Scarpette (Small shoes), on the beach of Fregene, Rome

The aspect of time is central to this action by Marisa Merz, which was documented by photographer Claudio Abate. In 1970, Merz chose the beach at Fregene near Rome, away from conventional exhibition venues, to stage some of her works knitted with nylon thread. The objects lie on the beach scattered and isolated, suggesting that the waves would gradually cause them to disintegrate.

In her 1931 novel The Waves, Virginia Woolf described ‘the eternal renewal, the incessant rise and fall and fall and rise again’. The idea of change is also at the heart of Merz’s work: the transformation of the work of art by the forces of nature and time. Her works are always fragile, unstable, mobile and destined to disappear. Not only did she refuse to sign her works and assign titles or dates to them, but she also preferred not to commit herself entirely to any group or art movement – not even Arte Povera. In doing so, she evaded categorization and definition.