Claudia Losi. Caleidoscopi; Allora la luna

Images of the various phases of the moon from full moon to waning moon to crescent moon.

Losi conceived two projects. The first, titled Caleidoscopi, involved the construction of a series of wooden cases made of balsa, a lightweight and warm material, each containing a kaleidoscope. In the words of the artist, published in the catalogue: “The form of these cases is the result of the three-dimensional profile of one combination created by a colorful kaleidoscope. As if it was getingt up volumetrically from the floor to the top, it might look like the complex boundary of a snowflake”.

The second project, Allora la luna, envisaged the installation of a large moon: a luminous, circular sign measuring two metres in diameter, with the visible surface of the moon printed on its outer face. A small internal motor would regulate the switching on and off of neon lamps, whose light was intended to be warm, making it possible to reproduce the different phases of the moon: waxing, full and waning. The moon would have been installed on a grey wall visible from some of the rooms in the new hospital department, which obstructed the patients’ view of the hills.

The aim of both projects was to offer the children a possible moment of escape and distraction, stimulating their imagination through colourful, ever-changing images or through the presence of a large moon, a fantastic artificial stimulus to the imagination, evoking even the possibility of a world with two moons. In the pages of the catalogue published on the occasion of the exhibition at the GAM, Losi accompanies the images with imaginary dialogues related to the two projects.