How can a temporary spatial threshold activate collective memory through ritual, light, and material traces?

SITE-SPECIFIC RESEARCH TO COMMUNICATE THE MEMORY OF A PLACE THROUGH ITS MATERIAL ORIGIN

This research investigates how the physical matter of a place like stones, soils, and historical form vocabularies can be composed into a communicative system for memory. Developed through a collaboration between Elena Pelosi and Florencia S.M. Brück, the project anchors contemporary digital practices in local material evidence. 

By specifying provenance (stone origin, clay body, geometric source), the study formulates a method: derive form from local heritage, embed local matter, and use digital systems to reveal structure rather than replace it. The outcome is a site-specific protocol for communicating place-memory through material origin, with clear pathways for replication in future contexts.

Ceramic vessels, modeled on Platonic solids documented in Etruscan contexts (including dodecahedrons dated to ca. 500 BC near Padua), are designed to contain stones collected in Tuscany during the 2024 residency. This pairing locates the work in a specific geology and cultural lineage. Generative geometries, authored in code and refined with AI, are digitally mapped onto the ceramic forms, activating them as dynamic carriers of pattern and meaning. Arranged according to the Fruit of Life geometry, the installation establishes a spatial threshold where physical artifacts and algorithmic overlays co-produce an experience of time, origin, and continuity.