COLOSSEUM, THE PENSIVE MUSE.
Design of the temporary exhibition The Pensive Muse - The image of the intellectual in antiquity
in the galleries of the Colosseum, Rome. With Gianandrea Gazzola, Vania Gianese.
A new scientific project and a new experience of space through the same supports of the exhibition The Secret Rite
The drums: supports for the statuary that follow the rhythm of the masonry piers of the monument
The exhibition La musa pensosa - l'immagine dell'intellettuale nell'antichità / The Pensive Muse - The image of the intellectual in antiquity was designed for the same galleries of the Colosseum, and using the same versatile museographic supports of the exhibition Il rito segreto / The Secret Rite, a system that proved so effective that it was reused by the client for several other temporary exhibitions in the following years.
The scientific program of the exhibition was divided in three fundamental topics: the muses; archaeological finds related to the muses; the intellectuals. In contrast to the proposal for The Secret Rite,
it was decided to display the archaeological heritage in both galleries, but to differentiate them thematically. Envelopes, heads and statues of intellectuals and muses were immersed in the natural light of the external gallery, while the internal gallery featured an in-depth thematic study of certain key figures in the story.
In addition to the exedras, new supports were built for the archaeological pieces to be displayed along the outer gallery, placed close to the outer diaphragm made of perforated sheet metal. These metal supports, or drums, were meant to showcase busts, statues and heads of intellectuals and muses, the "protagonists" of the exhibition, as in a gallery of statuary. The drums, "cylinders" finished with waxed sheet metal, were sized on the section of the columns of the external gallery, now almost completely disappeared, which in ancient times accompanied the pillars of the archways: like the original columns, the drums
had a diameter of approximately 92 cm and were 30-40 cm apart from the respective wall structures. The serial arrangement of these metal plinths made it possible to clearly read the rhythm of the structural spans of the monument also in the outer ambulatory.
A play of natural and artificial light: the relationship with the exterior and the distribution of spotlights
Osmosis between indoor and outdoor gallery
Light projectors, shaped so as to have a very narrow angle of emission, were positioned next to each drum
to illuminate the pieces on display and to reinforce the rhythmic effect of the gallery. The light had the dual effect of cancelling out the opacity and design of the perforated plate diaphragm, and enhancing the plasticity of the statues, busts and heads on display.
The shields
took on a different arrangement in this new exhibition, the result of the new scientific and narrative project of the exhibition, which required a different and closer relationship between the two galleries than in The Secret Rite.
The shields
were "opened", allowing the passage between the two ambulatories, where the relationship between the busts displayed in the outer gallery and the exhibits arranged in thematic unity on the inner exedras
was to be emphasised.
The communication of the contents of the exhibition took place on vertical panels, or banners, placed on the inner side of the intermediate pillars, so as to accompany and explain the different thematic units of the inner ambulatory.
