Artists and Projects
Some artists followed the tradition of marble sculpting without machinery. In average it took about a week to make one piece. Others requested a commercial enterprise to cut a block of desired size before starting to sculpt themselves. Some others brought stone cutting machines. This speeds up the work a lot, but ask us before what are the conditions and limitations in terms of noise.
Other artists are fascinated by the marble quarries as a landscape element, a working place or a man-made structure of rarely seen dimensions. Also, the immense piles of marble waste, the lakes in some of the quarries, the flocks of pigeons, the sound and light and even the rusty machinery triggers the fascination and inspiration. Some quarries are on walking distance of city centers and can easily be visited. But others are remote and you need a car or our assistance to come there. Some quarries seem to be made for theatrical performances, including stages and places for audience. Although it is an open air venue the background noise is limited because you are at least 10m below the surface. We did several informal try outs (dance, music, exhibition) with more than satisfying results, but to organize a formal public event in a quarry is not easy because of safety and logistics. Once we initiated and co-produced a theatre production and we can bring you in contact with institutions that may be interested to host your event. Some years ago OBRAS proposed to upgrade an abandoned marble quarries towards a thematic park. The proposal was very well received but too innovative to be realized in the short term. In the following pages some projects will be highlighted. |