The exhibition ‘Cracking Art. Sculture a Colori’, promoted by Fondazione Terzo Pilastro – Internazionale and produced by Fondazione Cultura e Arte with the organisational support of Comediarting and Arthemisia, opened on the 9th of July 2021 at the Aia dei Musei in Avezzano (AQ). The exhibition - scheduled to close on the 3rd of October 2021- was a public success and extended until the 13th of February 2022.

Cracking Art is an art movement known throughout the world for its urban installations characterized by statues representing animals made of recyclable and coloured plastic usually placed on public squares, roads and in buildings. The movement was founded in 1993 with the intention to influence contemporary art through a strong social an environmental commitment which, together with an innovative use of plastic materials, evoke the close relationship between nature and artificial reality. Regeneration has been the basic concept of the movement ever since inception. Plastic has the properties of being practically eternal and may be pulverised and remodelled into other sculptures.

The Chairman of Fondazione Terzo Pilastro, Professor Emmanuele F. M. Emanuele commented, “I am delighted to have brought to Avezzano - at a little known exhibition venue, compared to its beauty, which certainly deserves to be known and that the Foundation intends to contribute to making it a new centre of excellence for contemporary art – the Cracking Art exhibition, because I believe that, with its strong environmental message, the riot of bright colours and the portrayal of animals in a Pop key, it represents a message of optimism, even at a symbolic level, after the dark period of the pandemic which we all experienced. As I have often had the opportunity to affirm, I do believe that art soothes psychological suffering (which is just as important as physical pain) and is an attraction, which is saying something at this moment in history when tourism lags.”

The corpus of the works exhibited was placed in the courtyard of the Aia dei Musei, a museum created in the premises of the former Municipal Abattoir that currently houses the new Lapidarium and the Museo del Prosciugamento del Fucino (Museum of the Drainage of the Fucine Lake). The former named ‘Le Parole della Pietra (the Words on the Stones)’ displays ancient epigraphs that recount the history of Marsica through stories of personal, religious and political life. The latter, also known as Il Filo dell’Acqua Museum, uses a modern multimedia exhibition to illustrate the great drainage works of the Fucine Lake, once the third largest lake in Italy.

A second selection of works was placed on Piazza Risorgimento and on the façade of the Palazzo Municipale of Avezzano so as to make the sculptures even more readily appreciable and accessible to visitors whilst creating a direct reference to the main venue of the exhibition in the courtyard of the Aia dei Musei.

Entrance to exhibition, which will close on the 3rd of October, will be free of charge. The exhibition will be produced in collaboration with the Comune di Avezzano that will offer the exhibition venue as well as the museum services.