13.12, is composed by a series of clods made in terracotta that replicate, with striking mimetic power, clods of fresh earth just turned, in the shape – never the same, but similar – of the ‘spadeful’, of the quantity which the ritual gesture can produce each time; a work which is profoundly intimate and tangible, as a whole. The clods, or the “spadefuls”, are arranged inside a series of glass cases, revealing the desire to elevate the piece of soil to the status of a precious and unique element, to consecrate its generative power and, albeit invisible, man’s labour. Ennobled and raised by the plinth that supports it, the earth in 13.12 is also a figure of time’s circularity; however, the rhythm of its passing has a human cadence, introducing a syncope, a gap in the natural cycle.