Notti di Luce

Chaos Magnum is the title of the sixteenth century marquetry by Lorenzo Lotto found in the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore in Bergamo Alta. Starting from a formal reworking of this marquetry, Enzo Catellani has created a series of luminous sculptures that wind through the Basilica and the courtyards of the Chamber of Commerce and Palazzo Frizzoni with three different installations. This was not a casual choice of collaboration, but was based on the analogy between the work of Lotto in the Basilica and Enzo Catellani’s study of the relationship between light and the effects of refraction of materials. His creations require a great deal of expert craftsmanship and are objects that capture the gaze; thanks above all to the interplay of light that creates contrasts, just as in a picture. Manual intervention often renders an object imperfect, yet unique at the same time, and it is this that makes it alive in the eyes of the visitor. This is the parallel journey that accompanies the Baroque decorations of the Basilica and the “golden lights” of Enzo Catellani. The installations take on a role of mediation in the relationship between space and the physical and psychological dimension of the observer, resulting in a pleasing spatial and sensorial transformation of locations. Thanks to the collaboration of architect Domenico Egizi, the ninth edition of “Notti di Luce” (Light Nights) recently took place. Lights, words and music characterised the concert ‘Music from Sacred Concerts’ by Duke Ellington, inspired by the Old and New Testament.