Arsenale, verrà installata la scultura che si innalzerà per circa 15 metri, fino a raggiungere l'altro braccio, che trasversalmente, per 16 metri ancora, si congiungerà con l'altra torre. L'opera è ispirata alle radici dell'edera. Sin dal 2007 l'artista si è dedicata alla realizzazione di una serie di sculture in acciaio e ferro, che rappresentano radici, le stesse che la scultrice estrare dalla terra. 

Dalya Yaari Luttwak ha partecipato come Artist-in-Residence and Guest Critic presso la James Madison University's College of visual and Performing Art (2010).

As a tribute to the city of Venice, the Italian Navy is displaying, “…. WHAT IF ROOTS COULD GROW IN THE WATERS OF THE ARSENALE?....”  an installation by the American sculptor, Dalya Yaari Luttwak.

This corner of Venice was the expression of the power of the Republic through the glorious Navy. In the Golden Age of Canaletto it was already decaying. Today this sculptor dreams of a new life emerging from the waters of Venice and creates an ideal aerial bridge above the traditional and solid Venetian bridges.

The installation spans the two towers at the end of the Rio del Arsenale which overlooks the entrance to the Bacino del Arsenale. Emerging from the water, the sculpture climbs up along one tower nearly 15 meters then reaches across another 16 meters to the second tower appropriating the hooks eternalized by Canaletto. The sculpture, inspired by the root of the ivy, is of mild steel in bright red.

The artist has been visiting Italy for many years and found great inspiration in its magnificence and layers of history. The Arsenale is a powerful symbol of the continuing Italian naval tradition, as well as a glorious memorial to the power of the Venetian republic. The two towers of the Porta Magna built to protect the entrance to the Arsenale. The hidden beauty of “roots” finds a special echo in Venice, the city born out of water.

since 2007 the artist has been working on a series of large-scale steel sculptures that symbolically represent the root systems of various plants. At times she works from the roots themselves, which she digs out of the earth; other times she photographs, copies or draws roots as the basis for her work. The artist tries to uncover the hidden beauty of roots, exploring the relationship between what grows above the ground and the invisible parts below. Her sculptures reveal what nature prefers to conceal. Her wish "is to uncover and discover roots even when they are hidden, indeed especially when they are hidden.”

The artist’s work has been honored in solo exhibitions at American University Museum (Washington, D.C.), at James Madison University's Sawhill Gallery (Harrisonburg, Virginia), and in a group exhibitions in the Art Museum of the Americas, among other museums and galleries in the United States, Mexico, Germany and Israel.  Her work is critically reviewed by journals such as Sculpture and Art Papers, as well as in numerous books and catalogues.  In 2010 she was Artist-in-Residence and Guest Critic for James Madison University's College of Visual and Performing Arts.  The artist is scheduled to have a solo exhibition in 2012 at the Ermanno Tedeschi Gallery in Rome and other venues in Italy.