Eugenio Barbieri, De démoiselle, dame et garçon d'Avignon au erotic ice cream, 1971
A motorised sculpture by the late Italian artist Eugenio Barbieri from 1971 consists of a wooden box hanging from the ceiling with a motor inside and strings from which three hand-cut rubber figures are suspended. The work is activated by a switch: In one cycle, the figures fold upwards into an abstract, intricate composition; in the other cycle, the composition unrolls downwards to reveal three human-like figures, in reference to Picasso's Demoiselles d'Avignon, 1907. Each of the three figures is made from different types of rubber - two types of car tyre inner tubes and a PVC sheet (not confirmed by analysis). They are all unevenly aged, two quite well, one very badly. The red figure has pronounced cracks and crumbling throughout the rubber.
The restoration treatment consisted of a complex mixture of local stabilisation of the hanging points with strong polyester fabric (known from painting restoration) or with transparent, open polyamide fabric (known from textile restoration), an optically unobtrusive but extensive stabilisation with fine fabric, the reinforcement of individual cracks with reversible adhesive and the increase of flexibility, as well as the addition of a broken rubber element with new material and airbrush retouching. As the material has special requirements in order to achieve the longest possible service life, the owner was advised on climatic guidelines, optimum display conditions and low-oxygen storage.
Photo by the author, Berlin (2023)