In a small town in southern Italy, in the Puglia region, there is a very original monument, a union between the ancient building art of the first millennium AD and the modern art of the new millennium: the Basilica of Siponto. In the twelfth next to the current Romanesque church, there was also the ancient early Christian church of which, however, practically only the foundations remain. In fact, the looting and barbarism of the various populations that have followed one another over the centuries have destroyed the church, depriving it of the small treasures it kept and of the frescoes inside the walls.
In 2016 the architect Edoardo Tresoldi brought to light the ancient early Christian church in an unusual and modern perspective, a work of art entitled Where art reconstructs time. As you can see, the reconstruction of the ancient church did not take place with the classic material, stone, but was entirely designed through the use of wire mesh is 14 meters high and weighs about seven tons in all. The arrangement of the network is by no means random but the result of a three-dimensional pattern that gives a very pleasant but also distorted sense of depth and dimension itself. It feels a little like being under the influence of alcohol :)
The view of the cathedral, from any angle you observe it, offers a certain sense of bewilderment, a sensation sought and desired by the artist, probably to underline the power and influence of the church on man. Observing the basilica from the bottom up, one has the feeling of being small compared to the size of the work. 4,500 meters of wire mesh form an open structure, no walls, no doors, anyone can enter the church because its doors are always open. No painting, no decoration or sculpture, could be defined as a poor church, the model of church closest to the divinity, but in iron, a symbol of technology and evolution.
Almost a hologram, a ghost of a building that no longer exists and of which some mosaics and the plant remain. The courageous choice to make archeology and contemporary art dialogue is part of an overall vision of landscape understood in its temporal complexity between evidence of the past and current events of the present. A work out of time, a symbol that goes beyond any meaning. Difficult to give a definition to the work when you look at it: thoughts seem to be captured by the magnetic net of the church, really difficult to find the right words at the moment. Then the silence of the park in which it is immersed seems to contribute to the sacred atmosphere that befits such a place.
Evening falls and an ad hoc lighting system offers a truly suggestive show, the shadows multiply and an even more chaotic effect shows itself to my eyes. I recommend that you visit the church if you are in these parts, I have never seen anything like it and I don't know if anything like this has ever been designed in the world. I am amazed by the care with which the mesh has been positioned and the effects it can create when it is superimposed at a certain angle. Truly an original and fascinating architectural work.
