Internationaal Congres van Actuarissen te Rome 1934 1934

This small silver medal was made by Mistruzzi to commemorate the International Congress of Actuaries in Rome, 1934. On one side, an Ancient Roman figure wearing a helmet, and on the other, etched text describing the conference. I think about the gesture of striking a medal, the kind of force and precision it must take to make a mark like that on solid metal. I wonder what Mistruzzi was thinking about while they designed it? The weight of the metal in their hands, the symbolic resonance of the Roman figure... It's interesting how such a small object can carry so much meaning. The inscription becomes a kind of concrete poetry, a visual and tactile reminder of an event and a moment in time. It makes me consider the conversations between artists across time and the way one mark can spark another, across decades, centuries even.