IL GIARDINO DI ZYZ

THE INSTALLATION BY GIANFRANCO MEGGIATO FOR MATERA 2019: EUROPEAN CAPITAL OF CULTURE

BELVEDERE OF THE PARCO DELLA MURGIA MATERANA | 15 JULY – 10 SEPTEMBER 2019

Poised to be the largest contemporary art installation for Matera 2019: European Capital of Culture, it will be inaugurated on 15 July. A veritable journey of symbols and sculptures inside a 26 x 20 m area defined by five thousand sacks in the seven colors of peace. It is Il Giardino di Zyz, the work by Venetian artist Gianfranco Meggiato that will look out onto the famous city and its Sassi from the Belvedere of Parco della Murgia Materana, representing an open hand, for many cultures a symbol of protection, openness and spirituality.

Promoted by the Murgia Park Authority, the Municipality of Matera and ITRIA (Association for Interreligious and Intercultural Dialogue), the project is curated by art critic and historian Daniela Brignone. Just like with La Spirale della Vita, created for Manifesta 12 for Palermo: Italian Capital of Culture 2018 in memory of all the innocent victims of the mafia, Meggiato creates monumental works, drawing inspiration from values and themes that invite us to reflect and meditate through art.

According to Meggiato, Zyz (as the ancient Phoenicians defined the flower) is ‘the primordial essence of knowledge and of culture. The flower and can and must still blossom in the garden of a present lacerated by divisions and incomprehension, finding what unites us all’. For this reason, the hand (for Muslims, the hand of Fatima, for Jews, the hand of Miriam, for Orthodox Christians, the hand of Mary, and for Catholics, more generally, the hand of hospitality toward others) holds a flower that protects the artist’s tallest statue and his direct call for unity and dialogue through the phrase ‘All is one’, written in the thirty most spoken languages in the world.