This volume explores stone as more than a material, presenting it as a carrier of meaning and information across cultures and historical periods.
From a physical point of view, stone is the oldest and most persistent material in the history of humanity. This volume of collected essays, theoretical articles, case studies, artistic texts, and contemporary artworks aims to open a field of thought in which stone is not interrogated as a materia prima of artistic work, but rather as a carrier of information that is actualized through artistic intervention.
It examines how contemporary artists decode, interpret, and creatively engage with stone, blending artistic practice, cultural studies, and experimental approaches. Highlighting the intersections between art and anthropology, contributions consider how human interaction with natural materials has transformed over time. It investigates the dynamic, living presence of stone, as experienced in art, illuminating the rich interpretive potential of natural elements and the ways our current cultural era reimagines and situates them.
Table of Contents
List of Figures
Acknowledgements
Introduction
Marta Jecu
PART 1: Through the Lens of Cultural History
1. Fossils and Totems as Fossils and Vice Versa
J. T. Mitchell
2. Materials Against Materiality
Tim Ingold
3. Alongside the Stones
Clara Poirier
4. For an Ontology of Stone
Paolo Nardon
5. A Stroll in the Collections of the Musée de Minéralogie Paris: Exploring the History of Humanity Through ’Stones’
Interview with the Musée Director Didier Nectoux
6. Exhibition
Part I: A Cultural Interpretation of Stone
Part II: A Cultural Interpretation of Stone
Part III: Stone Alive: A Cultural Interpretation of Stone
Part IV: PIERRES VIVANTES. Une interprétation culturelle des pierres
7. Artistic Portfolios Part 1
I. David Casini
II. Gabriel Leger
III. Raphael Denis
IV. Jorge Santos
V. Cyprien Rials
VI. Martinho Mendes
PART 2: Built Matter
8. Fractured Stone and the Rhetoric of the Rustic
Jonathan Foote
9. Written in Stone: Geological Eco-Fictions from the Fields of Architecture
Pedro Gadanho
10. Talking to Stones in Prison and in a Prison Museum: “All the Earth in Every Grain of Mine”
Özge Kelekçi and Meral Akbas
11. Stone Books
A Conversation withFernanda Fragateiro, Arthur Larrue and Marta Jecu
12. Pierres Sans Répit/Unrelenting Stones: A Lithic Exploration in Clichy-sous-Bois / Montfermeil
A Conversation withLuise Schröder, Chedly Atallah and Marta Jecu
13. On Stones, Architecture, Nature and Love
Gonçalo M. Tavares
14. Artistic Portfolios Part 2
I. Fernanda Fragateiro
II. Rita Gaspar Vieira
III. Pedro Sequeira
IV. Claire de Santa Coloma
PART 3: Non-Human Life and Temporalities
15. Deep Life
Giovanbattista Tusa
16. Renewed Perspectives on the Material Nature of Museums, Starting from Stone and Brazil’s Native Peoples
Roberta Fagundes Gonçalves
17. From the Ground
Patricia Domingues
18.
Manuel Perreira
19. To Lick a Stone or About Poetic Intentions
Patricia Morosan
20. Dance and Performance as Forms of Listening to the Stones
Arantxa Ciafrino
21. Seeking Silence and Ancient Stones: A Conversation with Sérgio Carronha
Mattia Tosti
22. Artistic Portfolios Part 3
I. Gilles Zark
II. Sergio Carronha
III. Stephane Raynal
IV. Marta Alvim
V. Rosell Meseguer
VI. Patricia Morosan
PART 4: Future Stone
23. Becoming Stone: Posthumanism in Ben River’s Look Then Below
Matilda Holloway
24. Block-chain : Some Reflections on Life in the Work of Vincent Voillat
Jean-Christophe Arcos
25. Of curved Rocks and a Crack
Vincent Voillat
26. In Between Two Renaissance Paintings
Q&A with Luca Pozzi
27. Petrified Traumas: Marina Abramovic, Massimiliano Pelletti and J.G. Ballard’s The Crystal World
Laura Colombino
28. Exhibition Parts III and IV
29. Artistic Portfolios Part 4
I. Ludovic Sauvage
II. Vincent Pajot
III. Vincent Voillat