Virginia Zanetti’s project titled “The Pillars of the Earth” will open tomorrow at the Italian Cultural Institute (IIC) in New Delhi. The Italian Ministry of Cultural Heritage awarded its ‘Movin’up Prize’ to the Florentine artist who has worked with many Italian and foreign institutions operating in the field of culture and contemporary art: the MAN Museum in Nuoro; the Strozzina Centre for Contemporary Culture in Florence; the Pecci Museum in Prato; the MAC Museum in Lissone; Berne’s Kunsthalle and Bellinzona’s CACT in Switzerland; the HH Art Space and the Mog Museum in Goa and the Gram Art Project (MP) in Paradsinga, in India. To illustrate her work, Zanetti said: “It is a collective action that gives a new vision on people’s capacity to emancipate. Action reverses perspective: it is the individual, together with others, who supports the world, a crucial nuance leading us to either play an active or a passive role in society.”
The artist’s work explores the concepts of rebirth and revolution by inverting the observer’s point of view: people doing a handstand are upholding the world, thus becoming the Pillars of the Earth, and triggering a collective process to build new concepts and new ways. “This project started in India. I chose this country both for its spirituality and its fast-paced development, especially in the past few years. I focused on rural areas, where I was able to work with local people, creating a series of workshops and participatory performances that would encourage the exploration of individual and collective potentials. The project is meant to invite everyone to turn upside down their traditional vision and perspective of the Earth.”
