Marco Anelli
Saint Peter’s: Views from Church and Basilica

This photography installation features images of two iconic spaces named Saint Peter’s. Each is captured by Marco Anelli at the time of their respective restorations. Anelli’s work engages climactic moments in the life of his subjects, from classical music and architectural milestones to his portraiture, as with participants in Marina Abramovic’s The Artist Is Present at MoMA in 2010.

Newly-taken photographs of the Church’s Vignelli-designed organ (Klais 1977 — C.B. Fisk 2023), restored and reinstalled following a devastating flood in 2021, are juxtaposed with images from Anelli’s study of architectural shadow and light, taken over the course of a two year period during the extensive cleaning of St. Peter’s Basilica (Vatican City) just before the millennium jubilee.

Those who know the artist well may note a further parallel: Anelli photographed the construction of Magazzino Italian Art, another project infused with shadow and light, inspired by Saint Peter’s own designers Lella and Massimo Vignelli, and conceived by Alberto Campo Baeza and Miguel Quismondo, the architect behind the soon-to-be-rebuilt flooded spaces below the Church’s sanctuary.

Presented by Saint Peter's Church and The Arts and Architecture Conservancy at Saint Peter’s, proud care-takers of Nevelson Chapel.

Please find the artist's bio here.