The work was conceived and realised for the Art Park of the San Venanzio Gorge Nature Reserve, where the Hermitage of San Venanzio, a Christian saint who lived in this Hermitage around 250 AD, is located.
Saint Venantius is the protector of both physical and spiritual human falls. The stick, used as a support point to maintain balance so as not to fall, is that element that supports the body on its path. According to Rudolf Steiner, balance is one of the twelve senses that allow for the harmonious development of man. It is the sense that allows one to rise from the ground and assume a vertical position, and that allows one to move in the three dimensions. Linked to balance is the sense of orientation, “a sense for perceiving a relationship between the earth’s centre of gravity and one’s own body”. And it is this centre of gravity that the sticks indicate with their verticality, the ‘centre of the Earth’, words engraved on the lower end of some of them, reminding us of man’s inescapable bond with the Earth.
On the day of the inauguration, a walk was organised, using the sticks to walk along the path from Raiano to the Reserve, to regain contact with that distance, at the end of which the bars were placed in the stick holders inside the park, to make up the installation.
The walk was organised together with the Keria Association of Raiano, during which Daniela di Bartolo shared with us her knowledge about some wild plants in the area.
