Onement stems from the idea of unity, understood not as a fusion but as a relationship between distinct elements. Patrick Tuttofuoco’s site-specific work engages with the two historic chimneys of the former Vernante glassworks, which for almost a century have preserved the area’s industrial heritage. Two semicircles made of coloured glass and neon – two essential forms that visually connect the chimneys without negating their autonomy: as they move through the space, visitors can see them as separate or overlapping to form a single figure. It is precisely this shift in perspective that gives shape to the work. Echoing Barnett Newman’s Onement, the installation thus interprets the boundary not as an element of separation, but as a space of connection, inviting visitors to move, shift their perspective and imagine distance as an opportunity for encounter.
The work’s colour scheme shifts from orange-red to cool tones, following the dissipation of heat: a trace of the arrow of time, inscribed between energy and memory.