Visit to Himmelhøj with the artist

During our visit to Himmelhøj, we had the pleasure to experience three dimensional artwork in the landscape with the artist himeslf, Alfio Bonanno. After hearing him speak about his ideas and his artwork, it was very exciting and interesting to get a chance to see and interact with his work. Some of his ideas, especially those of using aspects of the surrounding environment as a part of the artwork, were very apparent in in the sculpture. In the following picture, the dynamic contrast between the buildings and the sculpture can be seen. The geometric buildings clearly in view behind the sculpture would seem at first to be problematic; one would guess that they would compete with or detract from the aesthetics of the artwork, but Bonanno said that he does not mind the aspects of the environment in the background, because as he said, these elements are "part of it."

It was very interesting viewing the pieces with the artist to see how he reacted to changes in his artwork that happen over time. Because the sculptures are made of natural materials, they are subject to weathering, damage and general deterioration, but the artist became very upset when he saw the way the sculptures were being maintained and the way they had been vandalized. He finds details extremely important in his artwork, and was upset to see that the details were not being kept up to his standards. He commented on nails that were broken and sticking out of the wood as potential hazards for children, and noticed that the wood on the stairs was not in line with the rest of the wood. It was a much different experience being there with him pointing these things out, because I would not have otherwise noticed these issues. It allowed me to see things that I wouldn't have and to view the work as an ever changing object rather than a fixed permanent structure. Below Bonanno is inspecting his creation and trying to make small repairs.

 

In his other pieces at Himmelhøj, Bonnanno also used reclaimed natural materials to create temporary installations. The wood in the following installation is beginning to decay, and some are beginning to break. This stimulated a conversation where we discussed some of the issues the artist must encounter when trying to make decisions about how to maintain work and what to do with future works. He asked us if we thought it was better to try to preserve the work or to just naturally let it be go through natural processes, and there really does not seem to be an easy answer. The artist is usually more inclined to allow nature to take its course and to allow the wood to decay naturally, but he said at a certain point it may not be usable as it was intended. This was very beneficial  for me, as it allowed me think about the issues of creating artwork in a natural and ever changing setting.