-PASQUA WINES PRESENTS AMYGDALA .n

The evocative façade of Palazzo Maffei House Museum and the amazing scenography of Piazza delle Erbe are the stars of the tribute to Verona that Pasqua Wines commissioned from fuse*: AMYGDALA .n is an art installation that records the emotional temperature of the world through the analysis of what is happening on social media and transforms the flow of data into a work of art. Emotions are what powers both the installation and at the same time the engine of life. In the same way, every project by the winery, every bottle, reveals emotions, every glass of wine stimulates them, especially when there is the opportunity to share.

Pasqua Wines also continues to express its creativity through dialogue with new protagonists of contemporary art and, during Vinitaly, pays tribute to Verona through the site-specific art installation AMYGDALA .n, from 10 to 11 April 2022 at Palazzo Maffei House Museum. With the creative direction by fuse* and curated by Reasoned Art, the work, in addition to being a tribute to the city of Verona, seeks to open a dialogue with the world. Due to its size and characteristics, the installation is freely visible to the public in Piazza delle Erbe.

In scientific language, the amygdala identifies the area of the brain that enables humans to perceive and process their own emotions. This is the name chosen by fuse* for their installation: an organism that interprets and represents the events it observes, reacting in different ways to stimuli. In the current digital age, the dematerialised space of social media is interpreted as a reservoir of emotions, an archive of thoughts that can be explored through ‘Big Data’, which records everything that is put on the internet. AMYGDALA .n listens to these shared thoughts, processes their feelings and manifests them through light and sound.

fuse* transforms the flow of data into a work of art. It is at once an aesthetic language, an analytical tool and a visual device for measuring the emotional temperature of the world, moment by moment. The work seeks to interpret the mood of the largest sample of humanity possible, almost as if it were a single living organism in continuous development. At a rate of about 30 tweets per second, a textual analysis device processes words collected in a dictionary of over 5000 words, dividing emotions into six different types: happiness, sadness, disgust, fear, surprise and anger. The final result is the generation of an audiovisual work that collects and interprets the contents shared on the network by users, through a Sentiment Analysis algorithm.

AMYGDALA .n therefore presents itself as a reflection on the possibilities and, at the same time, on the risks that are inherent in the creation of a constant flow of information that anyone can utilize through the constant network connection. The installation is a reinterpretation of the original AMYGDALA project, which was first presented in 2016 at the FLUX-UX exhibition at CUBO (Bologna, IT) and subsequently at Artechouse (Washington DC, US) and Georgia Tech Arts (Atlanta, US).

For Palazzo Maffei House Museum, the work takes the form of a luminous artistic projection, for the first time encoded in the form of video mapping, where beams of light and sounds caress and enhance the splendour of the facade’s details, bas-reliefs and friezes.

The luminous particles that make up the installation become a fluid and virtual vehicle for the artists, in which emotions are dissolved. Fascinated by the cultural and artistic value of the place and the collection it houses, for this new project, fuse* chose Palazzo Maffei House Museum, drawing inspiration from the dialogue between ancient and modern that characterizes the museum site.

The artists were won over by the specificity of the Palazzo as a unique architectural statement in the public and private built fabric of the city. It represents the most extraordinary manifestation of seventeenth-century taste in the Verona area, breaking with the slow evolution of architectural style that affected local building between the end of the sixteenth century and the first half of the seventeenth century.

This ambitious art project commissioned by Pasqua Wines is further proof of the Verona winery’s desire to function as a research laboratory, a space for discussion and dialogue, a home open to all, where quality and creativity are in first place. As shown by the new tagline Pasqua, House of the Unconventional, that embodies the bold spirit, striving for innovation and curiosity towards the world, values that inspire the vision and daily activities of the company.

Riccardo Pasqua, Pasqua Wines CEO explains:”We believe the combination of wine and art is powerful when it is expressed with valuable collaborations. For five years our projects have explored an open dialogue with the artists we work with, who each time enrich us with their vision and sensitivity. AMYGDALA n. for us is not only a work with strong symbolic and artistic value which translates, in an innovative way, our winery’s important values such as experimentation, sharing and dialogue, but also a tool for connecting people and connecting the city even more with the world, especially during an event as important as Vinitaly. We are proud of the final result, an authentic tribute to the city of Verona, the result of the extraordinary synergy with our collaborators. Our thanks therefore to fuse*, Reasoned Art, Palazzo Maffei House Museum, Vinitaly, but also to city institutions, and the authorizations granted by the Municipality and the Superintendency.”

“Right away we felt in harmony with the project,” adds Mattia Carretti, co-founder and director of fuse*. “In this historical moment it was important to take this opportunity to present a work that would stimulate a sense of collective empathy in people, Pasqua Wines has always supported us and we believe the company’s commitment to art is of great value along with the special attention in finding new ways to bring value to the community.” “Palazzo Maffei House Museum,” added director Vanessa Carlon, “wears a new look for connecting with the city. This work commissioned by Pasqua Wines, with whom we are happy to collaborate, makes the image of Verona contemporary in the world.”

We would like to thank the following for the installation: Bellwood, LUXURY EYEWEAR OUTLET and Otto d’ame.