The Alchemic laboratory is an experiential place that invites the visitor to question the concept of matter.
The laboratory is yellow: yellow like that of nature – which serves to attract pollination –, yellow like the lights that protect the micro-electronics sensors from direct radiation and finally citrinas – yellow lemon – as one of the four colors of the alchemical transmutation.
We tend to think at the transformation of matter as a linear and predictable scientific process, but what happens if the boundaries between natural/artificial, alive/inert, extractive/grown, blur?
A series of energy, environmental, health and social crises has given us a bitter lesson: nature can be unavailable and not respond to our desires.
So, if we lose the control of the process, if we believe in a new conscious material culture, if the material asserts its design reasons, this path opens to imagination, to the unexpected, to the creative vitality.
Exhibition
Alchemic Laboratory for 23rd Triennale Milano International Exhibition “Unknown Unknowns. An Introduction to Mysteries”
Duration
July - December 2022
Location
Milan (IT)
Collaborators
Curated by: Ingrid Paoletti Project by: Zaven Outfitting In collaboration with: Anna Barbara,Liberato Ferrara, Antonio Grande, Sara Mantero, Maria Anischenko, Yagmur Bektas, Beatrice Belgio, Marta D’Alessandro, Olga Beatrice Carcassi, Giorgio Castellano, Danilo Casto, Valeria Marsaglia, Saverio Spadafora (Politecnico di Milano); Stefano Gomarasca (Università Statale di Milano);Paolo Bombelli (Cambridge University); Federico Leoni (Università di Verona); Claudia Mareis, Bastian Beyer, Emile De Visscher, Moritz Liedtke, Natalija Miodragović, Iva Rešetar, Daniel Suárez, Regine Hengge (Cluster of Excellence Matters of Activity. Image Space Material, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin), Massimo Gatelli (Milleforma).
Contribution
- Conceptual design of the mycelium wall and the petri dish
- Mycelium growth
- Brick fabrication and installation mounting
External links
https://www.materialbalance.polimi.it/portfolio_page/the-alchemic-laboratory/
Photo Credits
Triennale Milano – photo by DSL Studio