Umbrellas in the rows? Here is “La Plage”, the installation by Pascale Marthine Tayou

Rows of hundreds of colorful umbrellas planted among the rows of vines, closed and tied with large colored ribbons while waiting for a new season, representing an idea of post-pandemic rebirth evoking the recovery of Italy after the end of World War II and the strong and symbolic images of the great crowded beaches in Italy that recovered a thriving economy and a well-being that it had lost and perhaps never had. Here is “La Plage” (“The Beach”), the land art installation by the great Cameroonian artist Pascale Marthine Tayou, in the Pusterla Vineyard, the largest urban vineyard in Europe in the heart of Brescia, one of the cities most affected by the Covid emergency, “guarded” by the historic Monte Rossa winery in Franciacorta, where it can be admired from June 21 to October 21.
The four hectares of vineyards of the Pusterla Vineyard, whose origins date back to 1037, cultivated by the royal monastery of Santa Giulia on the slopes of the Castle of Brescia, now owned by Monte Rossa, are preparing to welcome the creativity of Tayou, in collaboration with the association Bellearti, among the rows of Invernenga, the native white grape grown in pergola with original vines of almost a century, which become a beach visible from Via Pusterla and the top of Cidneo. “Art, like wine is synonymous with joy and sharing. Occasions to get excited that I love to create, both with my wines and by welcoming original projects like this one - underlines Emanuele Rabotti, producer of the short film “Cabochon” awarded at Cannes and at the helm of the winery that preserves works of contemporary art such as the statue of the bottle ridden by a knight by Armando Riva in the historic vineyard - I like to think of “La Plage” by Tayou, one of the best-known African artists in the world with numerous international exhibitions and art biennials, as the forerunner of our 2023 mission, when Brescia together with Bergamo will be Italian Capitals of Culture”.
“The whole world - explains the artist - has been carrying around for more than a year mysterious and sinister torture, an invisible drama that spares no one, of which Brescia has become the symbol. A flowering of umbrellas planted in the vineyard, like a dream in color, invites us to the table of happiness. Project and symbol of rebirth: the memory I hope to keep forever of Italy, almost a pixel of the giant photograph of my Italian joy of living”.