Poseidonia, città d’acqua, archeologia e cambiamenti climatici

In 2018, as part of its commitment to creative storytelling as an instrument of environmental re-education, Material Thinking accepted an invitation to assist with the design of a major archaeological exhibition in southern Italy.

Poseidonia, città d’acqua, archeologia e cambiamenti climatici (Poseidonia, water city, archaeology and climate change) was a major initiative of the National Archaeological Museum of Paestum and the exhibition eventually ran over over a year between late 2019 and late 2020.

Material Thinking developed a design concept for the exhibition display cabinets or vitrines. The Museum features a major contemporary art work, a sculpture by noted Neapolitan artists, Carlo Alfano. The sculpture features six columns. Material Thinking referenced this foundational sculpture by creating 24 columnar quadrants that optimised viewing as well as referencing the extreme reflexivity of the Alfano work.

The design concept was realised by Neapolitan architect, Lucia Anna Iovieno, producing exhibition infrastructure that encouraged visitors to think about the way we are implicated (refracted and reflected) in what we look at. This idea was associated with taking agency over climate change, taking hold of personal responsibility and insisting on a different future vision.