T h e C o n q u e s T
o F T h e u s e l e s s
”I looked behind and with the same see-
thing hatred stood the angry and fuming
virgin forest, while the river in its majestic
indifference and contemptuous condescen-
sion annihilated everything: the efforts of
man, the burden of dreams, the sorrows of
time.” Werner Herzog, La conquista dell’inutile, 2007
How many times will it happen, in the
lives of each of us, that we are unable to
achieve something in the way that we imagi-
ned it? How many times has the finish line
seemed too far away, the road impassable, or
the bureaucracy overwhelming?
Margherita Moscardini fights against these
elements in every project, in the same way in
which the architectural elements in her work
struggle and are overwhelmed by the effects
of time. But this is not just about a fight: it is
also a specific will, which underlies all her
practice and that aligns her with all those ar-
chitectural experiences that, starting from
the Enlightenment through the Radical, spoke
to the unfinished, to the utopian, in an ex-
pressive way. The limit that defines the work
of Moscardini is not in fact a technical or ope-
rational contrariness, but a longing for au-
thenticity, with the belief that “the project not
built can exist much more than the object
produced. It is pure vision (or pure idea), un-
corrupted by the compromises of production.”
If you scroll through her portfolio, a substan-
tial number of works are marked by the word
never. Never produced, never finished, never
built. Moscardini’s projects would have deser-
ved to see the light of day, certainly. But where
productivity, the constant growth of consum-
ption, and the concept of progress at any cost
are moral imperatives, to not finish becomes
an opportunity to enjoy a period of reflection,
and even more, to play with new ideas and
examine the artist's creative role.
Asylia (2015) is the project Moscardini sub-
mitted to the ArtLine invitational in Milan.
The challenge was to propose a public work
intended for permanent installation at the Ar-
tLine park in the CityLife complex. The artist
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To San Rocco with Love (veduta parziale dell’intervento /
partial view), 2014, tubi Innocenti, reti metalliche, legno, luci al neon,
dispositivo crepuscolare sintonizzato con l’illuminazione pubblica,
dimensioni ambientali / scaffolding poles, metal mesh panels, wood,
neon lights, twilight switch connected to public lighting, ambient size
Courtesy of the artist e / and Contemporary Locus, Bergamo
Foto / Photo: Mario Albergati
To San Rocco with Love (dettaglio / detail), 2014, tubi Inno-
centi, reti metalliche, legno, luci al neon, dispositivo crepuscolare
sintonizzato con l’illuminazione pubblica, dimensioni ambientali /
scaffolding poles, metal mesh panels, wood, neon lights, twilight
switch connected to public lighting, ambient size
Courtesy of the artist e / and Contemporary Locus, Bergamo
Foto / Photo: Mario Albergati
