CrackingArt | Cracking Art

Cracking Art is an artistic movement born in 1993 with the intention to radically change the history of art through a strong social and environmental commitment.

Known worldwide for the creation of urban animal installations, Cracking Art wants to represent the dichotomy between the natural and the artificial. Its name derives from the English verb “to crack”, which describes the act of cracking, breaking, breaking, yielding, collapsing. This catalytic cracking is also the chemical reaction that transforms crude oil into plastic: and for the artists is the very moment in which the natural transforms to the artificial, the organic into the synthetic, and it is this process that they intend to represent through their art.

Since its birth, the movement has realized over 400 installations, representing animals made with artificial but eco-sustainable material. All the works, in fact, after a series of uses, are destroyed and the plastic regenerated for new installations.

A red elephant and two giant snails already invaded the streets of Mondovì on Monday April 1st. For those who thought it was a joke, it was nothing more than a teaser operation to announce the exhibition that will take place, starting from April 13th, in the Park spaces.

A real multicolored invasion: 21 giant artworks, 201 medium, and 365 small that represented all of the animals produced by the collective: from wolves to elephants, from crocodiles to bears, to penguins, swallows, frogs, and snails.

For about 2 months Cracking Art will therefore bring over 580 works to the Mondovicino Commercial Park owned by the Caramelli Family, Igd Siiq Spa and Coop Liguria.

“We have chosen to involve the artists of Cracking Art – states Giacomo Caramelli – because we think it is a form of contemporary art, with strong messages, and is able to involve the visitor and give joy to the place where the works are installed. ”

“At a time when the attention to plastic is very high, and the disastrous consequences that its reckless use is bringing to the planet – declares Fabrizio Cremonini, Head of Operational Marketing Igd Siiq Spa – we believe it is even more important to pay attention to this theme, involving a form of art that is attentive to environmental sustainability and uses only regenerated and regenerable plastic for the realization of all the works”.

From April 13th until June 16th, a charity initiative will take place in collaboration with Cracking Art: “Arte Rigenera l’Arte.” The fundraiser’s proceeds will be donated to a cultural project on the territory, to be determined.

But Mondovicino has also thought about the little ones and their involvement in a fun and educational activity. From the 6^th to 26^th of May, during the weekday mornings, local schools will be involved in a cultural project dedicated to sustainability that fits perfectly with the educational purpose of the Cracking Art exhibition. An expert will first accompany the children on a visit at the exhibition, explaining the concept to them, and, at the end, will entertain them with workshops related to the theme of recycling. Available various plastic material (bottles, plates, glasses, caps, etc.) will be provided, with which the “small artists” will be able to make animals that they then can take home as a souvenir of the experience, together with a photo and a certificate of participation.

CALM is an annual project of Contemporary Art Outdoor, that the administration strongly desired, to affirm and to increase the cultural identity of the City of Cernobbio.

CALM is acronym of: Cernobbio, an international tourism destination thanks to its beautiful landscape; Art as contemporary art, universal language and tool of connection between man and nature, tradition and innovation, adults and children, residents and visitors. Lake and Mountain; natural elements that characterise the amazing natural stage which welcomes and enhances the event.

CALM is also an invitation to the quiet, to slow down, to stop and think, to enjoy the nature that surrounds us, to love and respect it. The artworks purpose is to communicate feelings, that need calm, time, attention, mindfulness to be transformed in new energy.

CALM 1.0 presents Cracking Art. The movement was born in 1993 and is responsible for more than 400 art installations around the world. The art works are realized in regenerated plastic, the material of choice for the movement, gifted with the virtually eternal properties, able to be ground and reshaped into other sculptures. Recycling plastic removes it from its toxic role in nature and communicates through and unconventional language the importance of paying strong attention to our planet. This philosophy connects common reason to individual meditation, creating installations with animals that appear unexpectedly in everyday places. The surprise of seeing an ordinary subject made extraordinary through its super-size, vivid color and form, attracts the attention of passersby, inviting people to re-examine their perspectives of urban life, while inspiring them to play with our cities thus mentally and physically re-building them.

The Cracking Art sculptures are messengers of thoughts suitable to our contemporaneity, with the will to produce the astonishment that brings out in each of us a feeling of pleasure and happiness.

The intent is to activate unexpected emotions, to admire and respect places with new perspective, different from the daily routine which allows us to reflect on the place seen with new eyes.

“Cracking” comes from the english verb “to crack”, which express the state of being split or broken. This catalytic cracking is also the term for the chemical reaction that occurs when converting raw crude oil into plastic, and the very moment when something natural becomes artificial. By invading the urban fabric, Cracking Art aims to sensitise mankind in its increasingly artificial and anonymous mass culture that is gradually losing touch with natural and cohesive values.

The sprit of candidacy is to create a connection with different cities and realities near and far. Joining a wider network represents both an important stimulus and a great opportunity to renew our perception of ourselves.

The Snail represents a traveling home, whose antennas are a direct reference to the wireless network that allows us to be connected with the world and further revolutionise our habits and way of life.

Furthermore, the Italian word for snail, or “chiocciola”, is also the symbol for e-mail, quick communication, and information exchange.

We need to be more connected, while making sure to keep our own peculiarities and history intact.

Fashion, art and sustainability come together with a pop slant in the new project by Roberto Cavalli Junior, created in collaboration with Cracking Art. For Spring/Summer 2019, the brand is launching a publicity campaign and capsule collection with a charitable element involving this well-known artistic movement: a collective of creatives who use recyclable plastic materials to create special urban installations in the form of giant brightly colored animals. With the aim of raising awareness of pollution caused by plastics and of the consequent need to recycle the raw material.

It is this creative partnership that has inspired the Spring/Summer 2019 publicity campaign by Roberto Cavalli Junior, creating a visual proposal featuring the brand’s effervescent collection alongside the Cracking Art animals with their bright pop colors and super-size shapes.

The collaboration also led to the “Roberto Cavalli Cracking Art” collection, presented at Pitti Immagine Bimbo 88. It is a co-branding line of limited edition T-shirts and clothing inspired by Cracking Art’s works, and they, in turn, have personalized their artwork with the Roberto Cavalli Tiger Twiga print.

The idea at the roots of the initiative is reciprocal cross-fertilization through the encounter between the artistic collective’s plastic sculptures and the new animal print conceived by Roberto Cavalli’s creative director, Paul Surridge. The Tiger Twiga print, initially introduced in the Spring/Summer 2019 menswear collection and reinterpreted with a playful twist in the kids’ collection, draws on the fashion brand’s iconic animal prints, mixing them to create new types using vibrant pop patchworks.

A portion of the profit from this special capsule collection will be donated to the foundation “Together To Go ONLUS”, supporting children with a free of charge rehabilitation program in Milan to recover from effects of central nervous system lesions.

The history and ancient art of the Ascoli capital merges with contemporary art to celebrate Christmas. Red Zone, then, becomes the symbol of the Christmas holidays, but also characterizes and ties the contrast that this color assumed and assumes for the Piceno territory following the 2016 earthquake.

Exactly as the slogan of Cracking Art, Art Regenerates Art, the city of Ascoli Piceno wants to donate to its citizens and tourists for the holidays a peaceful invasion of animals, a symbol of rebirth for the territory and a hope for the future.

The installation is promoted by the City of Ascoli Piceno, curated and organized by the Vertical d’Arte Association with the support of the Marche Region, the province of Ascoli Piceno, and BIM Tronto. Red Zone is a public art project that involves the entire historic center of the Ascoli capital, peacefully and silently invaded by plastic animals of various types and sizes, which trigger, from the first glance, a strong connection and total empathy with the spectator, be it adult or child.

Red is the quintessential color of Christmas, a color full of joy and expectations, but it has also become a symbol of the territories hit by the earthquake, the Red Zone, the impassable area no longer accessible due to unsafe buildings, rubble, and craters.

With Red Zone, Cracking Art wants to tell a contemporary fairy tale of reconstruction and resilience, whose protagonists are red animals in recycled and regenerated plastic created by the collective Cracking Art.

Crocodiles, frogs, meerkats, turtles, penguins, bears, dogs, rabbits, swallows, the famous snails that have invaded many cities of the world, and the last animal born in the Cracking Art universe, the elephant (symbol of historic memory), will invade the historical center of Ascoli Piceno day and night thanks to LED technology that illuminates artistic installations.

From the terraces and the merlons of the Piazza del Popolo, penguins, bears, meerkats, wolves, frogs, and snails will be stationed (the latter also in giant form), in the center of the square in front of the historic Palazzo dei Capitani to create a real interaction with the public.

Next to the Cathedral, inside the Baptistery of San Giovanni there will be three more snails, in single file as if it were a procession.

Three giant crocodiles will guard the evocative cloister of San Francesco, as if they were guarding the well that stands in the center of it. Legend has it that crocodiles, abandoned by man, inhabit the subsoil of the cities. In the fable of Cracking Art, these feared creatures emerge out into the open as an offer of reconciliation between the dangers of nature, sometimes destructive, and the places of man created for human existence.

Finally, there will be the elephant, the latest protagonist of Cracking Art and a metaphor of memory. It will support the head of its travertine counterpart that adorns the entrance of the Cassa Risparmio Foundation of Ascoli Piceno, the historic building of Corso Mazzini that is now a branch of Banca Intesa. Through its position, the elephant will connect directly with the historical memory of the place, making its own memory while at the same time offering its direct support.

Anything broken, such as the territories of the Ascoli affected by the earthquake, can be reconstructed through art, and in this case through the research that has carried forward the Cracking Art collective for more than 25 years: a social and environmental commitment that renews itself from city to city, installation after installation, all over the world and for Christmas 2018 with the Red Zone exhibition. Cracking Art assumes an even more current meaning of urban regeneration through contemporary art: Art that Regenerates Art.

The entire project includes, in conjunction with the Cracking Art installation, crowdfunding. Proceeds from the sale of small red plastic sculptures in limited edition go to support a systematic action program (such as restorations, conservations, interventions, etc) on historical artistic heritage sites and Italian monuments. For Red Zone in particular, it was decided to direct fundraising to the restoration of the detached fresco of Cola dell’Amatrice entitled The Redeemer, present in the collection of the Pinacoteca Civica of Ascoli Picena.

Memory and future, two words that encompass the meaning of Christmas, the exhibition, and the research of Cracking Art, also have the ability to make people reflect, enjoy themselves, and show under a new light beautiful historical places through art.

Cracking Art has donated a permanent art installation to the Pediatric House of the Fatebenefratelli Hospital of Milan.

More than fifty brightly coloured frogs will soon invade the Politecnico di Milano’s Bovisa Campus, with a few incursions taking place in the Leonardo Campus as well, climbing up and down the walls of its buildings and elegant awnings. Kiss the Frog is the initiative organised by our University and Cracking Art, the artistic movement founded in 1993, renowned worldwide for its urban installations of works resembling animals made from reclaimed and recycled plastic.

Kiss the Frog is a fundraising campaign. Indeed, by purchasing the small Cracking Art sculptures, which in view of the event have been customised and co-branded “Politecnico di Milano/Cracking Art”, buyers will be funding the new interdepartmental laboratory CIRC-eV (Circular Factory for the Electrified Vehicles of the Future) dedicated to the development of circular economy technology within the automotive sector to be used in future sustainable factories. Specifically, the research will focus on advanced systems for recovering and reusing lithium-ion batteries discarded from electric and hybrid vehicles.

“The new laboratory set to be built on the Bovisa Campus”, explained Prof. Marco Bocciolone, Head of the Mechanical Engineering Department and promotor of the initiative, “will become a point of reference for the Region, the Nation and even Europe when it comes to circular economy and future sustainable factories, in such a strategic sector as that of electric mobility”.

The keyword for “Kiss the Frog” is #rigeneriamoci (“let’s regenerate”). For years now, Cracking Art has shared the concept of “art that regenerates art” combining artistic initiatives with charity campaigns aimed at supporting cultural heritage and scientific research. And the Politecnico, through the research that will take place in the laboratory, will make a fundamental contribution to the challenges involved in circular economy. All within a neighbourhood charged with a powerful sense of “regeneration”, that of Bovisa.

For this reason, among the many animals produced by Cracking Art, the frog was chosen, which, because of the metamorphosis it undergoes during its lifecycle and its connection with water, becomes a symbol of rebirth, regeneration.

The miniature sculptures will be available from 30^th November in the Politecnico di Milano official merchandise store at Via Bonardi 3 in Milan and on Amazon. All proceeds will be put towards the research and development of the CIRC-eV laboratory.

With the installation of one giant blue elephant and 30 multicoloured bears, Cracking Art is participating once again at the Segni New Generation Festival in Mantova from the 27th of October to the 4th of November 2018.

From October 24, 2018 to February 10, 2019, the city of Treviso will host the exhibition “RE.USE. Waste, objects, and ecology in contemporary art” curated by Valerio Deho.

Through the works of great artists such as Marcel Duchamp, Piero Manzoni, Michelangelo Pistoletto, Alberto Burri, Mimmo Rotella, Tony Cragg, and Damien Hirst, to name a few, the exhibition aims to chronologically document, from the early decades of the 20th century to present day, the continuous relationship that art has had with common objects and waste. The exhibition will be, therefore, a proper journey to admire the birth, evolution, and current status of the concept of reuse for ethical and aesthetic means in the modern and contemporary art world.