Interview with Piergiorgio Robino, of studio Nucleo, about the project Empreinte éternelle.
Empreinte éternelle is a limited edition project created from the iconic wooden floorboards of the Contemporary Art Building, which is currently undergoing renovation. Remnants of the building’s industrial floor, these floorboards have witnessed hundreds of exhibitions. The institution invited Nucleo, an Italian design studio founded by Piergiorgio Robino, to produce this four-handed series with artists who have left their mark on the institution’s history.
The first edition, Heroine of the People (wood block), created with Mai-Thu Perret, is covered in gold leaf. This gesture does not so much ennoble the object as reveal its symbolic and memorial significance. The artist has created several works in which she covers objects with gold leaf, referencing its use as a gesture of devotion by worshippers in Buddhist temples. Encapsulated in resin, in line with the principle of Nucleo’s Souvenir of the Last Century series, the object appears suspended in time and destined for a new use. Between relic, fetish, and architectural fragment, the work crystallizes a subtle tension between memory of place and desire for permanence…
In 2005, this wooden floorboard hosted sculptures by Mai-Thu Perret alongside pieces by Valentin Carron during an exhibition featuring the two Swiss artists from French-speaking Switzerland.
Video: Alex Larson