Cretto

Way back in November 2000, I featured on my weekly page Alberto Burri's Cretto, a massive piece of land art that sits atop the ruined remains of Gibellina, a Sicilian town destroyed by earthquake in 1968.

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Click for Google Earth link

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Gaps in the concrete masses follow the streets of the old town, linking the present to the past in an artistic and abstract way.

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This is one of those things that sticks with you for a long time; I know it has stuck with me. It's a simple idea, but one that's impressive on multiple levels: from the air, from nearby, within the concrete voids, within the mind.

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Comments

  1. I haven't been to either place, but this reminds me of the new Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe.

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  2. It's amazing to me that someone could pull off a project of this scale, to such an obscure end. Maybe it's not so obscure to anyone around there who was affected, but it's inspiring that it lacks the ostentatious sentiment that would be demanded of a similar public work in this country. It reminds me of an abstracted Ostia Antica, more fathomable as a whole than a ruin would be.

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