Nico Vascellari

As winter draws to a close and greenery once again takes hold, Italian artist Nico Vascellari occupies the Whitworth’s Landscape Gallery.

Visitors are invited to explore the haunting installation Bus de la Lum which draws on the arcane powers of the forest and suggests the deep secrets within it.

Bus de la Lum (which means ‘hole of light’) is a natural cavity located in woodland of the Cansiglio plateau. Shrouded in mystery, the void emits a strange light that has long been associated with magic and satanic legend. During World War II it acquired a less mythical but equally terrifying reputation as a death pit for hundreds of prisoners and casualties of war.

Vascellari also connects us to another place, Darvaza (‘Door to Hell’) a vast, burning crater in the desert of Turkmenistan. The stories of these two magical places are interwoven by light, shadow and an extraordinary soundtrack created in collaboration with Turkish-born musician Ghédalia Tazartès.