variable size and height, depending on installation space

It is perhaps the most famous quote from the brilliant Renaissance artist Michelangelo: “The sculpture is already completely present in the block of marble before I begin my work. It’s already there, I just have to chisel away the superfluous material.”

Jinchi Hu turns the tables and asks himself: what would happen if the outer figure of the famous David statue were to be chiseled away or crumble away? Then the inside would reappear, the original marble stone from Carrara. To this day, Carrara marble is associated with Michelangelo’s world-famous David, which is why it is more expensive than marble from other countries of origin of the same quality.

With her installation, Jinchi Hu shows the origin of the legendary Carrara marble, the river Aulella, which flows through the Tuscan town of Carrara. The bed of the river is littered with Carrara marble in the form of river rocks. The artist has photographed the riverbed from many individual shots and printed them on a film that now flows down from the ceiling like a river. In the river lies a single rock – a real Carrara marble stone …