Twelve Robe BMFL WashBeams were utilised by artist and lighting designer Mariano
de Tassis in a breath-taking and unique installation at the mausoleum of Italian
patriot and Irredentist Cesare Battisti in Trento, Italy.

The installation was produced by Filmwork Factory to celebrate the centenary of the
death of Battisti. The original idea of highlighting the mausoleum with 12 powerful
beams shooting up into the night sky to match the 12 columns of the monument
was De Tassis’s himself, pitched to the Municipality of Trento. He commissioned
photographer Pierluigi Cattani Faggion to document the work.

The mausoleum is located on the top of Doss Hill in Trento and was designed by
architect Ettore Fagiuoli and inaugurated in 1935. Its 12 columns are 15 metres high
and follow a circumference of 75 metres. It is visible from all over the city and
surrounding countryside.

The BMFLs were placed around the perimeter, each corresponding to one of the
columns and pointing directly upwards – no movement, no gobos – creating the
intense columns of light.

Having this spatial juxtapositioning with the columns, “The light beams created a
new three dimensional aspect that was solid yet ephemeral for the timeframe of the
installation and related to the architecture,’ De Tassis explained.

The installation was momentary. It was active for just three hours between 9 and
12 midnight on 12th July, the day of the anniversary, evoking and recalling an
actual historical event.

De Tassis has used Robe products in his work for some time, but this was the first
time he’d employed the BMFL WashBeam. As soon as he saw the fixture
demonstrated by Robe’s Italian distributor, RM Multimedia, he knew it had the
“power and the beauty’ as well as the high CRI he needed to realise his vision.

The most challenging and enjoyable element of this work was the “surprise’.

In order not to reveal anything beforehand, no trails were made in situ, so the first
time De Tassis actually saw the concept at work was on the day as the installation
went live, when he and large numbers of the public – as the news spread – enjoyed
the transitioning of the columns of light … as the sky went from dusk to full
darkness.

The BMFL WashBeams were supplied by Musical Box Rent from Verona. They were
programmed by Matthew Oliva, and the event’s production manager was Claudio
Paolazzi.

The event was a “pilot’, the first of a series of innovative visual arts projects
planned in significant historical locations around Italy, a new experimental art-form
that can mark events, engage the public and evoke new ideas about history and
memories. More generally, these interventions can focus on human traces that are
now part of the landscape.