粘土- CLAY - ARGILLA

For the last two years I've been dealing with issues related to the natural world and its composing elements. This project goes deep into the semiotics of clay. Clay in all its manifestations is what the audience can see in this installation: from the grains of expanded clay (produced by firing natural clay to temperatures of 1100 – 1200 °C in a rotating kiln), to the red-brown splinters of terracotta roof tiles found in the remote village of Guodong (郭洞); from the dense clay mask powder of the Dead Sea to the fine powder of red halloysite coming from the province of Guangxi in southern China. Long test tubes, put into small terracotta spheres, contain each of the above mentioned elements, expanded clay, clay mask powder and red halloysite.

 The test tubes, though being aseptic and sterile in their form and in their chemical use, urge the visitors to be aware of the need to treasure these natural elements, to keep them as valuable gifts from the mother earth.

 Clay is also a performative project. During the first performative action the artist, accompanied by the music of the Japanese sound creator Erico Wakamatsu, fills one by one the test tubes, arousing awareness of the valuableness of these materials. The second performative action is accompanied by the travelling sounds of the Swiss artist Lilian Beidler. Francesco Liberti, sitting on his kness behind a pagan altar, wait for the visitor to knee in front of him one by one; he applies, alternatively, a clay facial mask and a mask of red halloysite. Throughout this action the audience becomes cathartically aware of the preciousness of clay, of its benefits and, extensively, of nature

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