Press Kit | no. 6953-01
Press release only in English
Forsoultree, Artwork by Luca Gnizio
Luca Gnizio
Forsoultree: new life from dead wood
Luca Gnizio presents Forsoultree, his latest work blending the trunk of a centuries-old holm oak tree with the artist's gestures to create a unique sensory experience in a prestigious setting inside the Monumental Park of Monte Ceceri, where Leonardo Da Vinci first experimented with his flying machine.
How a work of art is created – Forsoultree: new life from dead wood
The grounds of Villa San Michele, where the work is sited, are part of the Monumental Park of Monte Ceceri. During the restoration of footpaths through two and a half hectares of beautiful woodland, Frontera Gardens informed the managers of the Villa that they had come across the large trunk of a centuries-old holm oak tree that had likely fallen during a storm.
The extraordinary occasion and captivating setting led to the idea of involving the unique talent of Luca Gnizio, an artist capable of grasping the essence of the material and transforming the trunk into something new and rare.
Gnizio is an eco-social artist who faithfully adheres to the "three Rs" - reduce, reuse, and recycle. Thanks to his inspiration and determination, he manages to create new levels of beauty, content, and meaning out of what would normally be considered waste. Using powerful creative gestures, the artist invites us into the tree where the sap once flowed to touch the wood, to smell its fragrance, and to feel the energy of the holm oak.
There, you can lie down and contemplate the view overlooking Florence, or the rocky wall of the old quarry inside Leonardo's wood from two seats, one facing the valley and the other uphill. A deep basin carved into the trunk provides ample seating and an opportunity to connect with nature from the heart of the tree.
"Forsoultree speaks of beauty and respect and reminds us that nothing belongs to us on this earth, where we are simply passing guests," explains Luca Gnizio. "By physically entering the tree, we can establish an intimate and sensory dialogue with that part of us that is innate."
Luca Gnizio's creative flair, from the conception of Forsoultree to its completion, has been captured on film by director and filmmaker Fabio Bastianello.
"The real luxury of our times is the chance to observe the generosity and beauty of nature, and to enjoy the infinite opportunities it offers us," concludes the artist. "Forsoultree takes us into the depths of things, where primitive sensations are born, and connects us through our senses with a piece of eternity.”
Technical sheet
Forsoultree, May 2023
from an idea and artwork of Luca Gnizio
Filming: Fabio Bastianello - Overall Pictures
Producer: Luca Gnizio
Starring: Luca Gnizio
Scene photographer: Donato Veneri
Original Music: Marco Madia
Sculpture execution: Frontera Gardens
Communication & Coordination: Christiane Bürklein
Created and placed on permanent exhibition in Villa San Michele, Fiesole, Italy
All rights reserved
About Luca Gnizio
Luca Gnizio, born in 1981 in Lodi, created a new field of professional expertise in 2009: the ECOSOCIAL artist, a pioneering approach that is now internationally recognized. Thanks to his artistic and technical training as an industrial designer, and his commitment to safeguarding the environment, Gnizio's works made with recycled industrial waste materials have given rise to an innovative artistic trend that embodies ecological and social purposes. Taking the principle of the "three Rs" - Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle - to a new level, Gnizio's innovative approach is not confined to an in-depth study of the individual company concerned. By underlining the importance of the wider community, he has successfully grouped and involved local and multinational companies together with community associations to bring about ecological circular economy projects, and hence his ECOSOCIALLY neologism.
Gnizio's projects include his Levi Jeans project, which involved 300 shops and associations for young people with disabilities, prisoners, and the unemployed; the Cosmave project for recycling marble dust, once again involving community associations and over 80 companies, and the joint BMW and SGL Carbon Group project, from which Gnizio has obtained two of his patents for ecological innovation:
FORSOUL - The first ever crystal ball incorporating fabric (recycling of carbon fibre), now on permanent display in the prestigious Murano Glass Museum.
FORBLACKLIGHT– From the recycling of carbon, Gnizio obtained the first water-repellent fabric to become transparent, earning the artist the "Eccellenze della Lombardia 2019" award and a place in the prestigious Adi Design Index 2019.
Since May 2018, Gnizio has exhibited "DannunziEco: l’impuro dannunziano" in the Vittoriale degli Italiani museum, a monumental work defiant in its use of scraps of dirty paper obtained during the restoration of the historic walls of the Vittoriale complex.
For three years beginning in January 2021, Gnizio's work has been on exhibit overseas through the diplomatic-consular network and the Italian Cultural Institutes with the itinerant exhibition, 3CODESIGN, called by the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, and curated by Silvana Annicchiarico.
https://www.lucagnizio.com/
About Frontera Gardens
Founded in Florence in the 1980s, Frontera has expanded thanks to the continuous pursuit of excellence, which has placed the company at the forefront of landscape and garden design.
Botanical and architectural expertise, research, and innovation distinguish the services offered to clients from the hospitality sector, as well as parks, private villas, and historic homes. Frontera has also left its mark in the garden settings of many luxury hotels.
Frontera began as a family business and is synonymous with excellence in the art of "Made in Italy" garden creation. From the outset, the firm was inspired by the desire to explore new horizons, and to embellish an ever-moving world with signature gardens.
Thanks to the thirty-year relationship with Belmond, and as regional manager for Italy and Spain, Frontera has created botanical works of art in the shape of the gardens of Villa San Michele in Florence, Castello di Casole in Siena, the Hotel Cipriani in Venice, Hotel Splendid in Portofino, Hotel Timeo and Villa Sant'Andrea in Taormina, Hotel Caruso in Ravello, and La Residencia in Palma de Mallorca.
Frontera takes care of every stage of garden creation: Design and planning, selection and cultivation of species of tree, planting, and maintenance.
https://www.fronteragardens.com/
About Fabio Bastianello
Fabio Bastianello is an award-winning filmmaker and director and heads the Milan film production company, Overall Pictures. One of the characteristics of his films (including „Secondo Tempo“, 2010 and „Milano in the Cage - The Movie“, 2017), is that of the hyper-realistic story on an aesthetic and emotional stylistic level. Thanks to the use of long shots and first and third person cameras, his films allow the viewer to fully experience what the protagonists experience. He has worked with the MUDEC museum for exhibition films, commercials, emotional videos, and brand communications, and filmed the performance of the Liu Bolin exhibition in 2019, as well as a short on Tina Modotti's letters, films, exhibition, and performance for Palazzo Reale from Milan.
Fabio Bastianello's style enables the translation of the artist's creation into an experience for the public, who can witness and comprehend the genesis of the work of art, Forsoultree.
https://www.overall-srl.net/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/fabio-bastianello-943a1853/
About Marco Madia
Marco Madia was born in Milan (IT) in 1987 and, after finishing art school, went on to earn a degree in sound engineering from SAE Berlin (DE). Coming from a classical music education, he moved to electronic music production in his early teens. He has done work in environmental sound design for a multitude of spaces, from art exhibitions and flagships stores, to airports and parks. He has also composed and curated music for fashion shows, installations, events, and exhibitions. In recent years he has expanded his musical production to compositions for visual media in a wide range of genres, and in parallel he continues to release music in the electronic music space. He currently divides his time between his hometown of Milan and Berlin.
http://www.marcomadia.com/
https://open.spotify.com/artist/6hcEc3adIkZmc3k7f9uWTY
Alessio Guarino
Photographer
https://www.alessioguarino.com/
Christiane Bürklein
Communication & Networking
https://www.linkedin.com/in/christianebuerklein/
For more information
Media contact
- Luca Gnizio
- Christiane Bürklein
- press@lucagnizio.com
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Forsoul, the first ever crystal ball incorporating fabric (recycling of carbon fibre), now on permanent display in the prestigious Murano Glass Museum
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