With thousands of yards of wire mesh artist Edoardo Tresoldi has built an interpretation of an early Christian basilica that once stood in Siponto in Southern Italy.

Italian artist Edoardo Tresoldi has used wire to recreate an early Christian church on an archaeological site in Siponto, a port town in southern Italy. The huge installation is located on the site of a church built in the Roman settlement between the 11th and 12th centuries, but deserted following earthquakes in the 13th century. Today the area is administered by the comune of Manfredonia, in the province of Foggia. Siponto is located around 3 km south of Manfredonia, where the new town was constructed after the earthquake.

The artist, Tresoldi, specialises in large-scale wire sculptures, and has previously created both architectural and figurative pieces for venues including the British art and music festival Secret Garden Party. But this sculpture will remain in place indefinitely.

“The brief was the reconstruction of the basilica, but there are no sure elements about the structure and the size of it so Edoardo had some freedom into the creative process,” explained a member of the sculptor’s team.

Several mesh figures inhabit the full-scale structure, which features Romanesque domes, arched windows and columns, and is illuminated at night by spotlights.

The work of Edoardo Tresoldi appears as a majestic architectural sculpture able to let visitors experience an early Christian church in a whole new way, says curator Simone Pallotta. She described it as a work that overcomes the controversy between the secular idea of art and the sacrality of a church. Thus Tresoldi has created a single framework for both types of experiences, uniting the two complementary “languages into a single, breathtaking scenery”, she ends.

The sculpture emmanates a ghostly presence, looking almost like a hologram illuminating in the park. Despite its sheer appearance the installation contains detailed architetural elements including tiered columns, domes, and statues that stand within the structure.

The artist and his team used hydraulic lifting systems – commonly known as cherry pickers – to manoeuvre blocks of the premade wired sculptures. The entire construction took five months to complete.

The reconstruction has been built with the assistance of the Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities and the Archaeology Superintendencia of Puglia.

Photography is by The Blind Eye Factory.

You can see more of Tresoldi’s work on his Facebook and Behance.  (via Designboom)

SOURCE:

An Early Christian Church Resurrected in Towering Wire Mesh by Edoardo Tresoldi
In Colossal/Kate Sierzputowski on March 31, 2016