THE MILLENNIUM CHAIR by Andrea Bianconi

With “Sit Down To Have An Idea” Andrea Bianconi arrives on July 17th in the heart of Vicenza for the performance “The Millennium Chair” created by the Fondazione Coppola in collaboration with Casa Testori.

The "armchair of ideas" conceived by the artist will reach the Torrione di Vicenza, a medieval fortification and monument-symbol, inaccessible to the public for centuries, today returned to new life thanks to the Coppola Foundation which has made it a space for the contemporary that will host the very intense performance, conceived by Bianconi and curated by Giuseppe Frangi, to restart after yet another stop due to the pandemic.

At 8.00 pm in Piazza dei Signori next to the Palladian Basilica, in the historic center, Andrea Bianconi, in silent meditation, will wait for the public in his armchair. At 8.30 pm, with the armchair on his shoulder, renamed “The Millennium Chair” for this performance, he will travel a very intense journey connecting two very suggestive places: the square of the Palladian Basilica and the Torrione. At 9.00 pm, always with the armchair on his shoulders, the artist will climb the 146 steep steps, up to the top of the Lantern, at a height of 41 meters. A slow and tiring climb, almost symbolizing the effort required of all of us to reopen to hope. In the Lantern the artist will place the armchair that will remain as a permanent installation in the Tower. It is at this point that Bianconi, to communicate to everyone that the enterprise has succeeded, will activate a beam of light on the city, a message of trust and hope after the long dark period. The Torrione di Vicenza thus rediscovers the ancient function for which the tower was built in the twelfth century, lookout and beacon herald of messages.

The performance will be accompanied by the notes of the trumpeter Diego Ruvidotti, soloist and composer who has collaborated with several artists and directors for whom he wrote the soundtracks of the films, such as 'Remember me' by Gabriele Muccino, as well as publishing numerous successful records. .

From 9.00 pm onwards, anyone in the audience will then be able to climb the Torrione, sit on the armchair and, above all, activate the lighthouse. "This time we will not only be the harbingers of ideas, but also of light, the light that will occupy everything after this long period of darkness - explains Andrea Bianconi -. This is why I want others, after me, to go up to the Torrione, sit down. on the armchair and launch other beams of light: it is a call, an invitation to become aware that every man with his presence and through his action, can bring light, provoke new ideas, to restart, be reborn, build a better sharing, in the hope of finally having emerged from the global nightmare of the pandemic. Having ideas is everything for me and perhaps never, as in this moment, are they necessary ".... read the rest of the article»