Quarrying Marble
LIBERATION
During the Renaissance, marble was quarried by inserting wooden pegs into naturally occurring cracks in the rock, then pouring water onto the pegs to make them swell. Eventually the rock would split, liberating a piece of marble.
The principal tool of modern quarrying is a wire cable 1cm in diameter, fitted at 5cm intervals with diamond-studded collars. Holes are drilled in the mountain, the cable is threaded through the holes to form a loop, and the loop is driven at high speed by an electric motor.
IL CAPO - THE CHIEF
A beautiful, breathtaking, award-winning film by Yuri Ancarani follows Franco Barattini - Il Capo, during the extraction process of marble at his mountainside quarry in Carrara, Italy.
The Chief manages, coordinates and guides quarrymen and heavy duty machines using a language consisting solely of gestures and signs. Conducting his dangerous and sublime orchestra against the backdrop of the sheer slopes and peaks of the Apuane Alps, the Chief works in total noise, which creates a paradoxical silence.
“I was so taken by the chief, watching him work” - said Ancarani - “How he can move gigantic marble blocks using enormous excavators, but his own movements are light, precise and determined."
The film is produced by N.O. Gallery (Milan), Gemeg (Carrara), and realised with the collaboration of Deneb Media. This video comes from NOWNESS Images courtesy of the author and Galleria Zero
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