Kinetic totem distorts the space on a hilltop in Italy
A mysterious phenomenon distorts the landscape of the Abruzzo region in Southern Italy, in the province of L’Aquila. It is Edoardo Dionea Cicconi’s Kinetic Mirrorsculpture, a reflective totem, that emerges amid the medieval setting of the fortress on the hilltop of Rocca Calascio. The site-specific installation is part of the artist’s ongoing XYZT series exploring the relationship between the natural landscape and transience.
The slender statue of Cicconi is located at one of the oldest fortifications in Italy, still standing today, at an altitude of 1460 meters. With its vertical structure and metal cladding, the installation contrasts sharply with the castle’s stark stone walls and rugged mountainous surroundings. Although the surface of the work itself is straight and sharp, the smooth, reflective surface in contact with its surroundings creates mysterious, almost visionary images: the image bends before returning to its original starting point.
The work also enters into dialogue with its surroundings, moving with the landscape and passers-by, capturing their image, which first disappears and then reappears on the metal surface. But instead of our reflection, we see only the image of distorted figures in motion, which can be both exciting and unsettling. Like a black hole, the installation absorbs the image of its surroundings, and the path of the reappearing reflection is inscrutable, no one knows where or when it might reappear.
Cicconi’s work has been greatly influenced by the science of contemporary physics, including the work of Carlo Rovelli. The result is a dialogue between past, present and future. With great care and dedication, the artist himself chooses the location of the works, which are able to enhance their scientific and metaphysical charge. This is how he chose “magic”, or in the case of this project, the medieval castle of Rocca Calascio. The kinetic totem will remain indefinitely in the cinematic scene, where we can discover for ourselves what it is like when the concepts of space and time are in dialogue with each other.
