Come l'acqua come l'oro... / Like Water Like Gold... (2012)

Come l'acqua come l'oro... / Like Water Like Gold... (2012).
Exhibition in The Museum of the Trajan's Market on the Imperial Fora in Rome.

My artistic interaction with Rome stretches back to the 1980s. I was overwhelmed by the grandeur of the city. The archeological sites in Rome were a wonderful source of inspiration to me. I was fascinated by their symmetry and splendor.

The main theme of the exhibition is Plato’s Theory of Forms. According to Plato, the objects that we see are not real, but mimic real Forms. My goal is to represent these Forms seen in various artifacts dating from the time of Trajan’s Market.

I compare the past, the present and the future by looking at simple utensils like bowls, bottles, plates and jars, or rather the prototypes of those artifacts. Complicated tools and technologies are subject to rapid change, but simple utensils obey a slow, almost geological rhythm.

My aim is to confront Roman archaeology with the “archaeology of the future”. How will future generations interpret their archeological excavations from our times? How do we think about ourselves? What do we see in the mirror of time? The products of the modern consumer society pile up like imperishable leftovers in dimensions never seen before in history. How many plastic bottles of drinking water are wasted every day in Rome, filling ever growing dumping sites?

Displaying my works in Trajan’s Market gives me a welcome opportunity to explore different sculptural methods combining modern materials such as Jesmonite, aluminum, plastic bottles, plexiglass with naural elements like water and light.