Giulia Poppi's Alchemical Sculptures: Matter, Space, and Onomatopoeia

Italian artist Giulia Poppi (born 1992 in Modena) creates sculptures that resemble alien conglomerates, blending organic and artificial origins. Her works, often large and colorful, evoke both repulsion and desire. Poppi treats materials alchemically, molding and forcing them to reveal unexpected properties. Her installation 'Sffsssshh' (2021), made from virgin PETG in collaboration with Plastopiave and ultravioletto.art, uses an onomatopoeic title to evoke a rustle or sizzle. In 2019, for a group show curated by Massimo Bartolini in Bologna, she created 'Glassblock', a false glass-block wall made of fabric, inspired by a phrase from Richard Bach's 'Illusions'. For the 2018 exhibition 'Sbranksbunkdum' at Gelateria Sogni di Ghiaccio in Bologna, she produced oversized objects including a photographic enlargement of mold. At the 2021 Quadriennale di Roma collateral show, she installed 'Passagatto', a cat flap in a drywall partition that opened and closed every five minutes with a creaking sound. Poppi previously co-ran a space called Malgrado in her studio-apartment for about a year during her academy studies. She emphasizes physical experience over Instagrammability, citing Nietzsche's 'Stay faithful to the earth'.