Giovanni Chiamenti at ArtNoble Gallery

Artist: Giovanni Chiamenti

Exhibition title: The Metabolic Era

Venue: ArtNoble Gallery, Milan, Italy

Date: September 27 – November 9, 2023

Photography: all images copyright and courtesy of the artist and ArtNoble Gallery, Milan

Note: Text by Treti Galaxie is available here

ArtNoble gallery is pleased to present The Metabolic Era, Giovanni Chiamenti’s first solo exhibition with the gallery, accompanied by a text by Treti Galaxie.

The Metabolic Era represents a journey into a world suspended between past, present and future, where the artist accompanies the viewer to discover the remains of hybrid creatures that have developed on the plastic waste of a humanity that has nourished itself on its own toxic waste.

Through the works on display, the exhibition directly addresses the concept that we are what we eat, noting how recent scientific discoveries show that humanity and many other life forms are unwittingly feeding on micro- and nano-plastics, mutating their very essence and incorporating them into their metabolic process. The works presented, all unpublished except for Cortex, a 3D stereolithography from 2019 that anticipates Chiamenti’s current research, have been produced using heterogeneous techniques and materials, fully repre-senting the artist’s transdisciplinary nature.

The Metabolic Era is thus intended to be a statement of the geological era in which we live. An era in which humanity is metabolising within its own bodies the damage caused to the ‘Earth’ ecosystem that hosts us, while also forcing nature to adapt in order to survive an increasingly polluted environment.

Giovanni Chiamenti (Verona, 1992)

Chiamenti’s artistic practice intercepts themes such as the sympoiesis and symbiogenesis betwe-en the anthropogenic and the natural, for an overcoming of the Anthropocene and the formulation of alternative paradigms of survival of the planet and coexistence between species. The basis of his research has always been a careful observation of nature and the landscape, initially translated into a practice that went along with the shaping of the art form through natural processes, deepening the relationship between man and nature by creating a perceptual imbalance and altering the vision.

Subsequently, Chiamenti has moved towards an increasingly in-depth and synchronic exploration of materials and techniques as well as natural processes, producing a series of works that test the ability of each technique utilized to understand and simulate nature. This type of analysis of materials and processes has led the artist to develop a deeper interest in the sciences, although anchored in a humanistic approach of analysing human interventions on the planet, undertaking research into the adaptation of living beings to increasingly extreme environmental conditions.

To this day, Chiamenti’s practice thus operates at the intersection of art, geology, biology, biotechnology and chemistry, involving constant exchanges with experts in these fields.

Moving between sci-fi and the imaginative, but rooting his research in in-depth scientific studies, Chiamenti’s practice finds its relevance in today’s context in his ability to imagine positive propositions of a new era of symbiosis between man and nature.

In recent years, Chiamenti has participated in national and international exhibitions including: Interspecies Kin, Spazio Volta, Bergamo; Rhizomatic Weave, Galleria Daniele Agostini, Lugano; La Cerimonia dei Misteri, curated by Vincenzo Argentieri, Spazio Serra, Milan; Riportando tutto a casa, curated by Lorenzo Madaro, Museo delle Navi Romane di Nemi, Nemi; Principles of Existence, NARS Foundation, New York; Ciak Collecting, curated by Irene Sofia Comi, Palazzo Orti Manara, Artverona, Art & The City, Verona; GOOGOL, Artemis Gallery, Lisbon; Zeitgeber (donatore di tempo), ArtNoble Gallery, Milan; Panorama #4, Galeria Fran Reus, Palma di Maiorca; A JUMI, curated by Irene Angenica, Giovanni Paolin, Giacomo Pigliapoco, invited by Giacinto di Pietrantonio, Bocs Art, Cosenza; Immersione Libera, curated by Giovanni Paolin, in collaboration with Galleria Continua and Associazione Pier Lombardo, Palazzina dei Bagni Misteriosi, Milan; Open Studios, School of Visual Arts, New York; First Layer, Atelier 34zèro Muzeum, Bruxelles; Premio Women Leaders International, curated by Giacinto di Pietrantonio, Flagshipstore Enel, Milan. Further-more, Chiamenti is the winner of the Combat Prize (2023) and the E.ART.H Prize (2023) and finalist of the Talent Prize (2022), the Exibart Prize (2020) and the Premio Fabbri per le Art Contemporanee (2018). He has participated in various residencies including: NARS Foundation (2022), New York; IN PRATICA (2019) supported by Mibac and SIAE “Per Chi Crea”; VIR Viafarini-in-residence (2019), Milan; Bocs Art Residenze Artistiche (2019), Cosenza and School of Visual Arts (2018), New York, as well as winning a research grant from the Italian Council 10, supported by the Ministry of Culture.

Giovanni Chiamenti, The Metabolic Era, 2023, exhibition view, ArtNoble Gallery, Milan

Giovanni Chiamenti, Cortex (2019), Stereolithography 3D, lightbox 150 x 70 x 80 cm

Giovanni Chiamenti, Metabolize! Phagocytize! (2023), Raku ceramics, thermoplastic, electric pump, water, 149 x 38 x 78 cm

Giovanni Chiamenti, Oblivous Shift (2023), 10 min 28 sec, In collaboration with Maria Castagna

Giovanni Chiamenti, Plastifossil 1 (2023), Plexiglass, stainless steel, 38.5 x 16 x 2.5 cm

Giovanni Chiamenti, Plastifossil 2 (2023), Plexiglass, stainless steel, 38.5 x 23.7 x 2.5 cm

Giovanni Chiamenti, Plastifossil 3 (2023), Plexiglass, stainless steel, 38.5 x 18.5 x 2 cm

Giovanni Chiamenti, Plastifossil 4 (2023), Plexiglass, stainless steel, 38.5 x 23.6 x 2.6 cm

Giovanni Chiamenti, Plastifossil 5 (2023), Plexiglass, stainless steel, 38.5 x 16.5 x 2.8 cm

Giovanni Chiamenti, Κατάλειμμα (Kataleimma) α (2023), Raku ceramic, 66 x 32 x 9 cm

Giovanni Chiamenti, Κατάλειμμα (Kataleimma) β (2023), Raku ceramic, 38 x 36.5 x 10 cm

Giovanni Chiamenti, Πλαστιλεῖμμα (Plastileimma) γ (2023), Raku ceramic, thermoplastic, stainless steel, sand, 38 x 30 x 30 cm

Giovanni Chiamenti, The Metabolic Era, 2023, exhibition view, ArtNoble Gallery, Milan

Giovanni Chiamenti, Πλαστιλεῖμμα (Plastileimma) α (2023), Raku ceramic, thermoplastic, stainless steel, sand, 35 x 26 x 24 cm

Giovanni Chiamenti, Πλαστιλεῖμμα (Plastileimma) β (2023), Raku ceramic, thermoplastic, stainless steel, sand, 32 x 30 x 30 cm

Giovanni Chiamenti, Πλαστιλεῖμμα (Plastileimma) ∂ (2023), Raku ceramic, thermoplastic, stainless steel, sand, 30 x 32 x 32 cm