Lorenzo Pietrantoni's 'Knowledge That Matters' Installation at Bocconi University

Lorenzo Pietrantoni, a Genoa-born artist and graphic designer (1970), has created an installation titled 'Knowledge That Matters' for Bocconi University in Milan. The work, located in the piazza between viale Bligny and via Röntgen, uses decoupage technique with 20,000 digital images (9x13 cm each) hand-applied to a monumental sculpture bearing the university's motto. The images are sourced from Bocconi's archives: scientific papers of the 100 most-cited professors on Google Scholar, books and research of the 21 rectors since the university's founding, and over 100 theses, including that of Adelina Gallo, the first woman to graduate from Bocconi (her thesis on female immigrant labor in Milan, 1884-1910). Pietrantoni also used images of founder Ferdinando Bocconi and his son Luigi, after whom the university is named. This is the artist's first use of such material for a large-scale project; he usually works with 19th-century volumes. The installation is part of the Bocconi Art Gallery project, which has brought contemporary art to the university for a decade.