On March 20, the In artibus Foundation will present two new projects, united by the figure of Swiss architect Luigi Pelli (1771-1861). The facsimile representation of his travel notes was published in Russian language by the Fund. There will be presented a book “Travel Diary of Luigi Pelli of Aranno from Saint Petersburg to Lugano in 1829” and an exhibition “Winter Journey. Winterreise” of a modern architectural photographer Yuri Palmin, who repeated Pelli’s journey in XXI century.
Realised by the In artibus Foundation, the translation and publication of Pelli’s travel notes and letters, kept all these years by his heirs in Switzerland, are basically the first hard copy of Luigi Pelli’s records published in Russia. Luigi Pelli is a disputable and enigmatic figure in the history of Russian architecture, and the range of monuments of architecture attributed to him is hardly justified yet. That is why a string of elegant facsimile reproduction of the handwritten diary, provided with all but interlinear translation, and, moreover, the pages of author’s drawings and sketches from “Copybook for notes and sketches”, open the long-awaited new facts and possibilities of interpretation of Pelli’s creative heritage.
Yuri Palmin: “I never knew Luigi Pelli. Setting off for a winter journey in his footsteps, I was afraid that the lack of such knowledge could doom my work to mechanical repetition of the assigned route, corrected for the logistic complexity. High was the risk, but from the first day of the journey, the image of my character began to emerge as if from clean air. Classicism on the one hand, as a basis for the education and mentality of a Ticinese architect of the XIX century, and romanticism, that crystallised in the historical time of the journey on a frosty morning, on the other, lay down on the map of Europe; combined with my own memories and experience, they brought forth a strange image of a flown-away soul of the architect, wandering in its 40 day ordeals in reflections on craft, succession, responsibility, and the destination of his work. Stops along the route began to get filled with symbolic content; their sequence gained clear meaning.”
Exhibition Curator: Svetlana Taylor
Organiser: In artibus Foundation
Open from 21.03.2015 to 25.04.2015
