Vincenzo Vela's works become 3D images with photographs by Antonello & Montesi


For the 200th anniversary of Vincenzo Vela's birth, the works of the great Swiss sculptor become 3D images thanks to photographers Antonello & Montesi.

Vincenzo Vela (Ligornetto, 1820 - Mendrisio, 1891) was one of the greatest sculptors of the 19th century, and on the 200th anniversary of his birth his works go... on tourLocarno (Aug. 5 to Sept. 3) and in the second to the Levantine Museum in Giornico, Aug. 22 to Oct. 25.

Coming to life with 3D images are some of Vincenzo Vela’s most iconic works: such as Spartacus, Italy Grateful to France, the portrait of Countess Leopoldina d’Adda or the very famous Monument to the Victims of Labor(you can find our detailed in-depth discussion of the latter work at this link). Antonello & Montesi’s shots are printed and displayed on large-format media, and through special goggles (they can be picked up free of charge at the “Movie” restaurant at the Palacinema in Locarno and, for Giornico, at the Museum’s cash desk) the public see the works in 3D format. The exhibition project is accompanied by explanatory texts in three languages (Italian, German and French).

The project by Antonello & Montesi, who spent a residency period at the Vincenzo Vela Museum in Ligornetto, aimed to combine art, photography and cinema to give “movement” to the works. The two photographers are internationally known as set and portrait photographers, with prestigious collaborations alongside directors such as Nanni Moretti, Mel Gibson and Wes Anderson, among others, or Hollywood stars of the caliber of Tom Cruise, Sean Penn and Jude Law. Since 2010, Antonello & Montesi have been working in the field of three-dimensional photography. They conceived and realized the photographic book 3D Adonis in high heels dedicated to the world of Drag Queens, three-dimensional covers for the Corriere della Sera’s weekly magazine “Sette,” the Ypsilon project exhibited during the Umbria exhibition for the Biennale d’Arte Contemporanea, and the exhibition Equilibrii, Dance in Three Dimensions at the Auditorium Parco della Musica in Rome. Together they have created projects for cinema(The Three Dimensions of Cinema, Venice Film Festival, 2012), dance(L’un L’altro, Accademia di Danza di Roma, 2014 and Carmina Burana: prova per 3, Geneva Opéra and Festa danzante, 2016), music(Encontrando, Villa Torlonia Theater, 2017). In 2018, the exhibition Tryptique, in collaboration with the Swiss Dance Awards and the Festa danzante, was shown in 28 locations in Switzerland, including Lugano and the Vincenzo Vela Museum.

These first stops of the bicentennial tour of Vincenzo Vela’s works in 3D are held in two symbolic locations: first, the square named after Remo Rossi (himself a sculptor) in Locarno, right in front of the Palacinema, during the days of the Locarno Festival. The second, at the Leventina Museum in Giornico in Leventina, a valley where the high-relief The Victims of Labor, dedicated by Vela to the Gotthard miners and placed on the Airolo Station square, is located.

Pictured: the Spartacus in 3D.

Vincenzo Vela's works become 3D images with photographs by Antonello & Montesi
Vincenzo Vela's works become 3D images with photographs by Antonello & Montesi


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