Biorhy thms, Mirad’Or Gallery, Chiesa Santa Maria della Neve, Pisogne, 09.08—22.09.2025

THE CONTEXT OF THE PLACE

The area of Lake Iseo in northern Italy. Tradition, rich nature, and traces of prehistory dating back to the Neolithic era. For years, the region has been striving to be recognized as a center of contemporary art outside metropolises. It is here that modern artistic interventions, such as The Floating Piers by Christo, have taken place. In addition to Land Art installations, projects that address the community's fundamental needs are highly valued here. The Mirad'Or Gallery is one such place. Its architecture, morphology, and structure resemble a futuristic dream. The world revolves around its glass form, with clouds drifting by. Immersed in the natural landscape, it protects the remnants of an ancient bathhouse and serves as an inspiring exhibition space with a strong gravitational pull. The venue is chosen by discerning creators, who present their artistic endeavors and the results of interdisciplinary research here. At Mirad'Or, under the artistic direction of Massimo Minini¹, artists such as Stefano Arienti and Daniel Buren have exhibited their works. Currently, work is underway on a new project that connects the territory and creates a dialogue between the contemporary and tradition. As part of these efforts, the "Sistine Chapel of the Poor"—Chiesa Santa Maria della Neve—has joined the exhibition venues and now serves as a space for displaying contemporary art. The scientific direction of the project has been undertaken by Flaminio Gualdoni², and Wrocław-based artists Marlena Promna and Tomasz Pietrek have been invited to collaborate on this experiment. Working together, they have dedicated their premiere works to both spaces.

"Remember the title of this intriguing exhibition, with its obvious etymological reference. The biorhythm regulates the flow and connection between cells. It is a periodic trend present in biochemical, physiological, electrochemical, and even behavioral processes, common to all living beings. Transferring this idea to contemporary art, let us think about how to find such a harmonious relationship and create new habits and mutual attitudes."³

HUMAN PRODUCT—MORPHEONS BY TOMASZ PIETREK

Humanoid spatial objects, human-sized, were created through a process of melting⁴. Their tissue (industrial foil, heat-treated at a temperature of five hundred degrees Celsius) hardened and now resembles marble, directly referencing ancient sculptures. One might say: every era has its own monuments.

The Morpheons⁵ are lightweight, as they are hollow inside. They consist solely of their foil surface. Abandoning any "content" grants them immediate advantages: mobility and ubiquity. Doesn't evolution today favor forms that are striking and ephemeral? At first glance, they seem delicate and fragile, but that's an illusion—they are long-lasting, nearly indestructible. Their bodies will decompose in about three hundred years⁶.

Tomasz Pietrek has been working with Form for years, transforming and transfiguring it. His works, though bold, are never explicit—they are compilations woven from traces and clues, simultaneously serving as a document, a literary interpretation, an autonomous artistic creation, or an impression of contemporary life. This interdisciplinary artist has a unique ability to create syntheses, which he continuously reprocesses, thereby expressing his own creative identity. He brings together both the realization of a conceived idea and its unpredictable dynamics or controlled chance, which he then integrates into a unified, expressive whole. This processual nature is evident in the Morpheons cycle, which began as drawing sketches. Transformed into large-format graphics, they underwent further evolution to finally become a spatial installation—an object with an abstracted composition.

In the Mirad’Or Gallery, the Melting Heroes emerge from the trees. They can boldly participate in the discussion about the emotional states (anxiety and loss) experienced by contemporary humans in a world where they are forced to exist detached from nature and its manifestations. The artist thus poses questions about the future. What is our natural environment now? What will be, or perhaps already is, the post-human—a creation of marketing peculiarity? A thoughtless Consumer, filtered through the sieve of posthumanist and transhumanist values, whose ambitions, plans, and aspirations have been shaped by the marketplace⁷.

In Chiesa Santa Maria della Neve, a gleaming Icarus⁸ attempts to break free from the earth. Unsuccessfully. His struggles seem to be commented on by the figures in Romanino's frescoes. Here, as in every myth, concept, imagination, distorted memories over time, assigned roles, and the "cosmos" of a particular life intertwine. The presence of a powerful body reflecting light enhances the sense of mystery. The simplified figure dictates interpretations, creating a sense of the sacred that intimidates. The generalized, detail-free form gives the impression of a shroud. Rebellious, though faceless, Icarus gazes longingly toward the light, yet remains bound to the earth to which he is tethered.

SUMMARY

The Biorhythms project is an intriguing thought experiment and a carefully crafted realization, serving as a mirror in which humanity can reexamine its place within the world of nature, machines, and objects. It is based on the mechanisms of human perception, which continue to shape our understanding of the surrounding world. At the same time, as an artistic endeavor, it evokes a sense of unease, reminding us that we are witnessing a global mutation affecting every aspect of our individual and collective existence. In its intellectual realm, it compels discussion and raises difficult questions about the direction we are heading in during this inevitable transformation, where technology has become an indispensable companion to life, and "biological" may come to mean "limiting."

The exhibition, situated in the heart of spectacular nature, allows for a direct sensory experience. Visitors hear the sounds of the city and the waves of the lake and feel the scent of water and the warmth of the sun's rays. At the same time, adopting a different perspective urges them to redefine their thinking about nature as something that can be "surpassed," objectified, optimized, and commodified.

It is a bold project at the intersection of social activism and cultural critique, which, by employing the language of metaphor, forms a narrative that serves as a collection of visual essays on self-awareness and the essence of human existence. It opens a debate about the future of that existence in the context of climate change and the already unfolding era of transhumanism.

Zyta Misztal von Blechinger

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¹ An icon of Italian culture and a brilliant erudite. Since 1973, Minini's story has intertwined with the history of the best contemporary art of the past fifty years. The Massimo Minini Gallery has been a permanent presence at Art Basel in Basel, Fiac in Paris, Artissima in Turin, Frieze in New York, and Miart in Milan.
² Writer; art history lecturer at the Brera Academy in Milan. He has long directed institutions such as the Galleria Civica in Modena, the Civici Museum in Varese, and the Arnaldo Pomodoro Foundation in Milan. He was the commissioner of the 44th International Art Exhibition at the Venice Biennale and a member of the scientific committee of the Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo and the Archivio Manzoni. He has curated numerous museum exhibitions featuring artists such as Vasco Bendini, Mario Mafai, Jean Fautrier, Lucio Fontana, Enzo Cucchi, Urs Lüthi, Jaume Plensa, George Grosz, Giacomo Manzù, Massimo Campigli, Leonardo Cremonini, André Villers, Antoni Tàpies, Meret Oppenheim, and Shimizu Tetsuo. He collaborates with Corriere della Sera and, since 2006, has written the Il criptico d'arte column in Il Giornale dell'Arte. He is also a columnist for Il Giorno, La Domenica del Corriere, Italia Oggi, Gente, and Rai Radio.
³ Flaminio Gualdoni, a word about the exhibition (a paraphrase with my own translation).
⁴ A direct reference to the issue of climate change, where humanity, as the cause of the ecological crisis, is also its primary victim.
⁵ The naming for the entire series of works consisting of graphic and drawing objects created using an innovative technique. The author of the neologism is Marlena Promna.
⁶ A paraphrase of the text by Olga Tokarczuk titled Flights, chapter "On the Origin of Species."
⁷ Stiegler's Human—a reference to Bernard Stiegler's reflections, taken from the study The Concept of Human in the Context of Transhumanism and Posthumanism by Roman Sapeńko and Paulina Kłos-Czerwińska.
⁸ In the context of the symbolism of human striving to achieve personal goals against the natural order of the world.