The Italian architect Iole Alessandrini, who has lived in Seattle since 1996, has completed eight temporary installations in Seattle, Tacoma, and Bellevue, Washington, as well as in Brooklyn, New York. By transforming recycled or disused building sites, the 35-year-old artist has distinguished herself from other architects who have jumped on the public art bandwagon in Seattle. Alessandrini makes temporary pieces that involve the seeming dissolution of building structures rather than their permanent reinforcement. In the process, she has extended public as well as installation art in innovative and challenging ways. Her American work has been written about extensively in European architecture magazines and American art and architecture publications, placing her in a gray area between art and architecture.
