Since the origin of time, humans universalizes their body and anthropomorphizes the universe. Starting from this observation, and through a process of identification with other life forms, Maggini experiences otherness to create an “ideal world” where humans are not dissociated from their surroundings but are an integral part of them. In such a vision, there is no distinction between Nature and Culture: Culture is the Nature of human beings. The human being, with his masks and ornaments, is only one component of a larger ecosystem.
The group of sculptures “Flamboyant Flamingos” are the result of a performance in which Alberto Maggini assumed the forms of other components of Nature (e.g., three-toed birds, plants). During the performance, the artist’s body was wrapped in plaster bandages that hardened to form plaster casts, as if they were fossils or the “petrified” bodies of Pompeii and Herculaneum. These casts were later used to produce the glazed ceramic sculptures displayed during the exhibition “A Lost World.