Italian artist Gianni Pettena conceived a series of works which might be considered on the brink between land art and architecture. Two of the most important are his projects for an “Ice House” (I and II, 1971-1972), that he developed during his staying in the USA. In the first one, water flows on an old administration building during Minnesota winter. The building gets covered with a thin ice layer, a new skin which completely covers the architecture while revealing its form in a more abstract way through a relationship with a natural phenomenon. In “Ice House II”, a suburban house is covered with a wooden structure on which the water flows. From the outside, the whole building becomes a single ice cube, a pure form which emerges from the sequence of suburban houses arranged in a row. The landscape is reflected by the new surface of the house which disappears while suddenly becoming more visible.
Minneapolis, USA
Description of the conceptual genesis of performance
Description of the conceptual genesis of performance
Description of the conceptual genesis of performance
Minneapolis, USA / Preliminary studies
Minneapolis, USA / Preliminary studies
Minneapolis, USA / Location, aerial views
Minneapolis, USA / Location, aerial views
Minneapolis, USA / Location, aerial views
© Gianni Pettena
© FRAC centre
Another work by Gianni Pettena on SOCKS:
“Red Line (Siege)” by Gianni Pettena (1972)
fantastic – like this intervention!
not even knew about this artist…