Pietra Comune is a large-scale installation placed in the center of Tarzo that evokes the shape of a boulder, holding a mystery within. Giacomo Gerboni has sought to capture time with a recognizable mark on the land, made in tune with the inhabitants.
The sculpture starts as an iron frame and will find fulfillment during the three months of Una Boccata d'Arte through forms of exchange and interaction with the local community. As time passes, the work grows both inwardly and outwardly. Its surface will take the shape of a contemporary menhir, echoing textures and details gathered from every corner of the municipality’s hamlets.
The interior, on the other hand, will conceal a collection of letters and messages written by inhabitants during various workshop experiences organized by the artist. These are personal testimonies of life in Tarzo at a specific historical moment, ideally addressed to its future inhabitants. The sculpture will be transformed into an impenetrable, solid time capsule, permanently fixed in the form of a stone, immutable against the confined temporality of human existence.
Pietra Comune represents the artist's attempt to forge a shared sense of time, or to narrate it to those who will follow us. Drawing freely from artist Gino de Dominicis, one could speak of a “humanity born later” yet destined to know more history than we ever could, thus paradoxically older. For those who wrote them, the words within the artwork offer a way to reflect on time, on what it means to “be” on our planet, and to experience a place. These words may evolve into a message of hope or despair, or offer a new interpretation of Tarzo’s past.
Pietra Comune stands as a palimpsest of material memories, where local identity finds its stratification—an accumulation suspended between memory, nature, and the future.
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Artwork:
01. Giacomo Gerboni, Pietra Comune, 2025, iron, variable dimensions.
Via Roma, 42, Tarzo (TV)ㅤ
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Discover the map hereㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ
"PIETRA COMUNE" IS A CONTEMPORARY MENHIR, AN INCORRUPTIBLE THRESHOLD OF THE PRESENT TIME. AN ARTIFICIAL FOSSIL THAT HOLDS INTIMATE TRACES OF THE INHABITANTS, IT IS CLAD WITH SURFACES FROM THE SEVEN HAMLETS OF TARZO: A MYSTERIOUS ARCHIVE AND AN ABSTRACT PORTRAIT OF THE TERRITORY AND THE LIVES THAT INHABIT IT.ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ
Giacomo Gerboni (Parma, Italy, 1990) lives and works in Parma. He graduated in Decoration – Art and Environment from the Academy of Fine Arts in Bologna (2013) and in Visual Arts from IUAV University of Venice (2018). He took part in the Erasmus+ programme at the Alonso Cano Faculty of Fine Arts in Granada (2011–2012) and held a studio at Fondazione Bevilacqua La Masa, Palazzo Carminati, in Venice (2017–2018).
His artistic practice explores the encounter with others as a space for generating shared creative processes. He is interested in the invisible dimension of reality and in both individual and collective dynamics that foster a deeper awareness of self and the world.
Since 2021, he has been leading visual arts workshops for people with mental health vulnerabilities, working with organizations such as La Polveriera in Reggio Emilia, Artetipi in Parma and, since 2022, RICREDO. With RICREDO, he runs workshops in the psychiatric ward of Parma’s hospital and in other studios across the province, in collaboration with the local health authority (AUSL).
In 2024, he extended his activities to schools and co-founded Le stanze della giostra di Lando, an artist residency developed with RICREDO. The project welcomes artists from across Italy to lead visual arts workshops for young people and individuals with fragile conditions in Parma.
Tarzo is a town in the Alta Marca Trevigiana, in the heart of the UNESCO site “Prosecco Hills of Conegliano and Valdobbiadene.” The area includes the main town and five hamlets—Corbanese, Arfanta, Fratta, Colmaggiore, and Nogarolo—each with its own unique character. In recent years, Tarzo has seen growing tourism, thanks to its scenic landscape: the ciglioni, mosaic vineyards typical of the UNESCO site, and the San Giorgio and Santa Maria lakes.Inhabited since the Neolithic era, as shown by findings at the Colmaggiore archaeological site, Tarzo experienced various dominations, from the fall of the Roman Empire to the Longobardi and the Ducato di Ceneda. From 962, local bishops held the title of Counts of Tarzo until 1769, when the area came under the Venice Republic.Today, Tarzo is known for its Prosecco and vibrant cultural scene, with initiatives like the Via dei Murales, the “Contea di Ceneda e Tarzo” award, I Cortili dell’Arte, and COR. Spazi Pubblici Palpitanti.
Giovanni Giacomo Paolin (Dolo, 1989) is an independent curator. He recently collaborated with Fondazione In Between Art Film (Rome), Autostrada Biennale (Prizren), and Fondazione Carraro (Padua).
Sara Maggioni (Bergamo, 2000) is a contemporary art producer and assistant to artists Bêka & Lemoine. She collaborates with We Are Here Venice and the cultural association Microclima (both in Venice).
Together, they co-curated Lucia Cantò’s solo exhibition Stelle che sorreggono altre stelle in 2023 at Fondazione Elpis, following their collaboration on her intervention in Malamocco (Venice) for Una Boccata d’Arte in 2022. Since 2023, they also co-manage the independent art space Panorama (Venice).