Luca Vanello Exhibition at Z33 Explores Organic-Synthetic Kinships Through Transformative Sculptures

Artist Luca Vanello is presenting an exhibition at Z33 in Hasselt featuring hybrid sculptures that examine connections between organic and synthetic elements. The works incorporate materials linked to vulnerability, including plants gathered from therapeutic gardens that have undergone chlorophyll removal, halting their natural development. These botanical components interact with technological forms like 3D-printed animal prosthetics, suggesting healing as a reciprocal exchange involving humans, technology, and non-human entities. The exhibition includes evolving sculptures made from responsive materials such as hydrogel, which react to environmental conditions like light, humidity, and temperature by altering their shape through bending, twisting, and surface tension changes. These gradual transformations encourage viewers to observe material vitality and consider enchantment as both emotional and ethical engagement. The presentation explores themes of co-formation between matter, bodies, and surroundings through processes of evaporation and metamorphosis.