Fondazione Summa [ENG]

Audioguide by eArs 9. ATELIER- PART 3 This is the last room of the atelier, where there are two canvases on easels. The one on the left represents a large structure made up of four arches inspired by the trilithic system, that is, obtained by arranging a beam horizontally on two columns. It recalls a work of public art created by Franco Summa in the summer of 1993 that was erected in front of the...

Audioguide by eArs 9. ATELIER- PART 2  The cultural rainbow spread from T-shirts given to fellow artists to another type of garment, the cassock worn by clergymen. This rainbow robe was displayed in a shop window in Rome in 2008. It bears the title of the work, Pastor Angelicus, and a verse taken from Virgil 'màgnus ab ìntegrò saeclòrum nàscitur òrdo', a sort of prophecy of rebirth that can be tra...

Audioguide by eArs 8. ATELIER- PART 1  Moving past the Fanciulle D'Abruzzo towards the terrace, we find some coloured bricks and a diptych where the blocks are depicted stacked like a mountain. The work is Architettura, Architecture, dating from 1981 and was one of the artist’s most impressive social art projects. Initially, Summa gathered together about 15,000 bricks in the Pescara pine forest an...

Audioguide by eArs 7. FANCIULLE D’ABRUZZO  As we ascend the steps leading to Summa's studio, eleven long, linear and richly coloured figures, one metre and twenty centimetres tall, offer themselves to our gaze. These are the sculptures from the series: Fanciulle D'Abruzzo, Young Women of Abruzzo. While, at first glance, we can make out the synthetic features of a female figure, those familiar with...

Audioguide by eArs 6. BEDROOM  The most intimate part of any dwelling - the bedroom - is the location of one of Summa's most exemplary works of urban art, Segnaletica Spirituale, Spiritual Urban Signs, where the city enters the work and the work in turn invades the city. These are the four canvases placed above the bedhead . Summa created them using a device he called an image generator: a reflect...

Audioguide by eArs 5. LIBRARY This is the library. Looking back at the entrance, a vertical red line running across a canvas can be seen on the wall on the left, with Summa depicted from behind as he traces it. This line was actually traced on the wall of a house in Penne town square in 1971 and, on the wall of the building opposite, Summa wrote in black the same words that are on the canvas that...

Audioguide by eArs 4. DINING ROOM - PART 2  A series of coloured bands in the form of a rainbow is a recurring image in Summa's universe. Its origin? Look back at the front door of the dining room and, on the left, you will see a large canvas with a staircase painted in these bright colours. Summa's rainbow first appeared in Città Sant'Angelo in 1975 in Un Arcobaleno in fondo alla via, A Rainbow a...

Audioguide by eArs 3. DINING ROOM - PART 1  Dining rooms are places both for meetings and private moments. Summa used to invite only a few close friends to this room. Here, we come face to face with Franco, or rather, his portrait. Look back at the entrance you just passed through and you will see a large gilded canvas: the Genealogical Self-Portrait. Summa depicts himself in front of the Partheno...

Audioguide by eArs 2. ENTRANCE Who was Franco Summa?  We could give you a biographical definition and tell you that he was an Italian artist, known for his work in social, urban and participatory art, who was active from 1964 to 2020. We would have said everything... and nothing. He can be better understood through these rooms, still furnished in the manner Summa intended, long before the doors of...

Audioguide by eArs 1. INTRODUCTION Welcome to the home of Franco Summa. Today, we will visit the house where the artist lived and, upstairs, his atelier, to get to know his works and, above all, his artistic philosophy and thought. The house is managed by the Summa Foundation, founded by the artist to open up his rooms and his works to the the community. The Foundation's statute states: "Establish...