De Natura Fossilium
Gallery Libby Sellers, 2014
When Mount Etna erupted on 20th November 2013, the dramatic event was broadcast by a haunting noise of rumbling stones and a vast plume of dark smoke that completely obscured the sun. After the smoke, black earthen debris began showering down over the villages and cities within the immediate vicinity of the mountain. From the highway through to the Greek theatre in Taormina, everything was covered with black.
"Mount Etna is a mine without miners – it is excavating itself to expose its raw materials." 'De Natura Fossilium' is an investigation into the culture of lava in the Mount Etna and Stromboli regions of Sicily, two of the last active volcanoes in Europe. With 'De Natura Fossilium'1 Formafantasma investigates the cultures surrounding this particularly Sicilian experience to bring both the landscape and the forces of nature together as facilities for production, questioning the link between tradition and local culture and the relationship between objects and the idea of cultural heritage. 'De Natura Fossilium' is a project that refuses to accept locality as touristic entertainment. Instead, the work of Formafantasma is a different expedition in which the landscape is not passively contemplated but restlessly sampled, melted, blown, woven, cast and milled. From the more familiar use of basalt stone to their extreme experiments with lava in the production of glass and the use of volcanic fibres for textile, Formafantasma's explorations and the resulting objects realise the full potential of the lava as a material for design.
In homage to Ettore Sottsass, the great maestro of Italian design and an avid frequenter of the Aeolian volcanic islands, this new body of work takes on a linear, even brutalist form. Geometric volumes have been carved from basalt and combined with fissure – like structural brass elements to produce stools, coffee tables and a clock. The clock itself is deconstructed into three horizontal basalt plates to represent the passing of hours, minutes and seconds. A brass movement spins around the plates, shifting three different ages of volcanic sand that have been sampled from three different sites on Stromboli. Volcanic glass, procured by remelting Etna's rocks, has been mouth – blown into unique vessels or cast into box – like structures that purposefully allude to the illegal dwellings and assorted buildings that have developed at the foot of the volcano. Drawing on their vocabulary, these solitary glass boxes and mysterious black buildings have been finished with such archetypal Formafantasma detailing as cotton ribbons and Murano glass plaques.
By returning the rocks to their original molten state Formafantasma are reversing the natural timeline of the material and forcing a dialogue between the natural and manmade. A black, obsidian mirror that is suspended on a brass structure and balanced by Volcanic rocks continues this line of narrative, as the semi-precious glass – like stone is produced only when molten lava is in contact with water. Formafantasma has also investigated the tensile properties of volcanic fibre and woven two different wall hangings. These pieces combine illustrative references to both the Greek mythological gods of Mount Etna and the microscopic views of volcanic rock's geological strata as ascertained through the designers' collaboration with the Volcanologist Centre of Catania (INGV2). As a sustainable alternative to carbon fibre, Formafantasma's use of volcanic fibre has effectively re – appropriated a conventionally high tech material for artisanal ends.
While the collection focuses on a specific locality, the project has been developed in collaboration with a number of European experts: from the CNC cutting of basalt in Sicily to the scientific analysis of volcanic stones at the INGV of Catania, through the experiments with lava as glass at both the Glass Museum in Leerdam and Berengo Studio3 in Murano, to the brass developments with Carl Aubock4 in Vienna and the textile works with the Textile Museum5 in Tilburg. The collection is also accompanied by a photographic series by long time collaborator Luisa Zanzani6.
