Marmomac ’25 Sets Conversations on Stone

VERONA, Italy – As the calendar counts down to the 59^th edition of Marmomac, organizers have unveiled a new format for the Plus Theatre, the event’s prime venue for cultural and design dialogue.

This year, designers, artists, architects and international researchers will engage in conversations on new visions of contemporary approaches to natural stone. Each of the four sessions will focus on the event’s three thematic veins: Material, Technologies and Design and Vision.

Leading off the sessions will be Davide Fabio Colaci, who will address the issue of “Marble and the values of surface,” at 10:45 a.m. on Sept.r 24.

Colaci, founder of DFC Studio, will explore changes in the contemporary habitat through an interdisciplinary approach that weaves together architecture, exhibition design and cultural research.

At 3:30 p.m. that same day, Yuri Ancarani and Laura Lamonea will speak on “Art, stone and visual experimentation.”

Visual artist and filmmaker Ancarani will engage in a dialogue with Lamonea, curator and artistic director of ArtVerona. Together the two will explore the role of stone in contemporary creative expression.

As part of the 15^th anniversary of its presentation at the Venice Film Biennale, Marmomac pays tribute to Ancarani’s “Il Capo,” which was shot in the Carrara marble quarries and will be screened daily during the show at 1 p.m. in the Plus Theatre Auditorium.

On Sept. 25^th, Joseph Grima will present his take on “The Technoartisan,” a session dedicated to technology and craftsmanship.

Grima, an architect, curator and internationally recognized intellectual, will focus on the role of the “techno-craftsman,” a hybrid practitioner that combines the sensibility of manual work with digital tools, whether that’s CNC machining or artificial intelligence.

The last of the four programs is scheduled for Sept. 26 at 11:45 a.m., when Grazia Signori and Tommaso Simonetta discuss “The Sound and Soundness of Stone: When Matter Speaks the Language of the Senses.”

Signori, an Italian geologist who has worked with natural stone since 1999, and Simonetta, who is active in the fields of art, design and music, invite attendees to rediscover natural stone as a living material capable of evoking emotion through sight, touch and sound.

Simonetta has created the first immersive playlist curated by Marmomac. It transforms the authentic sounds of the Carrara quarries into a three-act sound work. The playlist will be available on Spotify starting July 14.