From 2014 onwards, Giorgio Andreotta Calò created a series of works called Carotaggi, which in the mining and geological sector means the procedure of taking samples of rocks with an auger from the underground, in order to analyse the physical and chemical characteristics. The extractions have been made in the mining area of the Sulcis Iglesiente in Sardinia and in the Venice Lagoon. In Venice the artist withdrew a series of cylinders from the Lagoon underground involving a company specialised in geognostic and geotechnical surveys. The layers of material that have been brought to light are a mirror of the geologic time of this territory, each representing a stratigraphic horizon. Here Caranto – from the Latin word caris, which means stone – emerges. Caranto is the sandy-loam clay, extremely solid, that constitutes the hard core that literally supports the foundations of Venice. Underneath this layer there is an aquifer of sweet water on which the upper levels float. In the last century the anthropic activity caused a phenomenon of subsidence, primarily related to the aquifer’s water abstraction used to aliment the cooling systems of the industries located in the petrochemical hub of Marghera. The sinking of the caranto layer represents a weakening of the sustaining foundation of Venice. Each Carotaggio is unique and is part of a group composed by a number of segments, installed together on the occasion of a series of different exhibition events (such as La scultura lingua morta I, II and III). When exhibiting them to the public, Calò presents the sculptures lying down on the floor, parallel to one another. In longitudinal terms the disposition reflects their original deepness in the underground: the verticality of the geological time is here reported in a horizontal dimension, linear and dilated in the space. The cylinders, composed of the sediments are located inside metal and PVC (polyvinyl chloride) tubes, which are the core samplers used for the extraction. The series Carotaggio encapsulates a number of recurring subjects of Giorgio Andreotta Calò’s practice: the representation of time, the mutability of matter and a reflection on the Venice Lagoon, whose elements - taken from the landscape and re-elaborated by the artist - bear universal meanings.