How do humans relate to nature? This is one of the central questions explored in the work of Michele Bazzoli (1996). Bazzoli creates sculptures, installations, digital works, animations and texts in which the relationship between human and non-human environments takes centre stage.
The new sculpture Apex (2026) is composed of two steel structures: one has an industrial appearance, while the other evokes organic growth. In the web formed by the convergence of these structures, Bazzoli has placed a number of small sculptures of organisms. A butterfly chrysalis hangs from an arch, encrusted clams cluster an upper ending, and bark mushrooms form around a cold, vertical metallic line. These sculptures were created through three-dimensional modelling, scanning and printing of real organic elements, which were subsequently painted by hand.
Bazzoli regards organic structures such as shell deposits, chrysalises and clusters of mushrooms as forms of non-human architecture. By drawing attention to the interconnectedness of human-made and organic forms, the artist questions an anthropocentric world view in which humans are always positioned at the centre. He is inspired by the South Korean-German philosopher Byung-Chul Han, who, following Hannah Arendt, argues that all human activity, when viewed from a distance, resembles biological processes.
With Apex, Bazzoli demonstrates how different organisms build, protect themselves and, in doing so, transform their environment. He presents these processes within a self-contained ecosystem in which growth and decay, the natural and the artificial, and the human and non-human are all interconnected.
Text: Sarah van Binsbergen