Interested in the multiple relationships between humans and the environment, Michele Ciacciofera investigates the reverberations of these interactions in mythological, historical, and cultural systems. His work focuses on the experience of the observing subject, considering the pluralities inherent in each individual and their ways of interacting with the universe.
The environmentalist character of his practice stems from ecological concerns developed during his studies in political science and guides his interest in traditional building techniques. These include the Nurago (or Nuraghe), a megalithic architectural typology characteristic of Sardinia in southern Italy during the Nuragic Age (1900–730 BC). The in-depth study of these traditions results in sculptures and installations produced by Ciacciofera in collaboration with local artists. In The Nest of the Eternal Present (2025), a work presented at the 36th Bienal de São Paulo, Ciacciofera uses the pau a pique technique, a construction system that makes use of local materials such as clay, wood, and gravel, in an artisanal process interwoven with Indigenous, Afro-diasporic, and European knowledge and widely used during Brazil’s colonial period.
The sound installation was conceived in the form of a multidimensional electronic concert. His sculptures, made of glazed ceramic and papier-mâché, take on hybrid and dreamlike morphologies, evoking fusions between human, plant, and animal. Sound, a central element of the work, is orchestrated by the artist by manipulating the songs of thirty species of birds, expanding the possibilities of dialogue between digital technological tools and natural phenomena. The sound waves accentuate the three- dimensionality of the installation and invite the viewer into an immersive experience as they move between figures arranged around a circular earthen nest.
The Nest of the Eternal Present also evokes the Persian poem “The Conference of the Birds”, in which birds cross mystical valleys in search of collective self-knowledge, while at the same time dialoguing with the discovery of fossilized titanosaur nests in Minas Gerais, establishing a symbolic continuity between the prehistoric past, spirituality, and an ecological future in which humans, animals, and landscapes share an interconnected destiny.
The installation emphasizes the relevance of the spatial arrangement of the sculptural elements and their interrelationships, evoking both the agglomeration of megalithic forms and the gathering of individuals in spiritual congregation. By activating the power contained in the act of congregating, Ciacciofera proposes the construction of the dwelling – and, in the case of this installation, the nest – as an essential exercise in humanity.