Vitalità Cultural Association, Comune di Volterra, Comune di San Gimignano and Velathri Art Gallery present art installations:
FIBONACCI
JANINE VON THUNGEN | BRONZE SCULPTURE
MAY – JULY 2018 | MAIN INSTALLATION
Piazza dei Priori | Volterra
MAY – OCTOBER 2018 | GALLERY EXHIBITION
Velathri Art Gallery | Piazza Sant’Agostino | San Gimignano
JUNE – DECEMBER 2018 | INSTALLATION
Piazza Pecori | San Gimignano
The Vitalità Cultural Association has instigated for the public spaces of the Comune di Volterra and the Comune di San Gimignano, an exhibition of the work ‘Fibonacci’ by the artist Janine von Thungen. ‘Fibonacci’ is developed from the project ‘Eternity’, curated by Bruno Corà, presented at 2017 Venice Biennale and installed in the magnificent Villa Foscari by Palladio.
Creating a dialogue between two of the primary cultural towns in Tuscany, San Gimignano and Volterra, Vitalità presents internationally regarded artist Von Thungen’s majestic organic bronze sculptures, touching the earth like slight and timeless cloths. Her sculptures can be admired in Piazza dei Priori in Volterra and in Piazza Pecori in San Gimignano, two spaces adjacent to the respective cathedrals, as well as the exhibition rooms of the Velathri Art Gallery in Piazza Sant’Agostino in San Gimignano.
The golden sections of Fibonacci, sezione aurea, are imprints from the walls of ancient catacombs and represent the past, perfection and growth. The subsequently cut quarter circles are at the same time within and outside of the very same space. Taken from the crust of the earth and into the present moment, these bronze casts float through time and space.
Employing a complex technique, von Thungen takes silicone casts of the ancient walls of the Roman catacombs, realising a single form with two sides, a positive and a negative, which she then casts in bronze. The juxtaposition of the positive and the negative in a two-sided cast, just a few millimetres thick, makes it possible to compress both space and time into a single diaphragm, derived from an underground cavity thousands of years old.
JANINE VON THÜNGEN | BRONZE SCULPTURE
Born in Germany, and having lived and worked in Antwerp, New York, Moscow and Paris, she currently lives and works in Rome. After working in fashion design in Milan and Paris with, amongst others, Karl Lagerfeld, Janine von Thungen spent over ten years as a set and costume designer for major Opera Houses across Europe. For the past fifteen years she has been working as a successful professional sculptor. Her sculptures and installations feature internationally in museums, public spaces and important private collections. Janine has also collaborated with public, commercial and charitable organisations, educational institutions, architects and other artists. Janine’s oeuvre is multifaceted and ever-evolving; she uses a variety of mediums ranging from traditional bronze, clay and glass to the more unusual rubber, hemp, water, sound and even plants. Works expand in scale from handheld to monumental sized sculptures, land art and sound installations. Janine is inspired by the contrasts and juxtapositions found in humans, nature and space; interactions between these elements are at the core of her works. Time and space are themes that mark the journey and evolution of her oeuvre. Participation between artist, viewer and art is fundamental to Janine.
