EXTASIS SOLIS
Opera
EXTASIS SOLIS
Location
Piazza Vecchia, Città Alta
Client
Riccardo Blumer
Designer
EXTASIS SOLIS
During the Christmas season and through the New Year, Piazza Vecchia, a symbol of Bergamo, is illuminated by a special light. At this time of year, the shadow cast by the buildings over the square is at its longest, and sunlight reaches its lowest point, coinciding with the winter solstice (December 21). Thanks to the daily movement of the sun around the Earth, the installation Extasis Solis, created with iron benches designed by Riccardo Blumer with Matteo Borghi and Adrian Freire and produced by Alias in 2008, will mark ten positions between sunlight and shadow from 11:45 AM to 2:00 PM on the days closest to the solstice, every 15 minutes. The benches, positioned sequentially according to the hourly progression, will mark the sunlit angle projected onto the square by the height difference between Palazzo della Ragione and the eastern buildings of the square. The 10 benches, exposed to light alternately on sunny days, form a giant sundial that traces the year’s most extreme sunlight p......
Alias
Creative experimentation, technological lightness, versatility, and a desire to stand out: since 1979, these have been the core values of Alias, one of the most established names in Italian design. These values have shaped the company’s close association with some of the most significant names in design: Atelier Oï, Giandomenico Belotti, Riccardo Blumer, Dante Bonuccelli, Mario Botta, Gabriele and Oscar Buratti, Michele De Lucchi, Sou Fujimoto, Alfredo Häberli, James Irvine, Pio Manzù, Alberto Meda, Francesco Meda, Jasper Morrison, Nendo, Patrick Norguet, Ludovica and Roberto Palomba, Pearson Lloyd, Simon Pengelly, Eugeni Quitllet, Paolo Rizzatto, Daniel Rybakken, and Philippe Starck. These collaborations have evolved over the years, contributing to the multifaceted DNA of Alias today. A single spirit shaped by diverse hands, backgrounds, and stories, catalyst for an endless exchange of ideas, a home for an approach open to formal and technological experimentation, and an expression of cultural transitions. This avant-garde spirit is driven by the industrial strength of a company that manages every phase of the process, from design and production to distribution. Based in Grumello del Monte, near Bergamo, Alias has a global distribution network across numerous stores worldwide. The highly expressive style of its products offers diverse solutions for residential, contract, and outdoor environments; a constantly evolving portfolio that reflects present-day needs while highlighting the intellectual value of design. Still bold, Alias continues to believe in and demonstrate that there is a synergy between the creative and operational aspects, guiding its vision between functionality and art in the pursuit of Something Else.
Designer
Riccardo Blumer
Graduated in Architecture from Politecnico di Milano in 1986, Blumer trained in the studio of Mario Botta. Since the 1990s, he has created numerous buildings, installations, and furnishings for both private and public spaces, including parts of La Scala in Milan for administrative and representative functions. His design products have received prestigious awards, and some projects are part of the permanent collections of several museums, including MoMA in New York. With the Laleggera chair by Alias, he won the “Design Preis Schweiz” in 1997 and the ADI Compasso d’Oro in 1998. His work in various fields has been documented in numerous publications. He works as part of groups such as Blumerandfriends, he has developed “Physical Exercises in Design and Architecture,” permanent and temporary installations in Italy, France, and Switzerland, as well as educational exercises, lectures, and seminars while working in groups. He has taught at numerous schools and became a professor in 2013 at the University of Italian Switzerland’s Academy of Architecture in Mendrisio, where he served as director from 2018 to 2022. His university teaching focuses on the relationship between architecture and the generative techniques that build its communal value and meaning through experiments in dance, performative events, processions, and the ephemeral. He was invited to participate in the Venice Architecture Biennale in 2019 and the Seoul Biennale of Architecture in South Korea in 2023. In autumn 2023, he held a solo exhibition at the ADI Design Museum in Milan showcasing his small-scale “training” constructions, where he also presented his latest books in the “Riccardo Blumer Notebooks 1,2,3,4” series published by Corraini.
Christmas Design Bergamo - 2024 ©