Ugo Rondinone’s ‘Burn Shine Fly’ Installation Receives Fresh Attention as Roger Federer Announces Secret Participation

By Natasha Long

Swiss artist Ugo Rondinone’s sculptural installation burn shine fly was exhibited between 20th April and 17th September 2022, in the Scuola Grande di San Giovanni Evangelista in Venice, as part of the 59th Venice Biennale. This week, fresh attention is being drawn to the piece – which had enthralled its visitors last year – with tennis champion Roger Federer announcing via social media that he had played a crucial and surprising role in its creation - providing a full-body cast for Rondinone to use as one of the seven suspended figures which make up one of the three parts of the exhibition. 

Fly. Image: Tique.art

The church was founded in 1261 and provided the perfect setting for Rondinone’s spectacular but sensitive contemplations on human nature and the mysteries of life; its artworks represent the Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque periods in religious painting – a history, in a way, of the themes addressed in burn shine fly. With the aim and effect of evoking meditations on the sublime, the heavenly, and the nature and purpose of the human life cycle, the installation draws on and adds to its environment, designed to inspire awe and wonderment. 

Shine. Image: Credit Suisse

The installation was comprised of three sections, each corresponding to a word in its title. Shine: A gleaming, gilded bronze ring (originally made for an exhibition at Versailles in 2017) placed behind Pietro Lombardo’s medieval marble screen outside. Intended as a “celebration of life; its seasons and rhythms”, it was emblematic of the sun, attuning viewers to the celestial themes within. Fly: Seven sculptural body-casts, taken from acrobatic dancers and athletes, made from a soil and transparent wax mixture. The figures, painted over in arresting blue and decorated with clouds, soared amongst the church’s religious paintings - which have, in the past, included episodes from the Miracles of the Cross painted by Renaissance painters including Bellini and Carpaccio (Giovanni Battista Tiepolo’s 18th century scenes of the ‘Apocalypse’ still hang in the Salone) - in a different narrative about individuals transcending life on earth to connect with the sublime. Burn: The final part of the installation consisted of eighty colourfully-painted bronze candle casts, filled with lead and placed on the floor. Rondinone invited viewers to contemplate eternity amongst the still life sculptures, their weight forcing them into the ground and welding together the ideas of everyday life and earth’s base elements.  

Burn. Image: Tique.art

Federer’s newly-released documentary, Portrait of a Champion, details the modelling process for fly. He was suspended by a harness, contorted into a pose, and then covered in plaster. Rondinone chose Federer’s body because it represents the ideal of human athleticism and perfection of movement: “When I see him moving on the court, I see a man who can fly by catching the ball, so I thought it was a good fit [to make him into] a flying person”. Having allowed the installation to be appreciated in its own right until now, Federer’s announcement means Rondinone's piece reaches new and alternative audiences outside of the art world. 

Bibliography  

Art Industry News: Tennis Legend Roger Federer Reveals How He Was Ugo Rondinone’s Secret Muse + Other Stories, Artnet News January 27, 2023 https://news.artnet.com/art-world/art-industry-news-january-27-2023-2248044  

Credit Suisse, Portrait of a Champion. Roger Federer and Ugo Rondinone https://www.credit-suisse.com/about-us/en/our-company/sponsorship/roger-federer/cloudsix.html  

‘How Ugo Rondinone turned Roger Federed into a secret flying sculpture(spoiler: includes underwear) The Art Newspaper 27th January 2023 

David Gualandris, ‘In Venice, Burn Shine Fly by Ugo Rondinone Reflects On The Intrigue And Beauty Of Life’, April 27 2022, https://www.ignant.com/2022/04/27/in-venice-burn-shine-fly-by-ugo-rondinone-reflects-on-the-intrigue-and-beauty-of-life/  

How Ugo Rondinone turned Roger Federer into a secret flying scukpture (spoiler: inclkdues underwear) The Art Newspaper, January 27, 2023 https://www.theartnewspaper.com/2023/01/27/how-ugo-rondinone-turned-roger-federer-into-a-secret-flying-sculpture-spoiler-includes-underwear  

Sofia Lekka Angelopoulou,Ugo Rondinone Brings Human Clouds, A Gilded Sun and Colorful, Burnt Out Candles To Venice, designboom, May 8 2022 https://www.designboom.com/art/ugo-rondinone-human-clouds-gilded-sun-burnt-out-candles-venice-05-07-2022/  

Ugo Rondinone, burn shine fly. https://www.burnshinefly.com/