“Most
of reality is invisible and it is the visible things that
enable us to deduce the invisible. Like the ‘invisible’
work in which the invisible is revealed alongside the given
visible element, the vision of the remains of the synagogue
prompt us to imagine and picture the invisibility of other
moments.” The object of these remarks is Invisibile,
a block of black African marble into which the work VISIBILE
is carved. The block is not whole but cut on one side, thus
suggesting an invisible part, infinite and incommensurable,
the IN which makes the work complete but “invisible.”
At Ostia Antica Anselmo places that black block in the vicinity
of the synagogue beside two shattered fragments: out of modesty,
respect and discretion. Unlike the works of LeWitt and Cabrita
Reis, who use materials and structures in keeping with the
location, the smooth, black geometric block of Invisibile
obviously clashes with the time-worn fragments nearby. And
yet, just a few days after installation, it is as though it
had always been there, somehow made “invisible”
by the combination of its own energy with the energy of the
location. This is also because Invisibile faces east, like
the synagogue at Ostia and all those of the Diaspora, looking
toward the Temple of Jerusalem, the object of their memory. |
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