Christmas Design 2024

In the framework of “Christmas Design. La creatività per il Natale 2024” (Christmas Design. Creativity for Christmas 2024), the open-air exhibition dedicated to original installations – organised by the Bergamo Urban Trade District, promoted by local organisations, and conceived and coordinated by Studio GPT – Alias is delighted to present "Extasis Solis", the installation designed by Architect Riccardo Blumer that enhances Piazza Vecchia, in Bergamo, during the holiday season. Lightness - i.e. the use of materials to their fullest potential to craft resistant products with an essential form - is the value that connects the vision of the Alias project with that of Riccardo Blumer; the same principle that gave life to Ghisa, the urban furnishing system signed in 2008 with Matteo Borghi and Adrian Freire and that today reclaims the spotlight in the symbolic square of the city of Orobian Alps.

Extasis Solis is a large sundial made up of ten Ghisa benches positioned according to the hourly progression. Each seat indicates the illumination angle projected onto Piazza Vecchia due to the varying height between Palazzo della Ragione and the eastern sides of the square itself at a specific time, every 15 minutes, between 11.45 a.m. and 2.00 p.m. During the days from Christmas to the New Year, Piazza Vecchia receives the highest amount of shade compared to all the other times of the year, particularly around the winter solstice on 21 December. The ten benches, therefore alternately illumined on bright days, transform into a vast sundial marking the square's peak sunlight throughout the year. The interplay between sun and shadow, which can be witnessed in ten distinct points, becomes a spectacle to be enjoyed from a standing position 

south of Fontana Contarini or from the comfort of the benches themselves. It was exactly the idea of sitting being both a sacred action and a social gesture that inspired Riccardo Blumer to choose Piazza Vecchia as location for the installation. "What better place than a square to sit, listen, share and participate? I imagined Piazza Vecchia as a great open-air basilica, a space that takes on the character of a symbolic interior. Sitting there, I can feel the harmony of the universe around me and perceive the flow of time. During the winter solstice, the sun reaches a particular position in the sky. This event connects us to the mystery of Christmas, symbolically representing rebirth. It is the time when the sun starts to ascend from the lowest point on the horizon, heralding an everlasting cycle of 

renewal and change, rich in profound meaning." Riccardo Blumer. Extasis Solis represents a dialogue between design, nature and symbolism, transforming Piazza Vecchia into a place of introspection and meditation on time, light and change. With this installation, Alias and Riccardo Blumer invite the public to experience the square as a sacred and shared space, with the power to unite past and future through the universal language of light and shadows. With the theme "Metamorphoses and transformations" as the leitmotif of Christmas Design 2024, the work serves as an homage to the Christmas tradition whilst offering a chance to reflect on change, the balance between humans and the universe, and design's potential to convert ordinary areas into extraordinary experiences.