Talpidae

2023
Cuneo, Living Room, 2023

Materials: Plaster, glass and oxids
130 x 140 x 140 cm.


Alberto Scodro is an artist based in Vicenza. In his research, deeply intertwined with the land and its meanings, he observes the transformations of matter through a phenomenological lens. Natural and artificial substances, often brought to interact on a physical and conceptual level, are called upon to manifest unprecedented expressive possibilities and activate speculative visions.
Driven by a strong inclination for experimentation, enriched with references to art history, mythology, and natural sciences, Alberto Scodro prompts the viewer to reflect on our relationship with the often inaccessible part of the world.
As part of Living Room 2023, the artist shared the residency with Annalisa Gossa and Fabio Massucco. During his stay in Cuneo, he visited the Riserva dei Ciciu del Villar and the Grotte di Bossea, two places highly attuned to the theoretical, conceptual, and formal principles guiding his artistic practice. Primarily drawn to the cave as an underground environment, the artist shaped a project exploring the subsoil as a living space.
In "Talpidae", 13 casts of mole burrows were assembled into a sculpture with a vertical development. Each element, characterized by a dynamic and sinuous aesthetic, represents an environment inaccessible to humans. Whether communication channels, "domestic" spaces, or simple refuges, these tunnel-like places create a dense network of submerged passages animated by frenetic animal activity.
Alberto Scodro relates the architecture of caves, shaped by millennia of erosion caused by water, to that of mole burrows, a complex system of underground galleries resulting from erosive activity within the earth. The artist indirectly reflects on another element common to these environments: darkness. A condition both moles and hypogeal and subterranean life forms experience, prioritizing senses other than sight.
By literally extracting the negative form of the burrows from the earth – engaging in a coercive action toward their inhabitants – Alberto Scodro provocatively initiates reflections on the invasive action of human activities. He sheds light on the "other" worlds constantly animating life on Earth and encourages a reconsideration of the concept of adaptation from an evolutionary perspective.

*No harm or physical violence was inflicted on moles during the creation of the artwork.

Andrea Lerda