The new giant hands of Lorenzo Quinn in Venice

Italian artist Lorenzo Quinn created a splash on the sidelines of the Venice Biennale contemporary art fair two years ago with a gigantic sculpture of a child's hands reaching out of the Grand Canal, calling attention to climate change that threatens,among other things, to sink the lagoon city.

For this edition, Quinn has created a successor sculpture that he wants to be a call to action: Six pairs of arching hands creating a bridge over a Venetian waterway, symbolic of the need to build bridges and overcome divisions.

They are being erected in the Arsenale former shipyard against the backdrop of a city that stands as an historic East-West gateway — and as Europe prepares to vote in a continent-wide election that is shaping up as a battle of populism against more open social democratic traditions.

The sculpture isn't meant as a campaign platform, Quinn says. But his ideals are clear. "Humanity has never grown by creating barriers. It always grows when it opens up its borders and it welcomes new cultures," Quinn told The Associated Press by telephone on Friday as he oversaw the installation another pair of the arching, clasping, white resin hands. "Venice is a testament to that. Venice opened routes to Asia, the Far East, with Marco Polo and the Merchants of Venice. It has been a driving force of European growth always."

Fonte:©The New York Times