TIRANA, May 14 – Italy-based Albanian artist Helidon Xhixho is featuring an imposing installation of a steel mega iceberg at the 56 Venice Biennale.
“An imposing stainless steel iceberg measuring 4 x 3 meters will float in the middle of the lagoon whilst 7 enormous vertical pillars, on the island of San Servolo, represent the glaciers from which the iceberg has detached from,” the artist says.
The installations are being exhibited as part of the Syrian Arab Republic pavilion, in San Servolo island from May 9 to November 22, 2015
“Iceberg in Venice by Helidon Xhixha is a project that wants to draw attention to themes of universal interest whilst being able to amaze and seduce – this is the power of art. Importantly, these artworks aim to support a new point of view on unavoidable environmental problems,” curators say.
Venice is an invaluable gem that is at risk of being submerged and lost as the seas rise. “This Venice, visited by almost everyone, is at the same time violated by tons of steel cruisers. In this Venice, among her canals and islands, Xhixha has imagined and created, using a material of our times, a surprising event: towers made of ice, cold and metallic, that stand far in the horizon. But the ice will eventually melt and crumble. The ice will float, like a lost chunk of this crazy planet. It will arrive as an Iceberg among the canals, a devastating image, in the heart of the city known as a cradle of culture and beauty.”
Helidon Xhixha is an Albanian born artist, but Italian by adoption, whose sculptures and innovative technique have granted him international acclaim.
