Marco Vaglieri. ...una volta

Picture of the project entertainment room

The project ...una volta (...once upon a time) consisted of the creation of a model representing a map of the world, to be installed on the ceiling of the recreation room in the new hospital department. In the preliminary plans, the room was intended as a space for the patients’ families to rest. The model represented the terrestrial world map as it might appear following a global rise in sea and ocean levels. The project involved the construction of the model—of which Vaglieri produced a rendering and technical drawings—in flame-retardant and non-toxic resin, painted with fluorescent colours that would have made it visible even at night and with the lights switched off. The white surface of the model would have emerged against a ceiling painted blue.

The catalogue published on the occasion of the exhibition at the GAM in Bologna also features an aerial view of an island and the surrounding sea, accompanied by the following caption: “If I do not return, keep in mind that I never left. My travel has all been a stay here, where I have never been”, a quotation from Biglietto lasciato prima di non andare via(Ticket Left Before Not Going Away) by the Italian poet and literary critic Giorgio Caproni (Livorno, 1912–Rome, 1990). The quotation highlights the narrative dimension and invitation to travel—already suggested by the title of the work—that are characteristic of the artist’s poetry, whose practice has increasingly focused on the relationship between literary and visual language.