Bagno A 1977

Gianfranco Baruchello made this construction, "Bagno A," which is displayed in a plexiglass box. It's like a little stage set, a theater of the absurd maybe? I can imagine Baruchello in his studio, carefully assembling these tiny compartments, each one holding a secret or a fragment of a story. The off-white grid suggests a kind of architectural structure, but also a mental space, like a memory palace built from scraps and found objects. It reminds me of Kurt Schwitters' Merzbau, but on a miniature scale. There’s a playfulness here, but also a sense of melancholy, as if these fragments are all that’s left of something larger. It’s kind of like the Tower of Babel fallen into disrepair. Ultimately, Baruchello invites us to piece together the narrative ourselves, to find meaning in the juxtaposition of these disparate elements. And in that process, we become collaborators, co-creators of the work.