CHIARA BUGATTI
Chiara Bugatti considers materials as vital carriers of memory, identity, and value. Reflecting on marble, a material she frequently uses, she remarked: “Consumerism has developed a tendency to separate ourselves from the natural world. Giving language – a soundless, timeless voice – to the calcium carbonate in marble and the polychlorinated biphenyl in the soil is an attempt to flatten the hierarchical system where human development is always prioritized.”
After visiting Telemark, Bugatti traced the local history and geology, exploring their impact on everyday life through materials. By studying the formation, transformation, extraction, and use of stone, she uncovers themes of vulnerability, ambition, hierarchies, and failure. The concept of the volcano in Fen, which spewed liquid limestone to create precious metals and transformed the Earth into a hollow body with giant capillaries that sustain human life, deeply influences her work. This idea of ambiguous and imbalanced scales and proportions is embodied in her installation, Giants.
Bugatti’s artistic process raises questions about possession and power, and whether humanity can find ways to coexist responsibly with the resources and material bodies we depend on.
Chiara Bugatti (b. 1991 Lecco, Italy) is a visual artist based in Stockholm, Sweden. Through sculpture, time-based installations and video, Bugatti explores the narrative potential of materials. Between construction and decay, and within these processes of transformation, materials become mediums for exploring the space we inhabit, revealing its syntax and vulnerable structure. Her work has been recently exhibited at Haninge Konsthall, Mint and Carl Eldh’s studio museum in Sweden, the 15th Triennial Kleinplastik Fellbach and Kunstmuseum Stuttgart in Germany and Palazzo Monti in Italy.
More info > www.chiarabugatti.com
