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Maria Cristina Finucci


Help the Ocean, Roman Forum

The work is an ensemble of large metal wire cages, provided by the Maccaferri Group, and embroidered with 6 million coloured plastic caps to simulate an archaeological finding which could, one day, become emblematic of our time, renamed “the plastic era”.

 

This enigmatic structure evokes the architectural syntax of Ancient Rome, but using plastic instead of stone. Only from above, however, can one see that this peculiar construction forms the four letters of the word HELP, as if to convey the call of our entire historical time, finally aware of being on the way to self-destruction.

 

By night, the monumental inscription, as if made of huge lanterns, is illuminated – thanks to ENEL X – and can be seen also from via dei Fori Imperiali.

 

According to the artist Maria Cristina Finucci, HELP is “a call for help that is not limited to the environmental question, however essential: it also focuses on the individual and on all the life forms of a planet whose environment is inextricably linked to natural resources, health, nutrition, poverty, inequalities, human rights and peace”.