Lucho Fontana’s ‘Specialist Manifesto’ and Salvatore Sciarrino’s Concept of Sound Space

Abstract

The article is devoted to the relationship between the ideas of spatial organization in contemporary art and music. The spatial category is fundamental in the development of creative strategies for artists, belonging not only to the types of art that were traditionally considered spatial, but also to those that belonged to the field of temporary arts, such as music. The artist in this case is understood not in the context of belonging to the visual arts, but in a broader sense. Art, representing various projections of physical space into art, allows for work with both spatial and temporal characteristics. In the process of analyzing spatial concepts, the author refers to the paintings of the Italian artist Alberto Burri, as well as to the “White Manifesto” and the works of the Italian artist Lucho Fontana. The creative concept of the Italian composer Salvatore Sciarrino is based primarily on the spatial perception of sound and a special composer strategy for the preliminary construction of a graphic equivalent of sound space. In his book “The Figures of Music: From Beethoven to the Present,” the composer turns to the works of the artists mentioned above and considers his spatial ideas as the projection of their paintings in music. Analyzing the works of Sciarrino, such as “Studi per l’intonazione del mare,” “Infinito nero,” sonatas for piano, theoretical works, such as “Le figure della musica: da Beethoven a oggi” and “Carte da suono scritti,” the author comes to a conclusion regarding the generality of ideas of Italian artists and composer.