In 1980, Staccioli worked in the place designated for study and research, the main hall of the Caprin Middle School in Trieste. The choice of an oblique polygonal shape, intended to identify itself as a critical sign capable of activating the observer’s reflection, is present right from the first hypotheses, as the maquette itself highlights. However, the final intervention will see it placed to “occupy” the steps in the main hall. At the same time as the creation of the work, a workshop entitled “Sculpture: a critical work” is also held, involving a series of meetings and debates in which the artist discusses the reasons for the intervention with the schoolchildren: sculpture is not self-referential but becomes a cultural operation in which, never losing sight of the aesthetic quality of the work, manual skill is charged with meanings that are useful in stimulating the growth and reflection of the individual.

“A sculpture, this one, that is far from wanting to embellish the place, it does not want to blend in or harmonise with the physical and architectural features of the environmental structure. It wants to underline the ‘hall-like’ layout of the colonnade in a space that aspires more to great events than day-to-day encounters.
The encumbrance is now there: the not ephemeral interference with the place, but even more so with the users has been realised. That was enough for Staccioli. We will see how long the “inconvenience” will last”.

Vincenzo Perna, Mauro Staccioli. Scultura: lavoro critico, Laboratorio Caprin – Trieste, 1980, Tipografia Rosselli, Lovere, 1980.