Cecilia Vicuña's 'El glaciar ido' at Castello di Rivoli

Chilean artist Cecilia Vicuña has created a monumental site-specific installation titled 'El glaciar ido' (The Vanished Glacier) at the Castello di Rivoli Museum of Contemporary Art in Rivoli-Turin, Italy. Curated by Marcella Beccaria, the work occupies the Manica Lunga space, where Vicuña previously participated in the 2000 group show 'Quotidiana'. The installation, a 100-meter-long quipu-like textile suspended from bamboo, evokes a melting glacier and addresses climate change, memory, and loss. During the opening, Vicuña performed a collective ritual inspired by Andean traditions, distributing raw wool and leading participants in song and meditation. The quipu, an ancient Andean recording system dating to 2500 BCE, is reimagined without knots to symbolize the erasure of memory and attention to the environment, also referencing the desaparecidos of Chile's dictatorship. Vicuña's practice, which she calls 'arte precario' (precarious art), uses ephemeral materials and participatory actions. The exhibition runs until September 20, 2026.