ALL'APERTO 2012 - Roman Signer - Press Room

Fondazione Zegna presents ALL’APERTO, fourth edition. Horloge, the new
project by Swiss artist Roman Signer, opening September 22 nd , 2012.
For the next chapter of the contemporary art project ALL’APERTO (curated by
Andrea Zegna and Barbara Casavecchia), Roman Signer will realize in Trivero (Biella)
a grand “time-sculpture”, as the artist defines his work.
Entitled Horloge (2012), it will be Signer’s first permanent public project in Italy.
Horloge is a four metre high structure recalling an oversized station clock, with an
enamelled dial and no hands, that every quarter of an hour marks the time with a long
puff of high pressure steam, as if it were an ironic grandfather clock.
Horloge will be located in via Roma, in front of Lanificio Zegna’s main entrance. The
concept for the project unfolded during a walk the artist took on top of the factory’s
roof, dominated by the presence of a high chimney and ongoing emissions of vapour
from the plant working underneath. Signer thus decided to use that trail of smoke to
establish a connection between work time and free time, and also between Trivero
and his homeland landscape of Canton of St. Gallen (delimited by Lake Constance
and the Rhine Valley), where the hills are studded with the brick chimneys of the local
lace factories. With its clock movement puffs, Horloge wants to surprise the viewer but

also simply and quietly mingle with the town pace, where the daily existence is still
marked by the sound of the factory sirens and the bells of the chiesa Matrice.
Saturday September 22 nd , 2012, at 3.30 pm, on the opening of Horloge, Signer will
offer the visitors and the inhabitants of Trivero a pyrotechnic action to celebrate the
fleeting moment with a little flash of sense of humour. On the same day a selection of
videos that Signer shot over the last years will be screened under the arcades of the
Centro Zegna, where many recreation activities and facilities are located (public
library, gym, swimming pool, retirement home, shops, etc.). During the days before
the opening the artist will present his work to the students of the primary and
secondary schools, with a video projection at the Cinema Giletti in Ponzone.
On Tuesday September 18 th , 2012, at 6.30 pm, Roman Signer will hold a Lectio
magistralis at the Milan branch of the Istituto Svizzero di Roma, on this occasion
collaborating with Fondazione Zegna, introduced by Barbara Casavecchia and
Salvatore Lacagnina (Head of Arts Programme, Istituto Svizzero di Roma).
The process that led to Horloge and the opening action will be illustrated in a
catalogue published and distributed by Mousse, with texts by Anna Zegna and Andrea
Zegna, and a conversation on artworks and public space between Giovanni Carmine
(director of Kunsthalle St. Gallen), Barbara Casavecchia and Roman Signer.
The ALL’APERTO project is under the patronage of the Municipality of Trivero, the
Province of Biella and the Region Piedmont.
Tuesday September 18 th , 2012, at 6.30 pm
Lectio magistralis
Istituto Svizzero di Roma – Milan branch
via del Vecchio Politecnico 3
tel. +39 02 76016118
milano@istitutosvizzero.it www.istitutosvizzero.it
Saturday September 22 nd , 2012, at 2.30 pm
opening of ALL’APERTO fourth edition
Trivero (Biella), Fondazione Zegna
Via Marconi, 23
http://www.fondazionezegna.org/allaperto/
Fondazione Zegna
information
ALL’APERTO
press office . adicorbetta
t. +39 02 89053149
stampa@adicorbetta.org
adicorbetta . adicorbetta stampa
FONDAZIONE ZEGNA
press office . Federico Amato
t. +39 02 89077394 .
federico.amato@efficere.it

Biographical notes
Roman Signer was born in Appenzell (CH) in 1938. He studied at the Schule für
Gestaltung, Zurich, 1966; Schule für Gestaltung, Luzern, 1969-71; Fine Arts
Academy, Warsaw, 1971-72. He currently lives and works at St. Gallen (CH). Since
the early seventies Roman Signer has focused his artistic research on a new concept
of sculpture, connected to process, transformation and movement. He created kinetic
installations, as well as actions and solitary “experiments” for which he employed
common everyday objects, natural elements like sand, water, wind and real
explosions. To document all his activity he used videos and photographs as a support.
Since the eighties has also realized public installations (Spazierstock, 1997,
Düsseldorf; Wassertor, 2003, Vaduz; Stiefel, 2004, Solothurn, CH; Wassertisch, 2008,
Appenzell; Le Pendule, 2009, Trentemoult a Rezé, Nantes). Signer has participated in
the main International art exhibitions, including Documenta 8, Kassel (1987) and
Skulptur Projekte, Münster (1997). In 1999 he represented Switzerland at the Venice
Biennale. Among his numerous recent solo exhibits are: Camden Arts Centre, London
(2001); OK Centrum für Gegenwartskunst, Linz (2005); Ludwig Forum, Aachen;
Aargauer Kunsthaus, Aarau (2006); The Fruitmarket Gallery, Edinburg; Hamburger
Bahnhof, Berlin (2007); Bonnefantenmuseum, Maastricht; Helmhaus Zürich, Zurigo
(2008); Kunsthaus, Zug (2009); Swiss Institute, New York; Sprengel Museum,
Hannover, (2010); Sala de Arte Publico Siqueiros, Mexico City (2011); Hangar à
Bananes, Nantes (2012).
www.romansigner.ch

ALL'APERTO is an initiative of Fondazione Zegna, a non-profit institution that since
2000 supports cultural, social, medical and environmental projects for communities in
different parts of the world. Born with the goal of making contemporary art and its
values increasingly accessible, ALL’APERTO annually develops in Trivero and its
surroundings site specific interventions by established international artists, relating to
the territory and its inhabitants. The project debuted in 2008 with a spectacular
permanent installation by the French artist Daniel Buren (Boulogne-Billancourt,
1938): a green and blue rainbow of 135 flags framing the roof of the Zegna wool
factory (Le Banderuole colorate, lavoro in situ, 2007, Trivero). In 2009, the protagonist
was Alberto Garutti (Galbiate, Lecco, 1948) who realized a series of cement
benches with one or two portraits of dogs. Each bench bears the following caption,
providing a dedication and a title: Il cane qui ritratto appartiene a una delle famiglie di
Trivero. Quest'opera è dedicata a loro e alle persone che sedendosi qui ne parleranno
(The dog in this portrait belongs to one of the families of Trivero. This artwork is
dedicated to them and to the people that will talk about them while sitting here).
In September 2011 Stefano Arienti (Asola, Mantua, 1961) presented I Telepati, an
artwork comprising a wide Wi-Fi connection, supplying all the inhabitants of Trivero
with free access to the Internet, and a series of stone sculptures also named I Telepati
marking the areas reached by the Wi-Fi signal and whose faces were inspired by the
drawings of the local schools.
The choice of introducing contemporary art in this territory is tied to Ermenegildo
Zegna’s history: for him entrepreneurial quality and effort didn’t exclude the defence of
the natural, social, and cultural environment people live in. To the development and
the enhancement initiatives initiated by the founder of the Group in Trivero, such as
the construction of numerous social works and the road Panoramica Zegna (since
1930), and to those carried out by the generations that followed, like the Oasi Zegna
project (1993), Fondazione Zegna (2000), and Casa Zegna (the company’s historical
archive and cultural centre opened in 2007), adds ALL’APERTO: a further step
bearing witness to the effort and the coherence of Zegna Group’s action on the
territory, where still today the world famous fabric is produced.