Anni Rapinoja - sky cleaner.

Anni Rapinoja is a Finnish artist that is going to realize, in the ambit of the ArtePollino project, an artwork that drew inspiration from an element of the local culture. During her first inspection, in March, Anni Rapinoja knew the arbëreshe culture and she was very fascinated by it. Above all, it was the ancient broom plant manufacturing to be considered as a cultural value by the artist, who almost exclusively uses natural material for her works. Once she came back in Finland, with some broom plants twigs in the suitcase, she began to think about an artistic plan for the town of San Paolo Albanese, able to enhance its traditions, involving also the citizens in the realization process. The result is the planning idea of the 'sky cleaner' (arbëreshe title to be defined), an installation made of gigantic brooms on a field exposed to the sky. Brooms will be slightly moved by the wind and they will “clean” the sky covered with grey clouds. Each broom will symbolize each inhabitant that will be available for the project. Art, in the artist's opinion, must belong to the people and it would not be abstract and unattainable. Using a daily and simple instrument as the broom, created by a significant material for the culture of that place, Rapinoja wants to create a connection between two realities that are commonly considered as different: the one of contemporary art and the other one of a local specific context.