On Friday, 20 November, at 4:30 pm, Spazio Thetis in Venice will host the presentation of Naturae, a monograph dedicated to the artistic research of Marica Moro, curated by Alessandra Coppa and published by Nomos Edizioni. The event will also provide an opportunity to unveil Network, a new site-specific installation created by the artist for the Venetian venue, in dialogue with Genesis 2, the monumental sculpture installed in the garden of Spazio Thetis in 2014. Speakers will include Marica Moro, Antonietta Grandesso, Alessandra Coppa, Elena Di Raddo, Lorella Giudici, Fortunato D'Amico and Marco Pollice.
Active on the contemporary art scene since the 1990s, Marica Moro has developed an interdisciplinary practice spanning painting, sculpture, installation, video animation and design, exploring the connections between art, science and the natural world. The monograph Naturae documents the evolution of this journey through an introductory essay by Alessandra Coppa and critical contributions by Elena Di Raddo, Marco Meneguzzo, Francesco Tedeschi, Antonietta Grandesso, Caterina Iaquinta, Fortunato D'Amico, Sandro Orlandi Stagl, Lorella Giudici and Eleonora Fiorani. The title evokes the plurality of living forms and the central themes of the artist's research: the relationship between humankind and the environment, the dialogue between art and science, and the individual and collective dimensions of existence. Seeds, trees, roots, cells and plant organisms recur throughout her visual vocabulary as metaphors for processes of birth, growth and transformation. Her choice of materials, ranging from resins and polymers to metals and ceramics, also reflects an exploration of the relationship between the organic and the artificial, technological innovation and environmental sustainability.
This universe of references finds a new expression in Network, an installation also created in Milan in 2024 for the Il Tempo delle Donne festival organized by Corriere della Sera. The work features male and female anthropomorphic figures supporting one another in space. Resembling shoots and connected by metal elements, they embody the values of solidarity, collaboration and trust. The installation enters into dialogue with Genesis 2, a 2014 work depicting a human figure emerging from a large garden pot, evoking humankind's birth from the womb of the Earth. Included in Michelangelo Pistoletto's Terzo Paradiso – Coltivare la città project, the sculpture reflects on the need to rethink the relationship between the environment, society and human intervention. As Elena Di Raddo observes, “in an age characterized by technological speed and the volatility of human relationships mediated by social media, the artist's investigation seems to bring us back to a more archaic and ancestral sense of existence, to the very point from which things originate, take shape and come to life”. From the theme of origins to that of solidarity, the two installations reveal complementary dimensions of Moro's artistic research, in which life unfolds through processes of transformation and connection.