CHOOSE

Contesto 
“Choose” is a permanent art installation that enriches the open-air museum at Villa Toppo Florio Park. This piece employs the languages and inspirations of public art to address the dimensions and experiences of drought and environmental awareness. The work is based on the premise that, when it comes to environmental issues, we are constantly faced with a crossroads and possible choices, often opposing ones. However, the important thing is not to reflect on the meaning of the crossroads but rather to act, concretely and personally, starting with oneself. The installation invites us to decide, to take a stand, and to act, even if only within the symbolic space opened by the artwork.

Intervento 
A physical installation with a significant conceptual component, the artwork is permanently situated, starting from the delicate slope at the base of the first flight of stairs leading from the Villa to the Park, and concluding in the area where the staircase ends. Visually, one is confronted with an ideal triangle that frames the site-specific artistic intervention. At the apex of this triangle stands a large plexiglass “O” pierced by a movable iron arrow, while at the two opposite corners, at the end of the steps, the words “Having” and “Being” are painted, creating an imaginary crossroads. This natural fork in the path appears before the visitor’s eyes as they immerse themselves in the park experience. The bifurcation visually and experientially poses the profound question that governs the relationship between humans and the environment: Having or Being? The crucial move each person chooses to make will help steer us, as a collective, in one direction or the other.

Side notes 
TreeArt Festival is an event that spans scientific outreach, culture, cinema, live performances, and contemporary art—disciplines that interact and engage with each other in the name of promoting environmental sustainability and exploring the role that plants and trees can play in the cities of our future.

The artwork seeks to emphasize, echoing the famous text by Erich Fromm, the significant theme of the unstable balance between humans and the environment, without resolving the underlying ambiguity that envelops these two dimensions in the contemporary landscape.