Asia Grossi
A.Grossi - Hands, eyes and heart to care for our cultural heritage
SUPSI Image Focus
After studying graphic design, Asia, 29 years old, realised that she wanted to experiment with a more manual approach. She took a Bachelor of Arts in Conservation at SUPSI and then worked for a year between German-speaking Switzerland, French-speaking Switzerland and Saudi Arabia on the conservation of wall paintings and stone material. Now she is back studying.
Why did you choose the Master of Arts in Conservation-Restoration at SUPSI?
I enquired about possible Master’s degrees in my field offered by other Universities, but I decided to return to SUPSI because of the quality of its courses and because the lecturers and teachers are important personalities in the field of restoration. And then I wanted to complete my training to become a conservator-restorer.
What do you appreciate about the practical experiences you are having on real restoration sites?
It is incredible and wonderful to be able to see and work on wall paintings, stucco and stone surfaces in prestigious places such as, for example, the Villa Imperiale in Pesaro. These are special occasions, especially when I think of other Universities for restoration, where these opportunities are not taken for granted, because the students do not get close to the surfaces to be treated. At SUPSI they immediately took us to sites with works of great value where we can confront ourselves with experts.
Do those involved in conservation and restoration act between art and science?
Yes, we develop humanistic, historical and artistic knowledge, but also scientific knowledge: these are two paths that often run parallel, but for us they meet. I did not think I could be so interested in the scientific aspect, as I later discovered while attending SUPSI. Now I can no longer just see the works as beautiful testimonies, but I also see the materials they are made of. The awareness of what happens to the works over the years on a physical and chemical level, the degradation that can occur, how to intervene, the effect that restoration will have on the work that we want to preserve: what we do has enormous consequences if we do not have certain knowledge, because we would risk doing damage.