Global holiday: Turin, Italy

By CHRISTINA ZAROBE

© St. Petersburg Times, published December 24, 2000

In Turin, tradition isn't tamper-resistant. In fact, the city's free-wheeling display of lights by artists captures the brilliance and fun of Christmas - with nary a Rudolph in sight.

TURIN, Italy -- Twinkling Christmas trees, glowing menorahs and fragrant garlands with red bows and blinking white lights decorate countless American streets each December. But in this northwest Italian city, the traditional holiday ornaments have been packed away.

Instead, Turin has taken an avant-garde approach to the standard Santa Claus and reindeer illuminated on a rooftop. The city will deck the halls with nearly 121/2 miles of lights for an exhibit featuring 17 unusual installations displayed throughout the city.

[Photo: Emanuele Riccio] Christmas Sails, an installation by artist Vasco Are, includes shimmering Plexiglas fragments.

"Artist Lights in Turin," which organizers believe is one of Europe's most elaborate outdoor lighting spectacles, opened Nov. 18 and continues through Jan. 14. Artists from Germany, France and Italy have each crafted one of the lofty artworks, which will adorn buildings or dangle brightly above streets.

Turin's elegant boulevards and spacious piazzas will be transformed by such lighting wonders as a flock of giant sea gulls swooping down on traffic, created by painter Francesco Casorati, and stage designer Carmelo Giammello's constellation of planets and stars sparkling above sidewalks.

Imagine enormous gleaming snowballs made from recycled plastic bottles, suspended above bustling Via Garibaldi, the work of conceptual artist Enrica Borghi.

Another piece, by Rebecca Horn and entitled Little Blue Spirits, is visually haunting: a landmark Turin church is cloaked in a cobalt-blue hue surrounded by luminescent floating circles.

[Photo: Mario Monge] Theater designer Emanuele Luzzati titled this illumination The Journey of the Wise Men.

Mounting such a lighting extravaganza -- now in its third year -- is a challenge to city organizers. About 100 technicians and craftspeople work an estimated 30,000 hours installing 62 miles of electrical wire and more than 700,000 light bulbs.

Each year, "Artist Lights in Turin" uses the same installations but erected in different locations, stretching from the city center to the outskirts. And, depending on the space, traffic obstructions and the layout of buildings at the new site, each work must be re-configured. The result is a fresh look to a repeat exhibit.

Also, the number of installations has grown yearly from an initial 14. This year's new artist is Italian Mario Merz. He is known for his igloos covered with slate, glass and metal tables in spiral shapes, topped by fruits and vegetables and set off by neon slogans. Merz's works have been exhibited at a one-man show at New York's Guggenheim Museum.

His holiday creation -- a red-neon sequence of numbers -- will be positioned on the roof of the Mole Antonelliana, a former synagogue dating to 1863. Over the years, the Mole Antonelliana has become a symbol of Turin, a downtown beacon towering above the industrial city.

Originally, "Artist Lights in Turin" was intended as a celebration of the holiday season. And several of the installations are devoted to a Christmas theme, such as theater designer Emanuele Luzzati's vivid nativity scene with enormous glittering stars decorating the streets around Turin's 19th-century central train station.

[Photo: Giancarlo Tovo] These lights represent a flock of giant sea gulls swooping down on traffic and were created by painter Francesco Casorati.

The installation by local painter Francesco Tabusso, The Dance of Life, is true to the holiday tradition -- with an Italian flair. Two massive panels depict the nativity with glimmering shepherds, market vendors, peasants and camels, a beaming canvas of lights.

This spiritual scene, high above the city streets, is embellished with a blazing comet and angels streaking upward into the night sky.

And another seasonal piece is by Vasco Are, a Turin artist whose artwork is often fashioned from natural materials that reflect his concern over environmental issues. For "Artist Lights in Turin," Are's installation is a grouping of large, colorful triangles that sway in a breeze. Within the frame of the Christmas tree shape is a wire mesh garnished with a rainbow of shimmering Plexiglas fragments.

But this year's light show runs longer than usual after Christmas, a move to focus on the installations as art. City officials hope that tourists and residents who view "Artist Lights in Turin" will also visit local museums.

- Detroit native Christina Zarobe is a freelance writer who lives outside Turin.

If you go

"Artist Lights in Turin" continues through Jan. 14. Maps detailing the location of each installation and information on the museum exhibits are available at Turin's tourism offices at Piazza Castello, 011-535901; Porta Nuova train station, 011-531327; or at the Turin airport, 011-5678124.

General tourist information and details on several of the museum exhibits can also be found at http://www.comune.torino.it. Select the English version and then click on the icons for "brochure" and "info culture."

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