La Spezia, March 8, 2024 · Andrea Benetti’s installation at the Parco delle Mura
La Spezia · The city with a heart · Parco delle Mura
The permanent installation “Timeless shapes” by Andrea Benetti has been inaugurated
Since prehistoric times, man has communicated and left traces of himself through symbols and their meanings, which cannot always be codified. He painted and engraved them on cave walls and, throughout history, many of these symbols have disappeared, others have consolidated their notoriety and still others have been added. It is endemic to human nature to spread a message through symbols. Today, they are transformed into icons and animate much of our daily lives, fostering the need for immediacy of message. Communicating with symbols, and even more so with icons, is more relevant than ever, given that we live in the digital age, which is based almost exclusively on the concept of visual synthesis. Smartphones, tablets, computers use icons, which convey a basic message, often about the function they represent.
Due to the pandemic, we had just come out of a terrible moment in history, which psychologically scarred humanity, due to the many victims and the loneliness caused by the limitation of human and sentimental relationships. This was followed closely by the war in Ukraine and the massacres in Palestine and Israel, which again spread a leaden atmosphere, dominated by fear and uncertainty. Andrea Benetti‘s installation is made of anodised aluminium and represents two hearts, to symbolise a message, which pushes the human mind towards positive thinking, which induces people to believe in love, as an engine for the creation of a better world. The history of mankind has shown that often, like a spark, symbols have released their force, promoting and accompanying the conquests of human rights and peace processes.
The work is dedicated by the artist to Barbara, the great love of his life
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