Senza titolo 1993, un feltro di Robert Morris tra forma e antiforma. L'intervento di restauro e la sperimentazione dell'uso del laser nella pulitura dei materiali tessili in lana

Untitled 1993, un feltro di Robert Morris tra forma e antiforma. L’intervento di restauro e la sperimentazione dell’uso del laser nella pulitura dei materiali tessili in lana* Renata Pintus, Giacinto Cambini, Daniele Ciofini Abstract Untitled is one of the famous felt pieces by Robert Morris, emblematic of Anti Form, of which the artist was one of the most important exponents. Made in 1993, it is now on loan to the Luigi Pecci Centre for Contemporary Arts in Prato. The restoration of the work included urgent pest control of insects that had literally attacked the felt, causing a large number of small, deep, dark holes on its surface and extensive furrows in its thickness. After a month of treatment in an anoxic environment, a thorough mechanical cleaning by macro and micro suction was performed, in order to remove insect remains and especially any eggs or larvae still alive, and which also removed a large amount of dust that was drying the fibres and had greyed the fabric, seriously compromising the legibility of the work. However, the fabric remained partially yellowed due to the fatty substances that had impregnated it: given the impossibility of further intervention with any other more traditional type of cleaning, an experiment was carried out on a sample area using a laser, which gave encouraging results, showing its applicability on the wool fibres and good efficacy, and which may be the subject of further investigation to verify the possibility of its future use on the entire surface. Having verified a substantial integrity of the material consistency of the work, an aesthetic integration of the felt was performed, reversible and differentiated, through the insertion of tufts of wool fibres inside the small holes and furrows caused by the insects. The initial sagging of the fabric, in correspondence with the horizontal cuts of the work, considered compatible with the artist’s intentions, was left untouched. Finally, the felt suspension system, which was deteriorating, was rethought, maintaining the position of the original attachment points, so as not to alter the work’s ‘anti-form’.