CARRARA. There are those who seem to have mistaken the artistic path of White Carrara, the exhibition dedicated to Italian design whose works are scattered throughout the city center – for the Puccinelli park in Marina, a mini paradise for children who can jump freely on the games, or for the Fossa dei Leoni, the Place of the Heart of many Carrara residents who fell in love with football there because they learned to kick it. To put it in a nutshell: White Carrara as a playground and/or as a soccer field.
The damages
Perhaps the four episodes of damage – due to culpable carelessness – to the works that make up the Design is back bouquet were not enough: this is the title of the 2024 edition of White Carrara. We remember that the arms of the anthropomorphic corkscrew, a tribute to a real woman, “Anna G”, designed by designer Alessandro Mendini for the Alessi brand, owned by the stone company Sagevan, located in Piazza Alberica, were broken three times; and the “Gomitolo” table created by designer Paolo Ulian for Bufalini Marmi, in Piazza Accademia, was shattered. It wasn’t enough. Because there are those who put children astride the design creations – children are always innocent but adults are not – and those who take the opportunity to kick the ball, among the artistic installations: and we are not talking about excited teenagers but rather of men and women.
The shots
In the age of social networks and smart phones there is very little that escapes the possibility of being immortalized. And it goes without saying that all these manifestations of sloppiness and disregard for the artistic work, generously (and free) offered to the general public so that it can be enjoyed, are documented by photographic shots. Moreover, the desire to denounce the civic-minded people of Carrara who photograph “the scars” and then post on FaceBook is growing. And so as reporters you just can’t help but see everything that (part of) the city has already seen. There are photos on Facebook of children placed by grandparents and parents on the installations, and of adults playing football in Piazza Alberica, the location par excellence of White Carrara.
The news
It is Saturday, June 29, it is 10:30 pm. A small family approaches one of the works in Piazza Alberica and lets the children climb on it; one slides under a marble table, on the base of the work and tries to climb on it; the other is helped by the adults to ride astride the marble rabbit that completes the structure; the children play a little, then get off and run towards other marble “rides”, where other children of the same age are doing the same, under the – careless – eyes of fathers, mothers and grandparents. Some say that similar episodes have also happened in Pietrasanta, the Little Athens: so it would not be a Carrara-only evil, but common evil can be half joyful. It is very beautiful – because it is democratic – the fact that art has become accessible to everyone and that the division between high culture and low culture is now something retro. But, perhaps, the idea of placing a velvet rope around the perimeter of the works would not have been discarded…
The reminder
“Anna G has been damaged again,” commented city councilor Simone Caffaz. “For the city administration, everything is beautiful; the atmosphere, thanks to the exhibition in the city, is one of joy and bliss. Everything is fantastic because, as councilor Gea Dazzi said, we should only talk about beautiful things. This time, too, it must have been an innocent child, even if adults systematically play soccer among the statues without anyone intervening. Dear Administration, wouldn’t a little surveillance be appropriate? If you really don’t want to put private police guards there, at least a soccer referee or a kindergarten teacher.”
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