In cima alle stelle. Viewing the universe through art, archaeology and science. [English Ed.]

According to Greek mythology, Atlas was one of the giants who battled against the gods of Olympus. Zeus condemned the defeated Atlas to bear the sky on his shoulders and rotate it eternally from east to west, acting as a lever on the Earth, which gave him sure footing because it was immobile.
This belief endured for thousands of years before Copernicus questioned it. The Aristotelian-Ptolemaic conception is the starting point for the exhibition In cima alle stelle, which moves on to probe the fundamental conquests of knowledge that have helped shape our modern vision of the cosmos, culminating with Albert Einstein's general theory of relativity.
Artists and cultures of all eras have been fascinated by the mysteries of the universe and they have been intrigued by scientists' answers about the origin of human history.
Boasting a rich array of illustrations, essays and entries that reflect the work of numerous experts, this book - like the exhibition - takes a systematic and chronological look at the first editions of scientific texts, astronomical instruments and original documents, juxtaposing them with the works of art that have been inspired by the emotion of the various conceptions of the cosmos, from prehistory to our own era, and from the stelae of Saint-Martin de Corléans to installations by contemporary artists, specially commissioned for the historical spaces of Forte di Bard.There is undeniably a growing divide between the conquests of astronomical science and their effective perception by society, although many scientific theories have now been applied to common technologies. Nevertheless, the four interactive multimedia installations inspired by the exactitude of science and created by Studio Azzurro for this exhibition offer the opportunity for uncommon contact with phenomena that are not directly accessible in everyday life: the finiteness of the speed of light, the existence of space-time, its curvature on a local level and its expansion on a universal one.