Paola Pivi brings an upside-down helicopter to the church of San Carlo in Cremona

An upside-down helicopter, placed on the floor of a 17th-century church, transforms the perception of space and common objects. This is the powerful and disorienting image that will welcome visitors to the church of San Carlo in Cremona, where, from March 1 until June 2025, A helicopter upside down, the latest site-specific installation by Paola Pivi (Milan, 1971), will be on display. The artist, famous for her works capable of subverting reality and altering the relationship between form and function, places an upside-down Agusta 109 helicopter in the nave, superimposing the monumentality of the object on the sacredness of the exhibition space. The overturning of a means of transportation associated with speed and lightness introduces a perceptual short-circuit, seeking to impose a reflection on the relationship between objects, movement and meaning. The helicopter, which is supposed to dominate the air, becomes a heavy and static body, disrupting visual conventions and pushing the viewer to reconsider his own idea of familiarity. This is not the first time Pivi has worked with means of transportation to create works with a strong symbolic charge. In 1997 she had already presented Camion, a truck overturned on its side, while in 1999, at the Venice Biennale, she exhibited Untitled (airplane), an upside-down military fighter jet. In 2006, in Salzburg, he had overturned a Westland Wessex helicopter for the Kontracom06 event, and in 2012, in New York, with How I Roll, he had rotated a Piper Seneca on two supports, again defying public expectations.

The intervention in Cremona is part of this artistic research that explores the transformation of objects and their ability to evoke unexpected meanings. The upside-down helicopter appears almost suspended in a surreal dimension, an image that amplifies the dialogue between real and imaginary, between the ordinary and the extraordinary. The church of St. Charles becomes an integral part of its reading. The contrast between the industrial element and the sacred space is intended to strengthen the impact of the installation, transforming the nave into a place of sensory and conceptual exploration. With A helicopter upside down, Pivi returns to play with gravity and perception, subverting the meaning of a familiar object and forcing the viewer to question his or her experience of space. The visitor, confronted with a helicopter deprived of its primary function, is invited to a mental reversal, a journey that transforms the church nave into a stage of unexpected possibilities. The experience of the exhibition thus aims to engage the body and mind and to call for active participation.

Paola Pivi is an artist who has always worked on the interaction between objects and contexts, developing a language that combines irony, bewilderment and formal research. Winner of the Golden Lion at the 48th Venice Biennale, she has exhibited her works in some of the world’s most prestigious museums, from the Guggenheim in New York to the Centre Pompidou in Paris, to MAXXI in Rome and Tate Modern in London. His work, including installations, sculptures and performances, has redefined the boundary between reality and artifice, stimulating the public to observe the everyday with new eyes.

Paola Pivi brings an upside-down helicopter to the church of San Carlo in Cremona

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