The protagonist of the 2012 edition of ALL’APERTO is the Swiss artist Roman Signer, who produced here his first permanent public project in Italy. Entitled “Horloge” (Clock), the work is a four metre high “time-sculpture”, as the artist defines it. Akin to an oversized station clock, “Horloge” has an enameled dial but no hands; every quarter of an hour, the time is marked by a long puff of high-pressure steam, each time different and about to vanish, like all the fleeting moments of our lives.
With irony and lightheartedness, Signer thus invites the viewers to engage in a periodic existential reflection. “Only the human time seem to run on a regular basis,” says the artist, “while nature, energy and things follow a different flux, where perpetual change is the rule”.
“Horloge” is located in via Roma, in front of Lanificio Zegna’s main entrance. The concept for this project unfolded during a walk taken by the artist on the factory’s roof, dominated by the presence of a high brick chimney and ongoing emissions of vapour from the plant. With his “trail of smoke” Signer established a connection between work time and free time, and also between Trivero and his homeland landscape – that of the Canton of St. Gallen, where the hills are studded with the chimneys of the local lace factories.
With its clock movement puffs, Horloge wants to surprise the public, as if it was a surreal apparition, but also simply and quietly mingle with the town pace.