Branco
Vittoriale degli Italiani, Gardone Riviera
May 14, 2013 — Permanent
An invitation for a site-specific installation within the Mausoleum complex at the Vittoriale degli Italiani, one of the most sacred places in d'Annunzio's residence.
Located in the highest part of the park, it was conceived on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of Gabriele d'Annunzio's birth by curator Flavio Arensi. The Mausoleum houses the tombs of the Fiume Legionnaires, along with the resting place of d'Annunzio, whose remains have been there since 1963.
Located in the highest part of the park, it was conceived on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of Gabriele d'Annunzio's birth by curator Flavio Arensi. The Mausoleum houses the tombs of the Fiume Legionnaires, along with the resting place of d'Annunzio, whose remains have been there since 1963.
The project is inspired by one of the poet's wishes, to create "the symbol of Nothingness":
"I ask you to come at your leisure, so that we can talk without haste. I have thought about the mausoleum of the dogs: I have imagined it entirely. It will be, in the garden, the symbol of Nothingness," the Poet said in a letter to architect Gian Carlo Maroni, the designer of the Vittoriale.
The five dogs, made of iron and concrete are named after five abandoned villages in Abruzzo (Buonanotte, Gessopalena, Sperone, Vallepiola, Cascignoli); they're a tribute to the poet's roots and form part of a wider research project on ghost towns, which began in 2010 with Sbarco and continued in 2013 with Foresta Rossa.