Muro, 1978

cemento 800x800x120 cm
Dalla natura all’arte, dall’arte alla natura. Natura praticata. Ambiente/Intervento
XXXVIII Biennale Internazionale d’arte, Venezia, 1978

“At Venice on occasion of the XXXVIII Biennial when, after some hypotheses of positioning similar triangular forms, in the end Staccioli came up with a structure that would take this idea of obstructing the passage to extreme consequences. The intervention-sculpture made for Venice materialises an idea, gives shape to the thought that is the topic of the exhibition: Dalla Natura all’Arte, dall’Arte alla Natura (From Nature to Art, from Art to Nature). The Italian section develops the topic in three sections; Staccioli is invited to work in the Natura praticata (Nature Occupied) section. For him occupying nature is the foundation of work, the essential condition in order to realise it. But to occupy nature it is necessary to change point of view, “swerve off the path” and investigate its hidden aspects. The artist builds a wall of 64 square metres in bricks and concrete, which blocks the entrance road to the gardens. A wall in which “the use of simple materials exalts its building, the sense of manual work, the principal characteristic of the sculpture”, which imposes itself with its robust bulk, forcing people to “make the necessary effort to get past an obstacle in order to enjoy the object of recreational-cultural interest: the celebration of the artistic event”. On the other side it blocks the exit and the view towards the lagoon.
The wall would quickly become the image symbolising the much-talked-about event of 1978.”

Simona Santini, Mauro Staccioli. Gli anni di cemento 1968-1982, Edizioni Il Ponte, Firenze 2012, p.225