Slow Metabolism
by Valeria Carrieri
exhibition curated by ife collective
October 19, 2024 - October 26, 2024
Biblioteca La Vigna, Vicenza
The exhibition Slow Metabolism by Valeria Carrieri takes its name from a series of sculptures born from a fortuitous event during a period of difficult change for the artist. The event in question is the fall of an owl from a tree branch in the garden of the Fondazione Lac o Le Mon in San Cesario (LE), during the painting residency Simposio di Pittura. At the wildlife recovery oasis, it was discovered that the owl was an adult female, in good health, and perhaps—since owls sleep during the day—had only had a bad dream. Identifying with that owl led the artist to imagine a sculpture which, with the collaboration of artist Luigi Presicce, took on a metamorphic form, resembling the pinecones found in traditional ceramics from southern Italy. Aware that the process of metabolizing the pain from the period she was going through would be slow, Carrieri associated the owl with two figures linked to slowness: the turtle and the snail.
Metabolic processes represent a complex set of reactions between organisms and substances, triggering movements of destruction, growth, and renewal—a series of non-linear developments within both interior and exterior contexts, visible and invisible.
Slow Metabolism by Valeria Carrieri is an attempt to reveal, associate, and combine these processes, approaching them from a perspective of layering and resonances of hybrid bodies, micro-macro movements, and plural digestion of inner and outer worlds, where the works can be found hidden within the most atypical corners of the La Vigna library halls.
