LVGA/XY ASTRO FLOWERS

A collaborative urban art project about the connection between nature and technology

  • Gallery
  • The genesis of the artwork
  • The location
  • LVGA/XY ASTRO FLOWERS
  • Gallery
  • Artist bio
ongoing

A collaborative performance artwork of Paste-Up Street Art by Yuri Catania, created on the facade of the Lugano Congress Center during the NFT Fest 2023. The artwork explores the relationship between nature and technology and involved hundreds of people who collaborated by cutting and pasting floral elements framing the astronauts. Completed over a span of 10 days, the final artwork measures 42 meters in length and 8 meters in height. While the paste-up artwork is destined to fade over time, its digital version, tokenized during the event, will continue to exist within the Lugano metaverse. But that's not all! For every flower pasted on the wall by participants, the City has planted a real flower in a new green area dedicated to the artwork.

The genesis of the artwork

The Paste-Up Street Art piece combines Yuri Catania's artistic concept, as seen in the provocation of bringing Nature and Technology into dialogue, as witnessed in the exhibition "The Night After," and other installations in the area (Casa Brè 2023). The photographs of flowers from his "Black Flower Secret Garden" merged with the 3D representations of astronauts, creating a circuit of hope and dialogue between nature and technological future.

This project continues thanks to an invitation from the Artistic Director of the NFT Fest, Roberto Gorini, and the availability of the location offered by the Municipality of Lugano to create a monumental ephemeral artwork on paper, measuring 42 meters in length and 8 meters in height, themed around and in manifesto of the event. The artist explores and intertwines themes such as web 3.0, Blockchain, and NFTs in the artistic field, cryptocurrencies, metaverse, etc., endeavoring to combine them with the location and the stunning nature preserved in Parco Ciani.

The project unfolds through the photography of plants and flowers found in the park, which were specifically captured at night by the artist. These become the backdrop for his astronauts, who symbolize the contemporary hero destined to lead humanity into space through technology and science. This mission must be accomplished with respect and dialogue with nature for the survival of life's future on our planet.

The location

Palazzo Congresso, Villa Ciani.

Palazzo dei Congressi on Viale Carlo Cattaneo side.

LVGA/XY ASTRO FLOWERS

About the artwork

LVGA/XY ASTRO FLOWERS by Yuri Catania, Lugano 2023. Site-specific ephemeral installation measuring 42 meters by 8 meters. Unique, eco-friendly artwork made of paper using the street art technique known as Paste-Up (literally from English: pasting onto a surface). The artwork is a collage of photographs (plants and flowers from Parco Ciani) and digital images (astronauts) created and printed at a 1:1 scale personally by the artist through a real-scale digital art process. The installation involved the collaboration of hundreds of volunteers who participated as individuals and associations.

Digitalization/Tokenization of the Artwork

The physical artwork has been digitized through a 3D scanner and then donated by the artist to the Municipality of Lugano to be displayed in a dedicated space in the City's Metaverse. Through any mobile device, the artwork can be reproduced in mixed reality augmented reality. Lugano Living Lab has participated in tokenizing the artwork on the city's 3Achain blockchain. All volunteers receive a commemorative NFT as a keepsake and gratitude for their participation, representing the timelapse of the performance to be stored in their MyLugano wallet.

A new green area

The over 2000 paper flowers metaphorically planted on the wall by the artist and volunteers will be planted, this time for real, by the city's public green team to create a new green area in the city. The inauguration of this flowerbed, scheduled for spring 2024, will mark the definitive closure of this performance and the completion of a circle that started from art, transitioned through technology, and symbolically concludes in nature.

Artist bio

Yuri Catania, an Italian-Swiss visual artist, has been living in Rovio, Switzerland since 2013. He creates street art installations using collage techniques, which evolve into live performances with the involvement of portrayed subjects or people engaged in the project's theme. His photography is prominently featured in urban and architectural contexts. On April 1-2, 2023, Catania created "IMperfect," a massive 120-meter-long paper artwork in a public space in Milan to support breast cancer research in collaboration with the Ieo-Monzino Foundation. In 2021, he realized "The Cats of Rovio," an installation composed 

 

of 120 giant subjects that have transformed into posters of various sizes adorning the walls of his village. The exhibition aimed to create a cultural phenomenon that attracted tourism, the largest open-air solo show with Rovio and its architecture as the protagonist in Ticino, Switzerland. Catania has exhibited in Milan, Venice, Zurich, New York, Paris, St. Petersburg, and beyond. His works are part of collections at the Swiss State Bank, Migros Zurich, among others. In addition to his site-specific works, Yuri Catania creates various art photographs, mixed media works, and NFTs, experimenting with different languages

and new technologies such as AI, augmented reality (AR), and 3D. He began his career as a fashion photographer. His works have been published in the most important fashion magazines, such as Vogue, Numero, Harper's Bazaar, and others. But the photographer's greatest satisfaction comes from his intimate search for traces of humanity in empty and abandoned spaces, bringing forth the most authentic and pure beauty away from the rampant glitz of luxury.

Lugano Living Lab
Department of Institutions
City of Lugano
Piazza della Riforma 1
CH - 6900 Lugano
Phone number +41 58 866 70 09
Email info@luganolivinglab.ch

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