1996 Palazzo delle Esposizioni, XII Quadriennale. Ultime generazioni (The Latest Generation), Rome
Materials: travertine, cloth, roses, essence of vanilla
Dimensions: m 5 x 6 x h 1,5
Created and planned for the large space under the staircase of the Palazzo delle Esposizioni, the work wants to be a moment of reflection and protest against the continuing violence to children (hence the title: Don’t Sacrifice the Child). Already visible from the top of the staircase, as one descends, the work appears as a desert of stone; 400 quintals of travertine are layered progressively and create a sort of large central ‘basin’, that suggests the presence of water that is not there. A long piece of cloth runs from below the basin and along the central row of stone blocks, in which the fabric is unwoven at regular distances so as to appear as single piece of cloth that is ready to be cut into smaller pieces. The roses fitted into the cloth were substituted by Maria Dompè every week for the length of the exposition, as a ritual ceremony that continually renews the work and that introduces a temporal element to the flow of life, from fresh flower to dried flower, cyclically. The essence of vanilla that pervades the air, with its sweet aroma, delicately evokes the world of children.
Laura Iamurri