Alessandro Biggio's Ash Sculptures at CARTEC, Cagliari

Alessandro Biggio (Cagliari, 1974) presents an exhibition at CARTEC, a former quarry turned exhibition space in Cagliari, Sardinia. The works are made from ash, leaves, and water, produced using ash from Calasetta on the island of Sant'Antioco, where the local dialect term 'sénne' means ash. The sculptures are fragile monoliths hardened by sun and wind; Biggio notes that producing a handful of ash requires over half a quintal of properly seasoned wood. The exhibition occupies three rooms: the Sala della grotta features suspended palm leaf skeletons, described by curator Efisio Carbone as 'not more able to fly, but only feathers beating the air,' quoting T.S. Eliot. The Sala della Volta displays traces of ash sculptures on paper, which Carbone calls 'monotypes similar to radiographs investigating the invisible.' Three sculptures of palm leaves knotted with cotton gauze and ash complete the show. Paola Mura, director of the Musei Civici di Cagliari and curator, states the works aim to 'understand space in a total work of art, in an almost visceral adherence to imposed limits.' The exhibition challenges the complex architecture and the precarious physical limits of the works.