L’artista italiano che parte dall’Isola d’Elba in barca a vela per raggiungere Sant’Elena: si parla di potere e si gira un film
Italian artist Luca Vitone (born Genoa, 1964) has launched a project titled "Pro Tempore," which involves a two-month sailing journey from the Island of Elba—Napoleon Bonaparte's first place of exile—to the remote island of Saint Helena, where Napoleon died in exile. The voyage, aboard the boat Adriatica, includes four intermediate stops (Balearic Islands, Algeciras, Canary Islands, Cape Verde) and is funded by the 14th edition of the Italian Council grant, in partnership with the Fondazione Oelle. The project explores the concept of temporary power and uses Napoleon's biography and the sea as metaphors for control and instability.
The project matters because it merges contemporary art with historical narrative and geopolitical reflection, using a physical journey to question the nature of authority and borders in today's world. By retracing Napoleon's path of exile, Vitone turns the sea into a conceptual space that both defines and escapes imperial control, offering a timely meditation on power, mobility, and confinement. The work also highlights the role of Italian cultural funding (Italian Council) in supporting ambitious, research-driven art projects.