A blue tank at the Statale di Milano: Rotelli's installation for Design Week

Dooris Love is an art project by Marco Nereo Rotelli that “opens doors” to a better world. The work commissioned by Bertolotto consists of a large Golden Portal, set up from April 15 to 28 in the Cortile d’Onore of the University of Milan, formed by a limited series of doors engraved with poetic verses on the concepts of love, which merge with a blue-painted tank.

The collaboration between Bertolotto, Ever in Art, a benefit company that uses art to promote virtuous actions, and artist Marco Nereo Rotelli, celebrated with the installation Door is Love at Milan Design Week 2024, will give rise to a special edition of signature doors. It is a collection of 14 doors, finished in the artist’s unmistakable style. Each door in the exclusive edition represents a unique work of art, embellished with exclusive details, designed by the artist to elevate environments to an artistic dimension. The portal, with total dimensions of 1040 x 480 cm, consists of 46 door leaves, signed, made and certified by Bertolotto. Made of water-repellent and fireproof wood fibers, and embellished with a golden finish, the doors feature repeating poetic verses engraved on the front and back. Positioned in two overlapping rows, the doors are supported by an elegant aluminum structure, with a sculptural work of a tank (dimensions 210 x 400 x h 230 cm) painted blue and placed on a wooden base beneath the track in the center. To further accentuate the visual effect, the portal will be illuminated by four shapers that will project poetic verses, creating an engaging and dynamic play of light.

Marco Nereo Rotelli was born in 1955 in Venice, where he graduated in architecture and then trained following at the Academy of Fine Arts. In the mid-1980s he moved to Milan, starting a research on light and poetic dimension that led him to exhibit in the capitals of the world. His work has always aimed at a total work, with immersive performances, where his light installations involve artisans, philosophers, musicians, poets, photographers, filmmakers, but mainly his relationship is with poetry, which has become a constant reference for his work. In 2000 he founded the Art Project group, now directed by Elena Lombardi and composed of young artists and architects, with which he carries out numerous interventions and urban installation projects. This commitment has earned him participation in nine editions of the Venice Biennale, as well as numerous solo and group exhibitions. He has been invited by Northwestern University (Chicago) as an artist-in residence (winter 2013, has been 22 times on Easter Island for sculptural and pictorial works. And then to Japan, China, USA. Spain, France). His works, found in international museums and private collections, have increasingly taken on an ethical dimension aimed at reflection on environmental and social issues.

Bertolotto S.p.A., founded in 1987, is now among the world leaders in the design and production of doors, interior systems and security doors. The best raw materials, exclusive models, the expertise and talent of specialized craftsmen, with the use of the most advanced technologies, characterize Bertolotto doors, all made entirely in Italy with wood from FSC protected supply chain and certified Carb, Leed and Voc. Bertolotto doors are not simply objects, but tailor-made creations: each product, distinct and with attention to detail, gives style and elegance to environments, thanks to the creativity and experience of those who designed it, and the skill of those who made it.

“Rotelli’s installation is meant to be a paradox, a provocation, where art and design come together to bring a message of peace,” emphasizes Celia Stefania Centonze, partner of Ever in Art, the company that produced the concept. “On the threshold, a real and metaphorical space, a metamorphosis in fact takes place: the portal becomes a gateway, a place of passage to a better world, where love overcomes war, overcomes everything.”

“Bertolotto doors are designed for those who choose to surround themselves with beautiful things and furnish their homes with solutions capable of expressing lasting values, marrying tradition and innovation while fully respecting the environment. We work with perseverance and passion on the conception of new decors and models, paying the utmost attention to the desires and expectations of customers, to whom we dedicate our commitment, every day.”

“A place of light, a symbol of access to a further dimension. On the threshold s/he s/he turns the metamorphosis between real and vision. A blocked tank, painted blue, no longer an expression of war but an a(r)mated tank, transformed by art. In a work by Botticelli, Mars, god of War, is asleep and unarmed, while Venus is awake and alert. The meaning of the image is that love conquers war or love conquers all. This is the meaning of the work, this is the vision: the doors are here thought of as entrances to a new world. It is a call to the Arts for beauty to stand against evil. It forces it into confrontation and in confrontation forces it into change. That is why the doors as sirens speak and the tank is no longer a rude war machine but an object overwhelmed by aesthetics. Thus painted blue, the color of infinity is something else. It is a surreal object that makes other think even between opposite worlds,” says the artist himself.

A blue tank at the Statale di Milano: Rotelli's installation for Design Week

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