A research project on the notion of change using the archaeology process as a starting point to trace the relationship between memory and the transformative dynamics of places.

 

In 2023, an archaeological excavation in the city of Rome reveals a water path. A fragile trace on the ground formed by humidity - but which has survived for centuries – is now exposed by the experts, only to become ephemeral. 
To preserve and document the impression that the movement of water has left on the landscape at a certain point in time, we began to cast molds. 

The molds created, document the movement of water as a negative trace. When the archaeologists uncovered the original layer of the trace, the first set of molds was produced, recording this movement as close as possible to the original time period in which it existed. A few days later, at the same locations, but after certain acts by the archaeologists had been completed, the second and third set of molds were made. Therefore, these sets of molds document both the passage of water in the distant past and human behavior during a brief period of time in the present. 

They were presented as fragments on site, which is what they finally are. These "fragments" address the presence of a moving substance with the same care that stable humanmade structures hold in an excavation trench but also record the transformation of the landscape because of that movement.

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The project was realized in collaboration with Alexandros Khan, was funded by the European Union and implemented by the Goethe-Institut, 

realized in collaboration with ECeC laboratory 

under the scientific direction of  Francesca Romana Fiano (University of Ferrara).