“The dog portrayed here belongs to a Trivero family. This work is dedicated to them and the people who will talk about it as they sit here.”

In 2009 Italian artist Alberto Garutti created a permanent installation in the town of Trivero, Italy as his contribution to the Fondazione Zegna’s ALL’APERTO (OUTDOORS) project. The goal of the project is to make art accessible to the community, and Mr. Garutti chose to incorporate dogs (hooray!) of local families because, in his words: “Through dogs, you also speak about owners and families, whom they reflect. Dogs are also a great metaphor for art: they want to ‘socialize’ with everybody.” What a wonderful sentiment.

The photos above and this summary are taken from the project’s website:

“In order to map out the territory of Trivero, Alberto Garutti sought the collaboration of the teachers and local primary school fifth grade students. He asked the children to choose, describe and draw the town’s dogs: Eva, Pulce, Sbadiglio, Lampo, Ferro, Sissi and Otto, Luna…

This process enabled the artist to establish contact with the kids, their families, and the owners of the dogs, meeting, photographing and involving them in the realization of the project. The result is a public work that can be used (and ‘adopted’) by everyone.”

I especially love the last sentence, because it’s a perfect parallel to dogs in our lives. If you have a few minutes, watch Mr. Garutti in the video about the project. There are English subtitles: http://www.fondazionezegna.org/allaperto/en/garutti/video.html. And if you happen to find yourself way up in the north of Italy sometime, visit Trivero and experience the installation for yourself! It’s a beautiful part of Italy. But then, what part of Italy is not beautiful?