Costantino Nivola's prehistoric Sardinia ties explored in dual-site exhibition

The exhibition 'Sulle spalle dei giganti. La Preistoria moderna di Costantino Nivola' at Museo Nivola in Orani and Museo Civico Giovanni Marongiu in Cabras examines for the first time the crucial relationship between Costantino Nivola's artistic practice and prehistoric Sardinian art forms. Curated by art historians Giuliana Altea and Antonella Camarda, prehistoric archaeologists Luca Cheri and Anna Depalmas, and architect Carl Stein, the show is organized by Fondazione Mont'e Prama and Fondazione Nivola. It features loans from American and Italian private collections, prehistoric statues from Mont'e Prama, and multimedia installations by CRS4's Visual Computing Group. The exhibition traces Nivola's inspiration from Sardinian prehistory—from sculpture to Eneolithic and Nuragic architecture—across his career, including his sandcast works from the 1950s, the 1953 Olivetti showroom relief in New York, and the Mother series from the 1970s. Key themes include the Great Mother figure, water cults, and the Builder archetype. Nivola (Orani, 1911–Long Island, 1988) fled fascist Italy in 1939, worked at Olivetti, and befriended Saul Steinberg and Le Corbusier. The exhibition runs at both venues, 70 km apart, linking internal Barbagia to the sea near Oristano.