Arte Sella is an international contemporary art event, created in 1986, that takes place outdoors in the Sella Valley of the Italian Alps. This event is not only qualified as an art exhibition, but also seeks to promote the creative process, the relationship with nature and artistic inspiration within the framework of promoting the Valley’s landscape.
The works, generally sculptural, are mostly made with natural materials such as stones, leaves, branches and trunks, which remain exposed to natural evolution and degradation processes. Arte Sella develops a route between the works and the most unique landscape elements of the Valley through a forest track, where visitors can come into contact with different types of forests, rocks and monumental trees while progressing accompanied by works from prominent artists of the Art and Nature movement such as Cornelia Konrads, Nils Udo, François Lelong, Thierry Teneul, Alois Steger, Giuliano Mauri, among others.
We differentiate this type of current from Land Art and the Earthworks of artists such as Robert Smithson, Michael Heizer or Christo who acted in environments of great beauty by carving, transporting or wrapping the earth according to their interpretation of the environment, which ultimately led to ecological alterations in the environment.
Examining some of the works present along the route we discover that artisanal techniques of branch weaving, for monastery orchards, or the accumulation of logs beside forest tracks are reinterpreted to surprise and create artistic spaces within the forest. Additionally, interactions are created with other elements such as moss, water or insects, to create new microhabitats and highlight some natural processes.
It is very important where the work is located within the route; there is a search for focal points, perspectives and interaction with the visitor through works that enhance senses such as hearing or touch. In this way, the artwork evokes sensitivity towards the landscape and reveals some of its characteristics to the visitor.
Thus, Arte Sella can teach us the artistic power of natural materials, the importance of genius loci for inspiration and also to think of landscape as a four-dimensional space, where time is a very important variable in the creative process.
Beyond an open-air museum, Art and Nature works, in a natural or artificial environment, can be used to emphasize visual axes, highlight the environment’s own characteristics or the interactions between vegetation, humans and natural elements. They can also help us scale a space, and infuse harmony, or exaggerate it to create a sense of wonder and amazement.
We encourage you to explore and see the possibilities that can be created with organic waste from garden maintenance or with the branches, stems and flowers of some of the plants grown in the Nursery.
Images: M. Galante / artesella.it