The Sense of Sculpture. Practiced Sculpture in the 1970s Dematerializations Context

Caterina Martinelli, M.A.

This project investigates the sculpture of the 1970s, in particular its relations with the political and social context, highlighting the specific relevance of the work of the Italian sculptor Mauro Staccioli and clarifying its actuality.
Through a comparative approach in which Staccioli constitutes the case study, this project examines a series of similar coeval sculptural practices in order to highlight an international countertrend, not yet thoroughly investigated, to the dominant "de-materialization" processes. Mauro Staccioli's sculpture can be analyzed by breaking it down into four key elements (material, over-dimension, proportion and perspective, relationship with urban space) that also act as tools for the construction of meaningful comparisons with coeval artists: considering the specific differences this project thus intends to highlight the existence of a common sculptural intent to intervene constructively in physical, social, or political, space. 
Basing the research on the usage of the Mauro Staccioli Digital Archive, this project also focuses on defining the current digital instrumentation available for art-historical research in order to specify its uses, potentialities, and criticalities.