Carloni & Franceschetti's Site-Specific Installation at Palazzo Ducale in Urbania

The artist duo Carloni & Franceschetti have created a site-specific installation titled "La lingua dell'angelo" (2024) at the Museo Civico in Palazzo Ducale, Urbania, curated by Elisa Mossa with a critical text by Alessandra Maccari. The work combines a video projection and a physical installation. The video shows the stormy sea at Fiorenzuola di Focara, a location in the Marche region referenced in Dante's Inferno for its strong winds. The installation features a cast of a calf's tongue placed on rubble, topped with a lead point. The title references Walter Benjamin's allegory of history based on Paul Klee's "Angelus Novus," where the angel of history is blown backward into the future while facing a pile of ruins. The work evokes contradictory sensations: a universal, timeless quality versus material fragments alluding to contemporary conflicts, such as the situation in Gaza. The calf's tongue also recalls the biblical story of the golden calf, while the lead element alludes to alchemical transformation, suggesting that from chaos and destruction new paths for civilization can emerge.