“Where the Demon Rests” is a solo exhibition by Francesco Ardini in the new “Spazio Contemporaeno” at the Museo Civico della Ceramica in Nove. A self-taught artist and ceramist, Ardini has developed powerful techniques by working on the sculptural qualities of the material to achieve a sense of precarious beauty in his sculptures and installations. The passage of time, the imprint of tradition, the dialogue with artisans, and the tension that binds these elements together have become the core of his work. In recent years, he has ventured into experimenting with other industrial waste materials, placing sustainability at the heart of his projects, focusing on recovery rather than the creation of new artifacts. “The history tied to objects and artifacts is a perceivable physical entity. Like all matter, it can be shaped and transformed,” the artist declares.

In the series "Fossil Artifacts", molds are recovered and transformed into rediscovered treasures from a conceptually distant yet chronologically close era. Negatives of plates and figures from different periods re-emerge like fossils, bearing witness to knowledge on the verge of being forgotten. The very nature of the land merges into the artist’s contemplative language. In "Semina", the waste clay from local production turns into an immersive landscape that evokes the agricultural nature of the region. In "Vasca_Brenta", Ardini explores the relationship with the Brenta River, a key element in his research. For him, the river represents a deep connection with the land and surrounding nature, as well as the lifeblood of the local art. The Brenta, a constant presence in his work, becomes a mythical figure, a natural metaphor for the passage of time. In a new work, Ardini describes a primal return of the clay which, contrary to expectations, returns to being earth under the silent gaze of the Brenta’s stones, smoothed by the passage of time.

After exploring the earth and water, Ardini takes us to the sky with the new piece "Stelline". The work recovers the small white porcelain tripods used in Nove’s firings, transforming them into stars resting on the terracotta roof tiles from Cotto Possagno. A mask gazes at the landscape: these masks, a recurring theme in the artist’s work, represent the unknown and the dark side of creativity, a space where each of us can feel like a protagonist or be observed. The passage of time, the history that settles, the memory that fixes time in an act that generates the past itself, as in Benjamin’s reading of Klee’s painting. For Ardini, the entire territory becomes a place of play and rest, in an extended and dilated time that traverses everything until it turns to dust.