19. 02. 2020

Contemporary Illusions is a concept that emerged in Florence in September 2018, then evolved to adopt a dense and layered design structure.
The design starts from the creativity of Simone Lingua and has as its object the application of reflective surfaces on the elevations of historical monuments, creating scenographic, mimetic and illusory installations. The latter is an adjective that suggests the focus of the artist’s research: from experiments in kinetic art to large-scale conceptual drawings. The idea becomes illusory matter: the object, perceived as a physical and tangible reality, actually exists only as an image, vision and concept. The studies in question also concern a second fundamental aspect of Lingua’s work: the reciprocal relationship between art and architecture. This connection has ancient roots: for over ten years he has worked as a creative within a well-known architectural team in partnership with an important international brand in the fashion sector. This imprint has profoundly shaped his process, nourishing each past and present work through constructive and structural components, since its inception.
To date, the design plan of Contemporary illusions involves different realities, including Rome, Florence, Pisa and Naples, in a creative and curatorial process in continuous and growing implementation. The will is to valorize history and its symbols, to trigger a dialog between the past and the present, valorizing on one side what man has built and preserved, on the other what nature has respected and preserved. It is a complex undertaking that, like all ideas that can transcend the limits of the ordinary, requires time, work, perseverance, determination, courage and self-denial. It would be inadequate and misleading to attempt to collect in a mere container or illustrate in words what this project represents and constitutes.
Contemporary Illusions cannot be told, it must be seen and thus realized.

Tiziana Tommei

30. 10. 2020

Ponte Vecchio, Santa Maria della Spina, Piazza Borghese: three historical realities that Simone Lingua chooses as the setting for a contemporary and unprecedented relationship between man and nature. He wants to make us think about one aspect: the communication between two opposites. Only when man acts in harmony with nature, respecting its rules, with the awareness of his own finitude and subordination, only then can a state of balance, communion and life emerge.
The basic idea is the deceptive combination of creation and artificiality through reflective surfaces that, like a gallery of mirrors, form a median line between architecture and landscape. A limbo that is actually a place of encounter, dialog and exchange, where the natural element combines with the artificial, mimicking its form, surface and the associated effects of dynamics and light. At the same time, the generating power of nature is revealed, as a force that protects, defends, welcomes and envelops what has been created by man.
The artist focuses on two categories of elements, the natural and the architectural. He limits his interventions to precise parts and covers them with reflective surfaces. The mirror acts as a space of transition: the stone takes on the appearance, sometimes of water, sometimes of atmosphere, becoming transparent, reflective, crystalline, light and even dynamic. If the natural element continues its course in this way, its effect is reinforced and reproduced by the mirror surface. The latter combines nature and structure, mimicking the dynamic and elusive effects of the former, rather than the tangible, heavy, solid and impenetrable consistency of the latter.
The interventions are designed with full respect for the pre-existing structures: the mirrored panels are placed against the architectural parts of interest. The installation, never invasive, is studied in full and total respect of the monuments.
This aspect is in line with the conceptual part of the project, which aims to pay homage to the landscape, architectural and naturalistic dimension of the cities concerned.