L'alcòva d'acciaio di Umberto Cavenago, 2014
`L'alcòva d'acciaio` in the wood
L’alcova d’acciaio by Umberto Cavenago
It is “L’alcova d’acciaio”, a novel in which Filippo Tommaso Marinetti recounts his wartime experience driving the Lancia-Ansaldo “1Z” armored car during the First World War, that inspires Umberto Cavenago’s installation.
The work reinterprets in an anti-war key the innovative assault vehicle celebrated by Marinetti in the name of the machinist myth, typical of futurism. L’alcòva d’acciaio by Umberto Cavenago is a powerful Cor-Ten vehicle, devoid of any belligerent purpose and built with solid, geometrically clear volumes. Hidden in a forest that grows and thickens, it is destined to be more and more hidden and seemingly impregnable: a perfect shelter to take refuge in silence.
Cor-Ten
The characteristic of Cor-Ten is that it protects itself from the aggression of atmospheric agents, through the surface formation of a passivating patina, formed by the oxides of its elements. Passivation protects against corrosion and changes chromatic hue over time. This behaviour is very different from that of carbon steel which is vulnerable to the corrosive action which makes the surface of the metal porous and brittle. The layer of rust that is created advances, revealing and affecting the underlying part composed of iron, until it is completely consumed.
The novel
L'alcòva d'acciaio is a novel by Filippo Tommaso Marinetti composed between 1919 and 1920 and published in 1921 by the publisher Vitigliano. The novel is a triumphant chronicle of the last year of the First World War, from the aftermath of the Piave counter-offensive to the Battle of Vittorio Veneto, as seen through the eyes of the author, a futurist poet, artilleryman and then commander of the crew of the '74' the '1Z Lancia Ansaldo' self-propelled gunship. The vehicle was adopted in 1915 by the Regio Esercito in a total of 150 units, assigned in squadrons to the cavalry divisions: they were used in action from the Second Battle of the Isonzo to the Battle of Vittorio Veneto.
`L'alcòva d'acciaio` in the wood
Preview at Officine Rebuzzi
`L'alcòva d'acciaio` by Umberto Cavenago, seen from the sky on the day it hosts ZWANG, a video installation by Carlo Dell'Acqua. Shot with Dji Phantom 3
An exhibition of works by Umberto Cavenago, Ermanno Cristini and Barbara de Ponti, among the hills of the Langhe. With a conversation between Giulia Brivio and Ermanno Cristini, creators and curators of the project `Prière de toucher`, at its fourth editi
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