Age of the Fresco -installation, 2007

Videoanimation in two screens,
Annantalo Arts Centre, Helsinki, 2007

The installation is based on two paintings by Italian painter Giotto di Bondone (d. 1337) located in the Cappella degli Scrovegni in Padua: The Resurrection of Lazarus and The Ascent to Calvary (1302-1303). The installation depicts the lifecycle of fresco paintings and the impact of time on materials

The Resurrection of Lazarus starts as a sinopia – the sketch underneath the fresco -, and little by little it is filled with colours and is finished. After that it begins to fade and decay and finally it disappears.

The starting point of the video animation depicting The Ascent to Calvary is the fictional image of the painting in its original state. While the video is running the colours will fade to the level of the actual state of the painting and continue to fade until left is only a white plaster. This is what happens to frescos during a long period of time if they are not taken care of. In the end also the plaster would droop of and reveal the masonry wall.

Age of the Fresco -installation is not a research pursuing authenticity but a free work of art dealing with works of art. It is combined of more than a hundred single pictures, which reconstruct and deconstruct the vision like coloured transparents.