On June 21st, 2025 Michele Ciacciofera (CRF 2016) opened his new installation Altare del tempo e dell’acqua feconda (Altar of Time and Fertile Water) in Fanano, Italy.
The land art, composed of eight vertical totems, reflects on the interaction between water and stone as a key to understanding the fundamental dynamics of nature and human history. Various blocks of stone, chosen and selected from the river, were stacked and balanced to form veritable stone giants, aligned and arranged parallel to the river’s course. “This is a collaborative project with nature: over time, water has shaped the stones, suggesting the forms of totemic entities,” says Michele. “Each of them will be created through the stacking and balancing of multiple monoliths, giving rise to veritable stone giants.”
Read the interview with the artist and the project’s curator, Bianca Cerrina Feroni, highlighting the work’s social implications and political message here.