New York, Nivola's largest public project destroyed. Sardinia wants the little horses back

A case has broken out in Sardinia, which has reached the Chamber of the Regional Council, around Costantino Nivola ’s (Orani, 1911 - Long Island, 1988) little horses that had been in New York City since 1964, in the gardens of the Wise Towers complex, and were used as a playground by children.

On the Facebook page of the Nivola Museum in Orani (Nuoro), the museum dedicated to the local artist that houses more than one hundred works by Costantino Nivola, a post appeared that read, "Terrible news has reached us from New York. The Wise Towers playground, created by Costantino Nivola and Richard Stein in 1964, Nivola’s largest public project in New York, has been destroyed. It was not vandals, but a project to “renovate” the area. Nivola’s little horses, inspired by the rocking horses of childhood and oriental statuary, were removed, their legs broken by blows from a sledgehammer. After the exhibition Nivola. Figures in the Field at The Cooper Union in 2020 and pending the exhibition Nivola. Sandscapes at Magazzino Italian Art , this act of institutional vandalism seems inexplicable and dastardly. The redevelopment of the towers, expected and welcome, can and should be done with respect for history and art. Today is a sad day for the Nivola Museum, for Sardinia, and for all art lovers. The Nivola Museum, together with the artist’s family and the institutions that promote his message and memory, is contacting those responsible, to try to stop the destruction and recover what has already been devastated. If you would like to help, please share this message. Knowledge is the best defense against forgetting."

To ANSA, museum director Giuliana Altea said, "The Nivola Foundation is already reaching out to the Pacts Renaissance Collective, the organization that undertook the Stephen Wise renovations, coordinating a front of opinion. A front that includes the Nivola family, the Chanin School of Architecture at Cooper Union, the Italian Cultural Institute of New York, associations for the protection of modernist architectural heritage such as Landmark West!, as well as the tenants of Stephen Wise Towers themselves." The Wise Towers playground was destroyed “to give life to a project to renovate the area,” the Foundation adds.

Councilman and former mayor of Cagliari Massimo Zedda told the regional council that “it is necessary to contact the New York consulate immediately to find out what will happen to the removed statues,” adding, “If the city of New York doesn’t need them, then give them back to us.”

Michele Pais, president of the Regional Council of Sardinia, stressed that they will “immediately put in place all the necessary actions to try to stem this cultural havoc that does not respect art: we will immediately activate with the ministry to see if the removal can be stopped and if it is possible to recover the works, some of which have been devastated. It is a massacre that strikes at the heart of our culture. We will work to bring what remains of Nivola’s horses back to Sardinia.”

Ph.Credit Nivola Museum

New York, Nivola's largest public project destroyed. Sardinia wants the little horses back

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