The Other Shapes of Things.
Exhibition by Emilio Vavarella
L’altra forma delle cose (AAS47692 / Picea abies) è il titolo, ispirato al codice identificativo del DNA dell’abete rosso (Picea abies), che dà il nome alla mostra dell’artista Emilio Vavarella (Monfalcone, 1989) a Casa Zegna.
The exhibition examines the geographical setting of Fondazione Zegna and Oasi Zegna in a project that creates dialog between the history of the place and of the company, the digitalization of contemporary weaving techniques and biology.
Coming from a previous project, The Other Shapes of Me, in which he explains how the specific nature of every living being is tied to a unique combination of DNA’s 46 chromosomes, the artist was struck by the nature of Oasi Zegna, where the 500,000 Norway spruce planted by Ermenegildo Zegna from the ’30s onwards have created a very thick forest, a sort of ‘artificial’ vegetable fabric.
This idea of a forest made of thousands of variations of the same genetic code, a landscape at once natural and artificial, led Vavarella to take the DNA sequencing of a Norway spruce and represent it graphically by means of weaving, which is central to the company’s business and history.
The symbiosis between information and representation of DNA code and fabrics thus enabled the artist to transfer Norway spruce’s code in various material forms created with different techniques and technologies, from printing on fabric to embroidery and tapestry.
The exhibition is part of a project that Fondazione Zegna is dedicating to relations between nature, art and science, which was launched in 2020 along with the Zegna Forest reforestation plan, and the monitoring of Oasi Zegna’s state of health.
