On Tuesday 28th of May, the young Italian ceramist Giorgio di Palma presented in the garden of the Italian Institute of Culture of Barcelona, the permanent artistic installation MUTATIONS. New forms of crafts and design in Puglia. It is organized by the Italian Institute of Culture of Barcelona in collaboration with Pugliapromozione in the framework of Italia Repubblica Creativa, a program of cultural activities organized by the General Consulate of Italy in Barcelona.The installation, curated by Miriam Giordano/Labóh in collaboration with Giusy Ottonelli/Puglia Design Store synthesizes a dialogue between memory and traditional techniques of contemporary design. A dialectic whose protagonists are artistic objects and industrial serial production, the recovery of artisan processes, irony, and provocation, as well as the reinvention of traditional methodologies and forms. The contemporary Puglia is thus reflected in a dynamic tension, where contradictory extremes outline the profile of a region open to innovation.“I make unnecessary ceramics. In an era of excesses and waste, my goal is to create objects that have fallen into disuse since birth, unusable but impossible to leave behind. They will survive thanks to the terracotta, therefore they will be eternal “explains the artist born in Grottaglie in 1981, selected as one of the best- emerging ceramists in the world in 2017 by the ICMEA (International Association of Ceramic Magazine Publishers).His “unnecessary ceramics” are reproductions of everyday objects, in real size, without functionality but with deep aesthetic and conceptual meaning. They are the protest against the unbridled consumerism of contemporary society, where what is now considered necessary is destined to become superfluous tomorrow. With ceramics, Giorgio turns useless into eternal, immortalizing moments.The ice creams intervention is part of Giorgio di Palma’s personal exhibitions presented in museums and temporary cultural entities. He will only create ten, and the one presented in the garden of the Institute is the fourth. The first is in the town of Vizzini (Italy) and two others have been made for Massimo Bottura, chef of the Osteria Francescana de Modena, pronounced for the second time the best restaurant in the world.
