Sculptural Glass and Aluminum Pieces

In the historical venue of Palazzo Mora, Jacques Jarrige presents an installation that invites visitors to explore it with a contemplative gaze. The artist embraces the raw material and uses its potential shaping it, hammering it, and letting the aluminium guide him in the creation of his sculptures. A short film capturing Jacques’ meditative creative process accompanies the installation, revealing how the presence of the body has always been implied in his work. The artwork, therefore, is experienced by the artist at first while sculpting it, and then by the viewer who becomes an active participant to the work.

Participatory is also an important element in the sculptural creation of Bjørnådal Arkitektstudio titled Spheres, the second part of Il Primo cerchio del Paradiso. The delicate installation is, in fact, the result of a workshop that Hans-Petter Bjørnådal, Lead Architect at the firm, conducted in 2021 with students both from Venice and Kristiansund. The project’s starting point is the sea with the see-through glass spheres taking inspiration from fish eggs which represent life and hope - it implies what the architect thinks is needed in a world filled with dystopian imageries of the future. The sculpture addresses current issues such as climate change, environmental consciousness, and the merits of returning to a simpler way of life. “The project is a Norwegian gesture of simple living, but also a reflection of our current need for a shift in direction and consciousness in order to address climate change,” explains Hans-Petter Bjørnådal.

Glass is also the main material of the sculptures presented by Helen Twigge-Molecey at Palazzo Mora. Fungi is a collection of hand-blown glass sculptures that shine a spotlight on the magical world of mushrooms and encourage us to reconsider our relationship with our surroundings and each other. Fungi can digest plastics and toxic waste or survive unprotected in space or that their psychedelic properties could alleviate mental illness. The artist placed the sculptures in clusters on a pedestal, to resemble how they often grow in nature. Each colourful sculpture is characterised by a different shape and look, thus each of them is unique with its own personality. 

Ceramic forms

Andrea Vinkovic’s work is also inspired by the natural environment, specifically to its organic beauty and its delicate balance. Additionally, she’s interested in exploring personal and archetypal symbolism of visual language, and intrigued by parallels with the cultural environment. Her ceramic sculpture at Palazzo Mora is shaped by looking at microscopic images of pollens and planktons, corals and natural structures. The artist is intrigued by the rhythm and playfulness of these forms, which simultaneously are particularly complex and multi-layered in their structures. She plays with the idea that natural objects on different scales share the similarities and visual language we intuitively recognise and respond to: we are made of the same materials and share the same origins and environment.

Nature and clay are common elements in Kwak Hye-Young’s work. Through her conceptual practice, the South-Korean artist blurs the boundary between ceramics and fine art. The artist explores the ideas of becoming and existence, following the fleeting moments of the rain as it emerges into life only as it falls, to its transformation and dissipation as it lands. Kwak records this presence with boards of clay layered with cobalt, chromium and iron oxide which she places in locations such as her own garden and the city streets of Seoul. The rain falls and, as the drops land and combine they form rivulets, pools and washes, the movements all caught by the oxides and clay. Like a photographic film, the material captures the movement of the natural element creating a poetic and meaningful art piece.