Since 20 November 2018 the corridors surrounding the Intensive Care Unit of the Hospital Papa Giovanni XXIII in Bergamo permanently host CANONE INFINITO, a site-specific sound installation by Lorenzo Senni (Cesena, 1983), curated by Stefano Raimondi and Claudia Santeroni.

The initiative is supported by Fondazione Credito Bergamasco, Amici della Pediatria and the family of Santo Radici. The project stands as a successful union between health and art, within a virtuous path that the hospital took over the years. It has the aim of offering the most effective and innovative tools and services in the health and cultural spheres.

The work of the artist, musician and composer takes the form of a delicate and poetic sound, designed for the families of the patients hospitalised in the intensive care unit and set up in the adjacent corridors.

The work was developed from an analysis of the particular needs that the context of the intensive care unit requires. The decision to use the medium of sound, in addition of being a reflection of the latest research in contemporary art, responds to the need to propose a work that is perceptible but does not want to become an invasive visual background for the people waiting in the corridors. The composition will be a sound that accompanies people throughout the day, audible at the transit points of the long corridors, but far away from the places of stay and treatment.

Lorenzo Senni has already shown interest in and sensitivity to the hospital environment, deepening the theme of illness, hospitalisation and operation. An example of this is the soundtrack of the video Da Vinci by Yuri Ancarani, presented at the Venice Biennale in 2013, which focuses on a robotic microsurgery operation performed using the ‘Da Vinci’ machine.

The conception of CANONE INFINITO took place in total harmony and dialogue with the hospital and its needs. The work has developed from an analysis of the particular context of intensive care units. An in-depth examination thanks to the support of Maria Simonetta Spada, Director of the Psychology Unit, and the contribution of Santo Radici, former Director of Human Resources at the Hospital and contact person for the artistic installations in the healthcare unit.

CANONE INFINITO enriches the high quality cultural and artistic heritage that characterises the Hospital of Bergamo and makes it unique on an international level thanks to the presence of permanent interventions by artists such as Stefano Arienti, Francesco Garutti, Michelangelo Pistoletto and Andrea Mastrovito.