Anime di Cristallo

In Anime di Cristallo, a project promoted by Karussell APS, Silvia Mariotti’s works reflect on the transformation of nature and explore hypothetical forms of life generated through the union of natural and artificial, human and non-human elements.

Inspired by her observation of the biodiversity and tropical vegetation of the Azores Islands, the artist embraces processes of transformation and contamination through a variety of methods and materials. Combining photography and sculpture, Mariotti simulates hybrid ecosystems in which imaginary creatures, born from the fusion of organic and inorganic elements, appear as contemporary fossils or evolving biomes.

Following her artistic residency at the Re-Act Contemporary Art Laboratory on the island of Terceira, Mariotti brought fragments of the Azorean landscape back with her and transformed her artist studio in Milan into a laboratory, setting up display cases in which she experimented with organic materials. These biological experiments were carried out in collaboration with an environmental engineer and a conservator. Microorganisms colonized photographic papers, generating hybrid and imaginary landscapes and formations that evoke the caldeiras, the volcanic pools of São Miguel Island.

Inorganic patinas were also created through chemical processes, producing precipitations and, consequently, incrustations and mineral formations on the sculptures. The result is an ecosystem in transformation, made of crystallizations and cyanotypes that preserve in time what is destined to decompose.

The project was first presented at MUHNAC – Museu Nacional de História Natural e da Ciência in Lisbon, followed by an exhibition at IAC – Instituto Açoriano da Cultura in Angra do Heroísmo, Terceira Island (2025), and, in recent months, in a solo exhibition at Rivafiorita (Porto San Giorgio, Fermo) for Karussell.