During a press conference, held on Tuesday 3 March at the Embassy of Italy in Sweden, the Italian Cultural Institute in Stockholm presented the open-air installation “Blowing Figures into Space”, a site-specific project by the Italian sculptor Davide Rivalta, which will animate the city of Stockholm from 21 April 2026 to 31 August 2027.
The exhibition, promoted by the Italian Cultural Institute “CM Lerici” of Stockholm in collaboration with the Embassy of Italy in Sweden and the CM Lerici Foundation and with the support of the Swedish Royal House, the Royal Parks and the City of Stockholm, consists of thirteen imposing bronze sculptures depicting lions, rhinos and buffaloes. The works will be placed in some of the most symbolic places of the capital: Mynttorget in Gamla Stan, Ladugårdsgärdet and Hagaparken, in a continuous dialogue between art, urban landscape and nature.
Rivalta proposes a powerful reflection on the animal presence in public space and on the relationship between human beings and the natural world. His sculptures, positioned directly on the ground without pedestals, emerge as familiar yet alienating apparitions, creating a poetic interference in the urban structure of the city.
