Allegory of a Marble Floor
2022
The romanticised perception of Carrara marble is intrinsically anchored in the masterpieces that have been produced with it in the past centuries, depicting ideals of beauty, purity, harmony and luxury. However, nowadays, the over-exploitation of Carrara marble constitutes an ecological disaster.
The ornamental marble market follows strict aesthetic rules, dictated by colour, size and texture. The selection and extraction process produces enormous accumulations of marble debris (quarry dumps), which are now crushed into calcium carbonate. The chemical industry uses this substance to produce paints, adhesives, toothpaste, cosmetics, pharmaceutical excipients and other cheap everyday products.
The research project Allegory of a Marble Floor dissects the extraction realities of ornamental marble and its byproducts in Carrara, Italy, aiming to connect the inherently extractive nature of design disciplines with the environmental realities of marble production. It seeks to recognize Carrara's marble deposits not only as a resource for design creation but also as part of a complex ecosystem.
By revisiting the graphic language of traditional marble inlays, the installation excavates the untold stories of extraction in the Apuan Alps. The composition juxtaposes varius and unexpected materialities of marble –from quarry dust to toothpaste, from pills to fake marbles – in relation to both endangered flowers and resisting species re-naturalising the cracks of Carrara.
The research was conducted with the kind contribution of the geologists Chiara Taponecco, Marco Mazzoni and Gabriele Stagnaro, the restorers Sara Guarducci and Francesca Toso, the botanist Prof. Gianni Bedini, and the activists Andrea Ribolini and Alberto Grossi.
