FARI E TORRI DEL FUOCO SEGRETO
Lighthouses and Towers of the Secret Fire

curated by Christian Caliandro and Nicola Zito
Pino Pascali Foundation, Polignano a Mare (BA)

Opening: Friday, August 2, at 7:00 PM

Until October 27th, 2024

Gea Casolaro • Serena Fineschi • Claudia Giannuli • Francesco Lauretta • Isabella Mongelli • Virginia Zanetti

The exhibition showcasing the results of the project entitled Lighthouses and Towers of the Secret Fire, promoted by the Pino Pascali Foundation and the Department of Tourism, Culture, and Territory Enhancement of the Puglia Region, will open on August 2 at 7:00 PM (until September 22, 2024). This initiative is part of the CoHeN-Coastal Heritage Network project, funded by the Interreg Greece-Italy Program 2014/2020, through which the Puglia Region has renovated and repurposed three lighthouses and three towers to help create a new Adriatic-Ionian coastal itinerary.

The artistic project, curated by Christian Caliandro and Nicola Zito, aims to offer a new perspective on six significant locations for Puglia’s identity, which have been restored and revitalized: Torre San Felice in Vieste, Torre Pietra in Margherita di Savoia, Torre Calderina in Molfetta, San Cataldo Lighthouse in Bari, Punta Palascìa Lighthouse in Otranto, and the Carlo V Tower-Lighthouse in Torre San Giovanni (Ugento).

Each artistic intervention was designed to enhance these sites. Six artists were involved: Gea Casolaro, Serena Fineschi, Claudia Giannuli, Francesco Lauretta, Isabella Mongelli, and Virginia Zanetti. The languages used range from painting to sculpture, from installation to video, and from photography to performance. Each artist, with their own approach, style, and language, engaged with the geographical, historical, and cultural aspects of these contexts.

Gea Casolaro’s work, Not All Seas Bring Harm, composed of letters made with illuminated aluminum sheets, reflects on the cultural role and function of the sea. In Herland, Claudia Giannuli’s sculpture, real almond tree trunks are adorned with flowers made of Ming porcelain, presenting a dystopian image of a “flowering pruning,” a practice contrary to any botanical rule. Coincidences, a site-specific installation by Serena Fineschi made with segments of hundreds of colored pencils, embodies a dialogue around the theme of landscape and its artistic representation. Bathers at the Lighthouse by Francesco Lauretta focuses on the relationship between the sea and the coast, with the lighthouse at the boundary: the environmental painting installation is populated with references to art history, from Cézanne to Picasso, from de Chirico to Hockney. In the performance and video Rising Sea, Isabella Mongelli begins at the Punta Palascìa Lighthouse and the floor mosaic of the Otranto cathedral to imagine a day of a “fictional summer solstice” in which the daylight rays illuminate thoughts and actions regarding salvation and destiny. Finally, Virginia Zanetti’s The Dance of Salt focuses, through performance, video, and photography, on the memory of the salt extraction process and the shared codes of the Margherita di Savoia community.

The reference in the project’s title is to the Secret Fire or Undying Flame of J.R.R. Tolkien, the divine essence of Eru Ilúvatar that animates the creatures of Middle-earth. This flame also has the power to generate thoughts, ideas, and sensations. In the Silmarillion, it is said that Melkor coveted the Secret Fire for himself because he wanted to create beings to command. However, he made two mistakes: he sought the Flame in the Outer Void, while it resides with Ilúvatar; moreover, he did not understand that the Fire does not create beings to be dominated by their creator, but beings who are independent, whom the creator can only love and guide. In The Fellowship of the Ring, the first volume of The Lord of the Rings, Gandalf tells the Balrog in the Mines of Moria: “I am a servant of the Secret Fire, wielder of the flame of Anor” (in contrast to the Dark Fire, the flame of Udûn, which refers to Utumno, meaning Hell). Thus, the Secret Fire is the vital flame that presides over autonomous existence, made up of ideas, works, and actions.

Ideas, works, and actions also animate the pieces created for the lighthouses and towers along 400 kilometers of the Apulian coastline, from Vieste to Otranto, during a first phase of planning and site visits between June and July 2023, and a second phase of production from July to November. While these works await permanent installation in their respective sites, this summer’s collective exhibition at the Pascali Museum showcases the project’s results.

Lighthouses and Towers of the Secret Fire
Opening: August 2 at 7:00 PM
Until September 22, 2024

In photo: Bari, San Cataldo. Ph Marino Colucci

Pino Pascali Foundation
Via Parco del Lauro 119, Polignano a Mare (BA)
+39 0804249534
press@fondazionepascali.it
www.fondazionepascali.it