These projects emerge when lava is not treated as a surface to be applied, but as a language capable of generating meaning. Each collaboration carries a shared responsibility: accepting the nature of the material, working within its limits, and transforming its instability into expressive potential. There is no replicable model for this kind of work. Every project requires technical development, time, listening, and a genuine willingness to engage with what cannot be fully controlled. Cultural Projects does not simply document finished works. It reveals a way of operating in which matter, imagination, and knowledge converge. Ranieri participates in these projects when lava becomes an active component of the conceptual process — not a support, but a presence.
Some projects ask matter not only to build, but to think.
Cultural Projects brings together the works in which Ranieri engages in dialogue with the cultural sphere — art, institutions, research, and experimentation.
tanat - Landscape of reflections
the first collaborative project between Diego R Borrell and Ranieri, is a volcanic stone landscape, conceived as a personal compendium of fragments from Diego ́s journey in Naples.
Curated by BY Galeria de Arquitectura, the project originates from TANAT’s aka Diego R Borrell residency in Naples and Pompeii in July 2025 and marks the beginning of a broader creative collaboration.
Ranieri X Davide Quayola
Lava and Algorithms, Between Nature and the Digital
The collaboration with Davide Quayola explores the boundary between primordial matter and digital abstraction. Lava—born of fire and shaped by geological time—is reinterpreted through algorithmic processes, deconstructed and recomposed into new expressive forms.
Quayola works with advanced technologies to reimagine classical iconography and natural systems, translating them into digital patterns and sculptural volumes. Ranieri brings this exploration into the physical realm, transforming data into tactile surfaces where the artist’s gesture merges with the spontaneity of the material.
This experiment redefines how lava stone can be worked—opening new frontiers where craftsmanship, innovation, and contemporary art converge.
Olafur Eliasson - 숨결의 지구 (Breathing Earth Sphere)
Olafur Eliasson – Art as Landscape
On the island of Docho, South Korea, Ranieri partnered with Olafur Eliasson to create Breathing Earth Sphere (숨결의 지구), an immersive installation that explores the relationship between art, perception, and the natural world.
Part of the Shinan Art Island Project, the installation transforms lava stone into a vibrant, living surface—changing appearance with light and viewer perspective. 1,200 unique tiles in 24 chromatic variations line the interior of the spherical space, forming a continuous spectrum that harmonizes with the surrounding land and vegetation.
The challenge: to clad a perfect sphere with millimetric precision while amplifying the textural beauty of lava and seamlessly integrating it into the landscape. The result is an immersive experience, where Ranieri’s volcanic stone becomes a medium for contemplating space and time.
“There are no corners in 숨결의 지구, no horizon or limit. It is an experience of pure presence.” — Olafur Eliasson
Rodrigo d'erasmo x ranieri
The soundscapes by D’Erasmo—musician, composer, producer, and the Afterhours band’s violinist
built on low frequencies and deep vibrations, spread throughout the space of the Under the Volcano installation at Alcova, evoking the seething of lava beneath the Earth’s crust and turning the mountain’s primal force into an immersive, enveloping acoustic presence.
a matter of perspective
a site-specific installation conceived for the international design fair EDIT Napoli, part of the CULT Program, and designed by creative directors Francesco Meda and David Lopez Quincoces.
Sitting at the bottom of the Vesuvius, Ranieri ennobles the essence of lava into the highest expressions of art, architecture and interior design, with an aesthetic that breaks from tradition and discovers the unexpressed potential of the stone’s inimitable and inhomogeneous material composition.
