On the occasion of Magister Canova, at the Scuola Grande della Misericordia, a monumental and site-specific installation by Fabrizio Plessi.
Discover Magister Canova
On the occasion of Magister Canova, the ground-floor of the Scuola Grande della Misericordia houses a monumental and site-specific installation by Fabrizio Plessi, 7-meter-high which allows visitors to come into contact with the great Venetian sculptor’s neurons. The homage to Antonio Canova’s self-portrait, aimed at symbolizing the journey through the artist’s mind, introduces the visit to an exhibition where show and detailed study, emotion and knowledge, blend together perfectly.
“A monumental white head comes out of the pitch-black darkness at the Scuola Grande della Misericordia, emerging like a grandiose and overwhelming magnesium flash.” explains the artist, “Yet, even more colossal than its size is the thought within, so much so that one can hardly define it. To fully appreciate this apparition, one must silently access the work itself and come into touch – almost physically – with the liquid, fluid creativity of its thought seen in its highest form. In other words, it is necessary to go through (step by step) the profound, not-yet-explored mind, to truly appreciate just how extraordinary and humid, as the great German poet Goethe would have it, our soul ultimately is. As in an imaginary swirling of the heavenly vault, the neurons in our brain become amalgamated and get dispersed, to then amass back together around an ideal drawing which the Artist is creating in that precise moment, to once again disappear and get lost in the mind’s dark layerings. This process of sailing through is a real miracle. To all those of us who love miracles, the digital world of today can offer this gift too. One only needs to believe that this can be!”
The artwork from which Plessi drew his inspiration is nowadays preserved at the Temple in Possagno, where the sculptor’s body was transferred two years after his death.
The exhibition Magister Canova has been created with a scientific committee with a high international profile and the collaboration of the Fondazione Canova Gypsotheca and Museo Antonio Canova di Possagno.
