Luca Staccioli

In Sabotage of a working day, the wheels of ergonomic office chairs, as if by magic—or in protest—assume the appearance of a giant mechanical plant: blooming, climbing, and invasive, descending from the ceiling and spreading into the corners and walls.

 

Sabotage of a working day explores the relationships between bodies and everyday workplace tools, working time and landscapes.The piece envisions the collapse of visual boundaries between interiors—whether domestic or office spaces—into a spontaneous, uncontrolled vegetation: a cracked machine or a perfect new non-functional body.

 

The work investigates the sculptural potential of everyday objects that often go unnoticed. The chair wheel undergoes a process of transformation and de-functionalization, shifting from a common, efficiently designed object to the sculptural matrix of a chaotic, living body. This new form is created through multiple casts of chair wheels, which are reproduced in ceramic and cement-based resins.

 

Its sculptural materiality originates from a serial production process that replicates the industrial manufacturing of the original object but gains life through the wear and gradual destruction of the molds during continuous replication—leading to errors and deformations. The wheel forms are bound together by electrical wires, USB cables, and steel cords.

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- Ecosystem. Narrating the theme of consumerism by creating a journey where the first perceptual impact is linked to nature is no small feat. When Elmgreen & Dragset, in the upper space of the Podium at Fondazione Prada in Milan, reconstructed the modular office spaces designed in the 1960s by Robert Probst—emphasizing the sense of isolation from human life in favor of a purely working, non-identity-based, and alienating existence—they demonstrated how little it takes to strip daily life of its uniqueness. “Our bodies are no longer the active subjects of our existences. Unlike in the industrial era, today they no longer generate value within the advanced production mechanisms typical of contemporary society,” declare the two Danish artists. Luca Staccioli takes the viewer down this path but without directing them toward a feeling of unease about the theme he is analyzing. By punctuating the gallery space with works created through various processes and mediums, the artist succeeds in crafting a serene, pleasant atmosphere, albeit surreal and disorienting at first glance. The wheels of ergonomic office chairs have been reinterpreted by the artist as refined, ironic sculptures that repeat in small and medium compositions. Entering the first room of ArtNoble Gallery, these elements—collected by the artist and the gallerist from various places—form a large clustered installation that cascades from the ceiling. It is a massive wisteria bursting from the wall, welcoming the spectator in a dizzying embrace. What is this branch of lilac-colored nature doing here in March? Upon closer inspection, wires, cables, electrical outlets, and mechanical elements extend downward. This is not a natural habitat. Instead, it is a grand sculptural installation that, as a prelude to Staccioli’s second solo exhibition at the Milanese gallery, introduces the theme the artist wishes to explore—an artificial ecosystem in action. The wheels gradually detach, transforming into small, meticulously crafted ceramic sculptures. Their colors are soft, displayed on the walls like three-dimensional icons: pink, lilac, green (recalling the prickly pears Staccioli previously created in Kit eliminacode multifunzione (fichi d’India)), pale yellow, and light orange. None of these hues evoke the world of consumption, piecework labor, or endlessly repeated gestures that lead to self-erasure. Luca evokes his most romantic imagination, his phenomenological inversion in which solutions exist. It only takes poetics and aesthetics to shift towards new directions. Sabotage of a working day functions as the initial connector, as a tool that - “by magic or protest,” as the artist writes about the ergonomic chair wheels - can overturn the functionality of a system. - Text by Rossella Farinotti

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