Giuseppe Penone (Italian, b.1947)
Biennale Architettura 2021
Special Event
The Listener
Vuslat Foundation
Giuseppe Penone (Italian, b.1947)
The Listener presents Giuseppe Penone’s Idee di Pietra - Olmo (Ideas of Stone- Elm), a new edition of Penone’s widely celebrated series, as an important work to open a global conversation about how we can create spaces for listening in 21st century society. Made in close collaboration with Chus Martínez, The Listener is an installation of an elm tree cradling a heavy stone between its branches, representing a symbolic prompt of the potential generous listener within each of us.
Why a tree? Because the tree holds the wisdom of listening as it has listened to the earth and all living beings for centuries. The Listener thus is an invitation to a moment of reflection on the vitality and magic of what listening - to ourselves, to others or to nature- can bring to our inner and outer worlds.
The work marks the launch of Vuslat Foundation as it conveys the foundation’s vision to make the quality of our connections an indispensable piece in solving the world’s vast and intertwined problems. Established in 2020, Vuslat Foundation endeavors to create awareness about and spread the skill of generous listening—hearing beyond words— to oneself, to others and to nature as the essential element of all our connections.
Commissioned by: Vuslat Foundation
Founder: Vuslat Doğan Sabancı
Curator at Large: Chus Martinez
Artistic Director: Merve Yeşilada Çağlar
Project Assistant: Umutcan Özen
Editor: Emine Etili
Studio Giuseppe Penone: Ruggero Penone and Federica Grosso
Project Management: DH Office
Engineering & Artwork Set-Up: OTTART
Graphic Design: Meiré und Meiré
Communication: Scott & Co.
