Promoted by CASA TESTORI and PARCO NORD MILANO
In collaboration with the Municipality of Novate Milanese, the Municipality of Cormano
With the support of Fondazione Cariplo

The wait is over!
“Belvedere”, the work by Matteo Attruia created for the Balossa Area of Parco Nord Milano, is permanent and can be visited at any time by anyone.

THE WORK

“Belvedere” by Matteo Attruia is the winning project of the third edition of the “Arte in Balossa” competition, promoted by Casa Testori and Parco Nord Milano in collaboration with the Municipality of Novate Milanese, the Municipality of Cormano, and with the support of Fondazione Cariplo.

Originally from Sacile (Pordenone) in Friuli, but—as he likes to specify—someone who “lives and works everywhere,” Attruia is an artist who wanted to propose a new reflection on the park and on the way places of beauty are experienced, both cultural and natural.

“A belvedere is a place from which one looks, but which one does not look at. A belvedere is a destination one aims for in order to do something else, to admire the landscape one has crossed or what remains of it. A long road has been traveled to get there, and a long road still lies ahead. Usually, a belvedere is not in itself something ‘beautiful.’ Often it is a clearing with a large parking lot. When you arrive at a belvedere, you do not look at your shoes. You look far away. […] It is an auspice for transformation. An invitation to commitment so that it truly becomes a belvedere.”

The project involves the creation of a mirrored inscription installed on the ground with an aluminum or painted steel structure firmly anchored to the soil. The task of the work is to reflect what surrounds it: the landscape and the passage of visitors. It changes from hour to hour. The light is the light of day. The darkness is the darkness of night. By reflecting, it reveals and conceals. It can be sky or earth, leaves and trees. The letters are only a possible outline of what they reflect. Around the B there is everything else, around the E there is everything else, around the L there is everything else… As one moves, the alphabetical figure remains the same, but the content of its reflection changes. It has no filters. It is an auspice for transformation. An invitation to commitment so that it truly becomes a belvedere.”

Firmly convinced of the importance of public artworks, Matteo Attruia wants his works to remain open to the interpretations of their users. In his research there has always been a desire to establish direct contact with the public, not only on an intellectual level (his works are ironic, sometimes provocative, and always instill doubts and reflections in those who experience them), but also on a physical level: creating a work in public space and allowing visitors to freely interact with it and with the surrounding space is a fundamental part of his practice. The artist will receive an all-inclusive contribution of €10,000.00 for the design and realization of the work.

Since 2016, Casa Testori and Parco Nord Milano, in collaboration with the municipalities of Novate Milanese and Cormano, have been committed to a process of research and definition of the identity of the Balossa Area of Parco Nord Milano through Contemporary Art, within the broader challenge of #ilparcofacultura, thanks to a biennial competition for the production of site-specific artworks that for years have enriched the area and given it a distinctive identity.

For the third edition of the “Arte in Balossa” competition, supported by Fondazione Cariplo within the framework of the project IMMUNI è NATURA, the jury examined 21 applications from artists working throughout Italy and abroad. These were projects of great quality that accurately interpreted the requirements of the call and the specific characteristics of the area, taking into account its agricultural history and the transformation currently underway. The Balossa Area is located at the heart of one of the most highly urbanized portions of the Milan metropolitan territory, between the municipalities of Novate Milanese and Cormano, with land of predominantly agricultural vocation, and covers an area of approximately 150 hectares. Among the candidates for the award, in addition to the winner, the jury highlighted as particularly noteworthy the proposals by Michele Bazzana, Chiara Gambirasio, Giulia Pellegrini, and Fabio Roncato.