Seimila, Biella

Seimila is the installation for the 2019 edition of Maggia Prize for young architects and artists organized in the city of Biella by the Sella foundation. The exhibition is organized in one of the most important industrial heritage site in Italy, a wool factory which dates back in the XVII century.As winner of the previous edition of the prize, ABACO has been called to design an installation to showcase the work of 9 selected artists.In order to underline the bond with tradition and at the same time the need to stimulate a perpetual process of overwriting and regeneration, ABACO made use of six-thousands bricks to build such a political and cultural bond with the prize and with the site itself.
Bricks are transfigured and placed in a completely artificial way next to the solid brick walls of the building. They give shape to several structures which are sort of objets trouvés capable to fit in the complex stratigraphy of the building, both with irony and respect. The tension that comes from such a contrast is made explicit by the blue belts and the transparent communication supports of the installation. All these different structures, in addition of keeping together the artist’s visions, build an imagery bridge between the heritage of the wool factory and its becoming.