Michele Ciacciofera’s installation Janus Code (2016-17) is a collection of artefacts that resembles a dreamlike museum exhibit. Apart from the occasional concrete items (a butterfly, seeds, a stone), many are handmade, created with unexpected materials to resemble familiar-looking objects and displayed like anthropological specimens.
The motif of the book reoccurs again and again; we see book-like sculptures wrapped in wool, page-like panels of a dyptich and open volumes containing seemingly-symbolic relics.
The lightness of the installation gives the artwork a sketch-like quality, as if we are seeing the trace of a collection, like the frail, but recognisable skin left behind by a snake.
The title of the work comes from the Sardinian folk legend Domus de Janas, about witches or fairies who inhabited the island before humans and the book-like structures refer to the leggenda del Sardus Pater which recounts the origin of the Janas.
Seen in this way the artist’s light-touch plays on the mythical element of the story and the repeated use of books gives the work a sense of authority and gravity.
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