The Presena Glacier

 In northern Italy's Trentino region, an annual effort takes place to preserve the Presena Glacier from climate change. Initiated in 2008, workers cover the glacier with large industrial textiles, preventing its melting due to rising temperatures. 

 This effort is not necessarily driven by environmental protection: what is covered is preeminently a sky slope, enabling the season to start earlier and last longer. The covered area has grown to 120,000 square meters, using petroleum-derived textiles with a limited lifespan of around two years. 

 This paradoxical act, burning 34 tonnes of plastics annually, releases approximately 20 tonnes of CO2, contributing to climate change.  

 The installation “The Invisible Mountain” explores this complex challenge. A large textile (approx. 16meters long and 6 meters wide) has been salvaged from the presena glacier and draped in the shape of the mountain it attempts to “save”, but that is tragically destined to disappear. 

his objet trouvé, marked by the traces left by the melting glacier, becomes a modern day sindone (holy shroud), a powerful meditation on the artificiality of our environment and the perverse tools used to address climate change.