Despite spending two millennia at the bottom of the sea, the Satiro Danzante (Dancing Satyr) captured the imagination of the art world when it was recovered from the sandy sea floor at a depth of 1,600 feet off the southwestern coast of Sicily, on the night of March 4, 1998, in the nets of a fishing boat which, a year before, had also recovered the sculpture’s left leg.
The Satyr’s missing limbs, instead of rendering it incomplete, add a poignant layer to its narrative. It speaks of survival, a tribute to its endurance through centuries, weathering the corrosive march of time and the relentless depths of the sea.
When first unveiled to the public after conservation, in the Chamber of Deputies in Rome from March 31 to June 2, 2003, it was celebrated as the most remarkable discovery in Italian waters since the Riace bronzes in 1972. On July 12, 2003, it returned to Mazara del Vallo, where it is now permanently displayed at the Museo del Satiro in the church of Sant’Egidio.
NOTE: From 23 March to 28 June 2007 it toured to the Louvre for their Praxiteles exhibition, and an associated Louvre interactive installation, “Connaître la forme” (“Know your form”), displayed a replica of it lit in various ways to demonstrate the importance of lighting in displaying a sculpture.
But that wasn’t the end of the story.
In 2022, the Dancing Satyr was scanned into the ARTvault™ by artficial, and the Artclone-X was born. The Artclone-X is a selected artclone, produced in a limited edition of 99 works, which undergoes a metallization process to create a unique and timeless edition for collectors.
Why is this important? Because for the first time in human history, historical masterpieces which belong to the public can be displayed in private spaces. This enables a continuous dialog between past and present – a form of cultural regeneration – not previously possible.
We view the artclone as the return of sculpture. Artclones like the Dancing Satyr of Mazara del Vallo are now part of the landscape of interior design – used sparingly, they create an artclone effect in home settings as well. For more on the artclone effect at work, see this.
Barbara Dal Corso works at the intersection of art and technology. She is the co-founder of Artficial, the maker of the world’s first officially-licensed artclones.