Disco Moon | Vicenza

DISCO MOON

July 20, 2009 , Piazza San Lorenzo, Vicenza

Conceived for Effimero. Sistemi di contemporaneo

Curated by Alberto Zanchetta

The Effimero. Sistemi di contemporaneo project, was presented in 2009 as a tribute to the so-called 40th anniversary of the moon landing. For Andrea Morucchio, however, that historical event never truly took place—making DISCO MOON not a commemoration, but a reflection on belief, myth, and the ways in which collective imagination often surpasses factual history.

In revisiting Bruno Munari’s Aconà Biconbì modular structure, Morucchio created a constellation of nineteen circular elements—crafted from cardboard, wood, and photographic prints—each evoking a different moon. Set into silver discs and dispersed radially across Piazza San Lorenzo, they suggested orbiting spheres, archetypal forms that mirrored both the sky and the ornate façade of the adjacent temple.

As the artist notes, the title was meant to provoke “iconographic short-circuits between Catholic and pagan symbols, pointing toward the origins of religious sentiment, and at the same time, toward humanity’s fascination with space, the stars, and their supposed influence.” In this sense, DISCO MOON unfolded as an experiential field rather than a celebration: a meditation on circles as timeless symbols—Plato’s image of perfection, the mandalas of neo-pagan rituals, the infinite cycle of life and belief.

Here, it is not destiny inscribed by the heavens, but the presence of the passer-by that animates the work. The reflective discs shifted perception from object to environment, merging artwork and architecture in a dialogue of gazes. More than a commemoration, DISCO MOON became a temenos, a sacred threshold that both revealed and questioned humanity’s need to project meaning onto the stars.

Exhibiting artists: Daniele Bacci, Maurizio Battaglia, Andrea Bianconi, Simone Cesarini, Silvia Chiarini, Arnold Mario Dall’O, Francesco De Molfetta, Antonio De Pascale, Armida Gandini, Eloisa Gobbo, Giuliano Guatta, Giacomo Lion, Vincenzo Marsiglia, Andrea Morucchio, Maria Elisabetta Novello, Luca Piovaccari, Giordano Pozzi, Laura Pugno, Michael Rotondi.