In the spaces of the Contemporary Art Gallery TOTAH, in the heart of New York, on July 24 will be held the finissage of “Etna Eternal Flame”, an international project promoted and curated by the cultural association Basaltika, which for more than a year has transformed Europe's highest active volcano into a stage for “site-specific” art and geological research. At the center of the event was the contribution of the Etnean Observatory of the National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology (INGV - OE), with the intervention of Director Stefano Branca, who was called upon to recount how methods of representing Etna's historical eruptions have evolved over time, starting from the 16th century until the advent of photography to the New York audience, and to bring the voice of Italian research overseas. “Etna,” Branca explains, "is not only a natural spectacle, but an open-air laboratory of geological phenomena that also deserves to be understood and enhanced through contemporary art. The Etna Eternal Flame project, launched between 2023 and 2024 on South Etna at an altitude of 1980 meters, involved four internationally renowned artists: New York sculptor Aleksandar Duravcevic, German artist Johannes Pfeiffer, Sicilian painter Samantha Torrisi and photographer Oriana Tabacco. The works, installed in the lava theater of the 2001 eruption, dialogued with the volcanic landscape for more than a year, becoming a rare example of contemporary art on an active volcano.