Sub Limine
Seggiano (GR) 2010-2022.
Installation in Seggiano (Grosseto province).
Part of the "Spazi Consonanti" project for the local museum. A wild-olive tree, apparently planted firmly into the ground, offers the viewer the chance to behold a sight rarely - if ever - seen: a look into its vital core, into its secret activities. The aeroponically fed roots hang in the air within an ancient cistern, as sensors reveal the surprising amount of electrical activity they produce, the embryo of a thought, perhaps.
In small groups, visitors can enter the large cistern and see the root system in the shadows. Small sensors touch the roots at certain points and detect their electrical activity. The scientific advice of this work is by Prof. Stefano Mancuso of the University of Florence, who founded the laboratory of plant neurobiology for the study of the roots compared to that of the brain activity of certain animals.
From these electrical signals a writing machine that is an integral part of the work as a whole, derives a drawing, a grapheme that is the product of radical activity, in real time
