Along the -fermata- (2019-2020) is a synesthetic installation of visual art and musical scores; the fruit of a research on relational ecology of plants growing along the banks of the Arno River. Freely drawing by hand the signs emerging from the spaces left by common reed, ribwort plantain, and pondweed found along the river banks, Stromberg graphically transposed the empty and filled spaces resulting from their growth, or when they sway in the wind, or from their interaction. This led to musical scores performed by Renato Grieco (double bass), Francesco Pellegrino (saxophone and clarinet), and Francesco Toninelli (percussions/vibes).

These scores are neither classic compositions, nor pure improvisations; these scores and their refined translation into sound are a true homage to the transitory nature of vegetation growing along the river and highlight the human-plant interaction as a musical potential.

Past beyond time (2019) features a surreal landscape: objects crystallised in the mud, in memory of the great flood of Florence in 1966, become an unusual, yet familiar, stage for a post-apocalyptic rebirth. This timeless landscape created by the Chinese artist during a residency at MAD evokes the spirit and behaviour of a community on the occasion of dramatic catastrophic events, which are followed by a rebirth, when life resumes its habits and people are once again able to create and produce. This work was conceived before the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic and today can be re-read as a sign of hope toward a new rebirth.

This work was selected among the creations produced during the China Project artist residencies, in the framework of cultural exchanges held by MAD between Italy and China, in collaboration with the Academy of Fine Arts of Sichuan and Zhong Art International.

In the photographic project Suspended (2018/2019), the inhabitants of San Francesco (Pelago) and Pontassieve walking near the river were invited to perform an unusual action. They were asked to jump on a trampoline specifically brought by the authors, and made a gesture that, with no manipulation or photomontage, allowed the photographers to portray them with the Sieve River in the background. The photographs taken by the authors thus relayed a perspective in which the locals, suspended in the air, are as close to as superimposed over the river, visually reconstructing a man/water relationship that goes beyond simply swimming in the river or posing in front of it.