Quasi, 1999

The installation of the work involves its placement in a courtyard or outside cloister – like the original situation for which it was made at the Pinacoteca in Volterra – or in an inner courtyard (atrium, patio, etc.) featuring one or more upper levels. At the height of the last floor, four steel cables mark the diagonals of each arcade circumscribing the central space, while four other cables trace the diagonals of the surface that “squares” the void. The cables stretched out across the arcades, in the area corresponding to the point where they intersect, hold four white alabaster sheets suspended from the ceiling at different heights and varyingly tilted, as if they were sheets of drawing paper in search of a balancing point.1 At the point of intersection of the cables stretched over the void nine coloured pencils are joined together to form a star or fan. On the ground level, another alabaster sheet – held down by the steel cable that descends from the point where the pencils are suspended – wavers over a base made of the same material, without, however, actually touching it.
Overall, the suspended elements are a prelude to something that is “almost” about to happen. As the title suggests, they announce an apparition, which is still uncertain, but imminent.

1 The sheets hanging from the ceiling have a hole in them so that they can be crossed by the various steel cables. Alabaster was chosen because it is the material traditionally used in Volterra to create artistic artisanry.