The world is undergoing significant changes—society, its desires, everything is in flux, more than ever in this period—and so is the world of art. Culture and art have always expressed “visions of the future.” The work of the artist, throughout history, has represented the avant-garde, the gaze into the future, and this is the complexity of today.
From this assumption arise the two projects completed after years of gestation by the artist from Biella, Gigi Piana. The art gallery no longer represents the central space for showing one’s work, a sector in deep crisis. Collecting is languishing, the middle class has little interest in culture and even less in financial resources, and only the giants of the last century are still navigating the art market.
Artists who want to convey messages to people have identified new paths, new possibilities. Public art is one of the sectors most frequented by this type of artist. Street art and land art were the first artistic expressions to leave the galleries to explore a new meeting between nature and context, between the artwork and the viewer.
In this context, “The walk” and “pARTEcipAZIONE” were born—two projects for which Gigi Piana is the artistic director and author of four works.
“The walk” is a project linked to Land Art, following a path along the trails around Castellengo Castle. It was conceived by Fabrizio Lava (StileLibero Association), with support from the Associazione Intorno al Castello, including Magda Zago and Alessandro Ciccioni, and directed by Gigi Piana in collaboration with the Education Department of the Museum of Contemporary Art at the Castello di Rivoli, with Anna Pironti and Paola Zanini.
The project, which won the Armonia+ grant, has had a long gestation period over several years, in order to raise funds, obtain permits, and find the right artists for the goals of the project. The aim was not to invite “famous” artists to install works in the fantastic landscape of the Baraggia region in Biella, but to select artists whose poetics offered new ways of approaching the dialogue between art, nature, and people.
The goal was not to present pre-existing works, but to create them within the territory itself, in direct relation to it—through materials, dialogue with local residents, respecting the environment, and seeking to be as non-anthropocentric as possible. Thus, the first ten installations were inaugurated at the end of November. The participating artists are: two works by Artenate, Lorenzo Gnata, Luciano Pivotto, LO-RO, Stalker Teatro (Gabriele Boccacini), Fabrizio Lava, Enrico Iuliano, and two works by Gigi Piana.
The works by the Biella-based artist are titled “de_limitare #1” and “de_limitare #2.” The captions describing the works are as follows:
DE_LIMITARE#1 2024
Framing, delimiting a view, is a human and artistic tendency that defines, limits, a portion—in this case, of the landscape, a partial point of view, a subjectivity, focusing on a portion of beauty. In this location, a vineyard, the work emphasizes human activity—viticulture—which seeks to create a harmonious form of human intervention, one that produces beauty, goodness, culture, conviviality, and connection. The frame is golden, celebrating human wisdom, the most respectful way of domestication nature to fulfill a basic need—feeding oneself, cultivating, a primary human necessity, throughout history. What has changed are the methods. We live in a historical period that, partly due to the high number of inhabitants, has forgotten or distorted the measure of nature’s exploitation. The invitation is to reconsider our relationship with nature, seeking a possible balance.
DE_LIMITARE#2 2024
Framing, delimiting a portion of landscape may perhaps be only a human presumption—the customary human need to define through boundaries, often in relation to ownership, exploitation, and control. Nature has no boundaries, no points of view, no limits. On the contrary, the entire ecosystem is interconnected. We are insignificant; turtles have inhabited the Earth long before us and, most likely, will continue to do so long after our species has become extinct.
A black frame, non-reflective and distorted, anchored in pieces to the trees of the forest, a frame that falls apart in the face of the ambition to contain the magnificence of nature, which succumbs to its power. The human being disappears within the majestic totality of nature’s being. The work invites us to reconsider the human ego and find our place and function within the ecosystem.
Two simple wooden frames, without any “other” intervention, to express two concepts in relation to the relationship between man and nature—a cry of alarm regarding the survival of the human race. The project is in its first phase, with other works set to be installed along the path in March.
“pARTEcipAZIONE”
The second project, pARTEcipAZIONE, originates from an idea by Tiziana Coluccia of the Passaggio a Oriente Association, who entrusted the artistic direction to Gigi Piana. This is also an open-air project, but this time in an urban environment, in Vallemosso-Valdilana, in the Biella valleys. It is a project of urban regeneration, another area much frequented by street art.
Over the years, the scope of this genre has expanded, not just with spray paints and colors, but with true mural works. This trend seeks to revitalize places that desire to express their vitality through community interventions where the works interact directly with the residents. Through culture, aggregation, and, more generally, beauty that carries messages, these interventions reshape both dormant and new identities.
In this context, three interventions were planned. The first, PLUG Energie Complementari, inaugurated this summer, was executed by Turin-based street artist Fijodor Benzo in collaboration with Gigi Piana. This work blends the classical art of street art with Piana’s material weaving.
The second phase, in Crocemosso, saw the inauguration in October of a mural by street artist Corn79.
At the beginning of December, the final intervention of 2024 was completed: “I am here, now”—a mural designed and created by Gigi Piana over a year and a half. This work involved the entire community. The artist describes the work as follows:
A reflection on the concept of identity and belonging to a place, sharing, and integration in its broadest and best sense: the valorization of differences.
“I am here, now” 2024
Says Gigi Piana, artistic director and creator of the work: “A project lasting over a year has now concluded. I am here, now is a mural installation that weaves together photographs taken in the schools where a workshop was held, addressing the theme of dwelling: the difference between residing in a place and truly living it, the village, and the relationship with its inhabitants as the foundation of personal identity. By becoming active citizens, we redefine the identity of the place. After photographing students, we organized meetings with the adult community. People came to the Sala Biagi, where, in an informal atmosphere, portraits were taken of anyone who wished.
The collected material was then graphically processed in the second phase to create the mural. Ten steel frames were arranged to host the woven composition of faces, forming ten different canvases. The composition of the faces develops progressively: the first panels host individual faces, gradually increasing in density until they blend together. Four segments of different people form one face, progressing until only smiles and eyes remain.
The progression is a metaphor for experiencing a place, with one’s singularity and uniqueness. In this process, identity is formed through the encounter with others. Only through exchange and confrontation do we become someone, for ourselves and for others. The work ends by emphasizing what remains of the process of active citizenship—individuality becomes secondary, and collective identity becomes the priority, graphically represented through details of eyes and smiles. A hope, a direction, the formation of a shared identity.
The panels are woven, strips of printed photos arranged horizontally and vertically, a warp and weft that, beyond symbolizing human encounters, also call back to the textile tradition, which is a fundamental part of the region’s identity. The location is not by chance—the former train station, now the bus station, is a place of transit, exchange, departures, and returns… I am here, now, even if only for a moment, as an inhabitant of Vallemosso”.
To my father.
With this dedication to his father, born in Vallemosso, and his family, originally from the nearby Piana di Vallemosso, the work speaks of a love for the territory. Despite living and working in Turin for many years, with continuous artistic collaboration with Stalker Teatro and traveling across Europe and the world, his preferred connection remains with the Biella area—a passion passed on by his uncle, Pietro Minoli, a journalist and photographer who described and photographed the Biella area between the 1950s and 1980s.
A love for a region, Biella, which, after the loss of its economic engine, the textile industry, is seeking new paths, opening its natural beauty to tourism, not mass tourism, but an ethical, cultural tourism. Art can be one of the ingredients to discover these enchanting places.
