“INSIDE THE GREEN CUBE” is a partecipatory happening held on Sunday 30th January 2022, in the Urban Garden “Jhonny Cirillo” in Scafati. We built an ephemeral monument in straw in the shape of a cube of about 27 m³. The slow transformation from geometric lines to organic shapes is documented over the span of a year.

With an ironic allusion to Brian O’Doherty’s pioneering “Inside the white cube”, an analysis of the ideology of exhibition space, we wanted to experiment with ways of making participatory and ecological art.

Our community sculpture makes natural, circular processes visible. Geometric forms will tend to soften over time in an unpredictable process, allowing themselves to be transformed by gravity, rain and sun. The seeds of the same straw will eventually sprout, feeding on the decomposition of the generating plants.

Another reference is the conceptual artist Cildo Meireles who, through his installations, expressed resistance to political oppression in his country, Brazil. Precisely with an installation consisting of a cube of straw, inside of which is hidden a golden needle, he investigated the contrast of size and visibility between hay and needle, between raw material and refined metal. The same discrepancy found between work and work of art.

The Urban Garden “Jhonny Cirillo” is also a dense space. Jhonny’s story tells us about lack of opportunities, mental health and the inability of institutions to react adequately to discomfort. Together we will investigate where to find the often invisible golden needle and if, perhaps, it is not represented by the community itself, outside the cube.

 

CREDITS

Location : Scafati, Italy
Date : January 2022
Team : Anna Sobczak, Pio Lorenzo Cocco, Andrea Fiore, Mauro Terracciano
Sponsor : ABC s.a.s., with the support of Ciccio Bakery
Ph. : Salvatore Pagano