2012 – painted inox
In 2000, Giuliano Gori started the Bosco dei settant’anni (The Forest of Seventy Years), inviting his friends born in the same year as himself to each choose their own tree. Thus, a sequoia (Giuliano Gori), cypress (Dani Karavan), plane (Magdalena Abakanowicz), and other trees now can be found in dialogue in the open space adjacent to Casapeppe. Gori’s affectionate friendship with Alessandro Mendini could not be manifested in this way because the Milanese artist and architect was born in 1931. Mendini thus decided to insert himself in a “mechanical” way, creating a huge tree of stainless steel marked with the following dedication: Scusami Giuliano se non sono nato nel ’30 (Excuse me Giuliano if I was not born in ’30). This curious tree perfectly begins a discussion of art and reinforces the affection that links the artist to the collector. A preview of the Mechanical Tree project for Celle was displayed at the Maeght Foundation in spring 2012. The final exhibition coincided with a temporary show of Mendini’s held in the summer of 2012 at Celle.
