Christian Fogarolli

Christian Fogarolli, Recycled Brain, 2020. Recycled plastic and natural yarns, cm 280 × 190.
Christian Fogarolli, Recycled Brain, 2020. Recycled plastic and natural yarns, cm 280 × 190.

In a time of global health emergency characterised by social isolation, the connection between individuals and their ecosystem is increasingly at risk.

The work “Recycled Brain” is based on the current issue of the relationship between individual and environment, and more specifically focuses on how a degraded, polluted and infected environment can negatively affect human brain activity. The dispersion and accumulation of plastic products in the environment is one of the main causes of problems in both natural and man-made habitats. Such pollution affects the air, the soil, rivers, lakes and oceans, and its consequences reflect on the brain and health of all species on the planet. The work is a large textile piece made up of yarns obtained from the processing of recycled plastic, in an attempt to bring together ancient traditions, the uniqueness of Italian manufacturing and contemporary artistic expression.

Represented through warp and weft, the subject is inspired by an anatomical and scientific image of the artist's brain generated by the use of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) on the author's body. The scientific elements of the research, the experimentation of the employed materials and the depicted subject, encourage the dissemination of scientific knowledge, of human, animal and plant life on Earth. After all, the human brain is responsible for most of the changes that take place on the planet: it can create a work of art, but also pollute the environment. Both of these actions are generated by a magical and as yet unclear alchemy taking place within this organ.