Elisa Sighicelli's Photos Revive Poldi Pezzoli's Baroque Trick Glasses

At Milan's Casa Museo Poldi Pezzoli, a new exhibition titled "Vitroepifanie" by Turin-born photographer Elisa Sighicelli (b. 1978) reinterprets the museum's historic Murano glass collection, focusing on 15th- to 19th-century "Trick Glasses" from the Baroque era. These deceptive drinking vessels, designed to surprise or embarrass guests, are captured through Sighicelli's dreamlike photographic techniques—blur, positive-negative inversion, and scale shifts—transforming ornamental details into organic, almost microscopic organisms. The show is part of an ongoing initiative since 2011 to invite contemporary artists to engage with the museum's holdings. Sighicelli previously collaborated with Poldi Pezzoli in 2013 and has worked with collections at Palazzo Madama, Museo Pignatelli in Naples, and GAM Milan. Museum director Alessandra Quarto selected the pieces and praised the artist's ability to highlight their playful, deceptive nature. The exhibition is housed in the Stanza del Collezionista, where the photographs appear as living creatures, turning sculpture into nature. The museum, opened in 1881 by nobleman Gian Giacomo Poldi Pezzoli, also houses works by Botticelli, Bellini, Mantegna, and the iconic "Portrait of a Young Woman" by Pollaiolo.