Serene Waves Endured

Created as a permanent installation for Piazza San Basilio in the historical center of L’Aquila, the work takes its title from Luigi Nono’s composition ….sofferte onde serene… (…serene waves endured…, 1976). The earthquake that devastated L’Aquila in 2009, the bringer of death and suffering, is transformed into a wave-shaped bench on which to rest one’s body and encounter the bodies of others. The choice of lava stone hearkens back to past earthquakes, part of the identity of the Abruzzo city and at the same time a reference to the metamorphoses and regenerations that have always followed major earthquakes.