Stranieri ovunque, 2024

Castelponzone, a hamlet of Scandolara Ravara, in the province of Cremona.

Stranieri Ovunque arose from an almost immediate impulse: Cavenago created the work straight after visiting that year’s Venice Biennale, where many of the installations housed in the main pavilions relied on a hazy, theatrical scenography, often more effective in its staging than in its content. The artist borrows the very title of the exhibition, Stranieri Ovunque, not to align with it thematically in the strict sense, but purely for conceptual amusement: he treats it as an ingredient to be taken and reused on his own palette, much like a ready-to-use pigment, stripped of its original curatorial context and reinserted into a completely autonomous composition.

The installation itself is a red tarpaulin-covered trailer, towed by an electric car – a Tesla – on both sides of which the yellow hammer and sickle stands out against a red background. Inside the trailer, a smoke machine continuously produces smoke that slowly seeps through the slits in the tarpaulin, enveloping the entire space in a perpetual cloud. It is a symbolic short-circuit constructed on multiple levels simultaneously: the towing vehicle, the quintessential symbol of technological innovation and the most contemporary form of capitalism, clashes openly with the emblem painted on the sides of the trailer, the historic symbol of the international labour and communist movement; and the smoke itself – a scenographic element ironically borrowed from the very ‘smoky’ aesthetic seen at the Biennale – envelops that emblem, rendering it both present and elusive, solid in the image yet dissolved in perception.

There is, in this installation, an implicit critique of a world that treats historical symbols as mere surfaces, without allowing itself the time for serious reflection on their original meaning. The hammer and sickle is today, in much of the world, an effigy that is automatically demonised, associated almost reflexively with the totalitarian regimes that adopted it, without this almost ever entailing a genuine historical examination of its origins, its transformations, or its manifold and contradictory legacies. Cavenago intends neither to celebrate nor to condemn that symbol: he presents it shrouded in smoke, exactly as it is treated in public debate today – present yet elusive, recognisable yet devoid of discursive substance, an icon that survives more as an appearance than as an object of critical thought.

It is no coincidence that the work takes the form of a mobile, itinerant monument, capable of traversing public and private spaces just as, in the past, the ideas and struggles of the twentieth century traversed the territory with the same material urgency. In this respect, Stranieri ovunque fits coherently within Cavenago’s wider reflection on the monument and its instability, from the lions of Cittadella and Pietrasanta to the pillars of A sostegno dell’Arte: here, however, the monument is not rendered mobile through the critical removal of its plinth, but is born already mobile, already being towed, already in itself an object that rejects the solemn fixity of traditional statuary, conveying a controversial historical image through the equally contemporary and fluid language of smoke and simple adhesive signage on a transport tarpaulin.

The choice of location – Castelponzone, a village in the province of Cremona once devoted to the artisanal production of hemp rope, now marked by the dissolution of that very productive community – adds a further layer of meaning: the travelling trailer, laden with a symbol that promised and betrayed a workers’ utopia, travels through a place where that very same working-class culture was lived and lost, in a short-circuit between local industrial memory and global ideological memory that the smoke, once again, envelops without ever fully dissipating.

The installation combines political symbolism with sensory phenomenology, creating a dialogue between historical memory and contemporary perception. Stranieri ovunque is the title of this work, which is ironically inspired by the theme of the 2024 Venice Biennale (visual arts), exploring the condition of alienation and disorientation within a specific historical and social context. The work takes the form of a visual and conceptual representation. The sides of a red, tarpaulin-covered trailer are marked by the yellow hammer and sickle on a red background. This emblem, steeped in history and ideology, stands as a mobile monument traversing public and private spaces, evoking the passage of the ideas and struggles that marked the twentieth century.

L.B.

The contrast between the solidity of the symbol and the ephemeral nature of the smoke is the defining feature: the hammer and sickle, an iconic representation of the aspirations and tragedies of communist movements, stands out against a red background, symbolising revolutionary passion; yet the smoke that slowly seeps out through the cracks in the tarpaulin undermines this steadfastness, evoking transience and disintegration.

Stranieri ovunque challenges the viewer on multiple levels. On the one hand, the hammer and sickle — a symbol of the struggles of workers and peasants — represents the promise of a just future and the utopia of a classless society. On the other, the smoke spreading slowly represents the ambiguity and inevitable decline of such ideals, stifled by internal contradictions and historical realities that have often betrayed the original aspirations.

Situated in Castelponzone, the sole hamlet of the Italian municipality of Scandolara Ravara in the Cremona countryside—an ancient village where hemp rope was once produced—the installation invites further interpretation. This place, a symbol of a vanished industry and a dissolved community, represents marginalisation and alienation. The travelling trailer becomes a reference to local history and collective memory, carrying with it the reminiscence of a now-forgotten craft and a society in transformation.

In the contemporary era, characterised by a continuous re-evaluation of history and a renewed interest in the symbols of the past, Stranieri ovunque stands as an act of critical remembrance. It is neither a hagiography nor a simple condemnation, but an invitation to reflect on the complexities of the 20th century. The work compels us to engage with history, not to forget the hopes and failures, and to recognise that the past is a field of unresolved tensions that still shape our present.

The hammer and sickle symbol was first adopted during the Russian Revolution of 1917, when the Bolsheviks, led by Vladimir Lenin, overthrew the provisional government and took control of the country. The sickle represents the peasants, whilst the hammer represents the industrial workers. The symbol thus unites the two main working classes, emphasising the alliance between farmers and workers in the struggle against capitalism and the aristocracy. After the Revolution, the hammer and sickle symbol was officially adopted by the Soviet Union and incorporated into its national flag, alongside the five-pointed red star, which symbolises the control of the Communist Party and revolutionary leadership. The hammer and sickle has become an international emblem of the communist and socialist movement, adopted by various communist parties around the world and by organisations and movements inspired by Marxist-Leninist ideals. The symbol is often associated with the revolutionary struggle for workers’ rights, the abolition of class inequalities and the building of a socialist society. With the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, use of the symbol declined in many countries of the former Soviet bloc, but it remains in use in various forms by communist parties and movements. Today, the hammer and sickle symbol is viewed differently depending on the context: for some, it is a symbol of hope and social justice; for others, it is associated with political repression and communist dictatorships. The hammer and sickle is associated with totalitarian regimes that have committed serious human rights violations, political repression, famines and other tragedies. For many, it is a symbol of oppression and suffering. In many countries, the symbol is still politically charged and can be divisive, evoking feelings of hatred and conflict.