Bluemoon Operation

The title Bluemoon Operation recalls an undercover operation conducted by the secret services at the beginning of the 1970s, when heavy drugs, particularly pure heroin at a very low price, were distributed among the population so as to end the generational and political conflicts of the time. The number of heroin addicts in Italy rose from zero in 1970 to 300,000 in 1985. In Rome, between 1973 and 1974, the place where one could buy drugs was Campo de’ Fiori. Bar owners would put holes in their teaspoons as drug addicts repeatedly stole them in order to dissolve the substance. This did not solve their problem, however, as tourists stole the perforated teaspoons as souvenirs. Using this particular detail as his departure point, Caloro has created a series of perforated and engraved teaspoons with the title Bluemoon Operation. These teaspoons will not be exhibited but mixed among the bar’s own cutlery, in this case Caffè Perù, via Monserrato, Rome. The teaspoon thus becomes an emblem of a historical timeframe marked by the tragic diffusion of heavy drugs and an often unwritten page of our contemporary history. Those who will have a coffee between the 7th and 13th of October 2019 at Caffè Perù will find it difficult to scoop cream and sugar from the bottom of their cup, but, at the same time, they will be able to read and remember the complexities of a difficult historical period, not too far from us in time and space.