Cecilia Vicuña's 'Il ghiacciaio scomparso' at Castello di Rivoli

Cecilia Vicuña (born 1948, Santiago, Chile) presents 'Il ghiacciaio scomparso' at Castello di Rivoli Museo d'Arte Contemporanea in Rivoli-Torino. The exhibition features a new commission centered on a large-scale quipu (Inca knot-record) made of raw wool, suspended horizontally along the gallery's longitudinal axis. Vicuña's practice, which she terms 'Arte Precario,' integrates participatory creation, poetry, and activism. The work references the Aztec goddess Coatlicue and the feathered serpent Quetzalcoatl, and draws on the artist's exile after the 1973 Chilean coup. The project includes a collaboration with students from Accademia Albertina di Belle Arti di Torino for outdoor spaces. Vicuña's quipu, titled 'El glaciar ido,' evokes environmental destruction and the memory of the disappeared under Pinochet's dictatorship. The exhibition includes writings on walls and a soundscape. The title references Eduardo Galeano's writings on colonial exploitation.