Hera Büyüktaşçıyan, From there we came out and saw the stars, 2018
Installation view at Palazzo Peschici Maresca, Naples, Italy, 2018
“The name of the work is From There We Came Out and Saw the Stars. It is the last quote from the Inferno by Dante Alighieri. We decided to translate it into English because we thought that having the title in Italian would have been a cliché for an exhibition that is held in Naples.”
Hera Büyüktaşçıyan, one of today’s youngest and most talented Armenian artists, explained to us her latest project, installed within the spaces of the archaeological site of Aqua Augusta, the Serino Aqueduct that was discovered by chance after the collapse of the basement of Palazzo Peschici Maresca in Naples, Italy.
Büyüktaşçıyan’s solo exhibition is the second project in the long term program Underneath the Arches, curated by Chiara Pirozzi and Alessandra Troncone at the Roman aqueduct. Underneath the Arches is realized thanks to the support of the association VerginiSanità, that takes care of the archeological site.
The artist – whose practice is mostly related to site-specific works dealing with the historical background of the space they are installed in – was invited to come explore the city and the aqueduct in May.
“It was my very first time visiting Naples, and the very first thing that caught my attention was this relationship between the unseen and the visible. The city has all these layers beneath almost every house. But there is constantly a connection, somehow, with the invisible parts of the urban environment.”
During her research, the artist focused on this duality, which makes up the very essence of the city: past and present, appearance and disappearance, death and resurrection, destruction and reconstruction.