environmental installation, 2019
The sea is in perpetual motion, as we see by standing on the coast and observing the incessant tides. Walking along the Latium coast in the area of Torre Flavia, Carlo Caloro observed how the embedded rocks and wood on the shore constantly disappear and reappear according to the behavior of the tides. Utilizing the protrusions of remnants of an old industrial electrical system – pilings and low pedestals – the artist has installed a series of instruments capable of intercepting the wave motion of the sea water. Caloro’s instrument, the Analog Ondograph, tracks the wave action of the sea at its incessant work. Like small, slender fluorescent antennas, the individual elements of the installation peep out from the shore, moving and capturing the vibrations hidden in the sea currents, of which man is often unaware or too distracted to notice. Measurement is a feature that distinguishes much of Caloro’s art. His measuring departs from scientific considerations, poetically transforming them into elements that once emptied of their original function become blind, kinetic mechanisms, installation devices that repeat a movement or detail, amplifying valences and content. The artist focuses on one segment, extrapolates it from the complexity of the dynamics that characterize the man-to-nature relationship and, with an attitude of objective observation, displays a detail, a fragment of reality to reveal and dissect the values, inherent conflicts, limits and potentials . The Analog Ondograph is a site-specific installation that harmoniously co-exists with the rhythm of the tides and the special place that is Torre Flavia, celebrating itself and the unending wave motion of the sea. In the multifaceted reality of this strip of Latium coast, where a wild and protected nature coexists with the indifference of many bathers and visitors, the artist’s work becomes a further ‘signpost’ of attention towards the nature inherent to the region, triggering awareness that every step taken on the sandy soil is in correspondence with a millenary presence in need of vigilant conservation.