Tesla coil installed at Galleria Continua

Mitchondria: Powehouses insatlled at Galleria Continua

Ahmed Mater returned to Factum Arte to create Mitochondria: Powerhouses, a new body of work for his solo exhibition at Galleria Continua in San Gimignano. These artworks explore the concealed and unacknowledged forces behind religion and natural resources, powerhouses supplying and storing energy.

Factum Arte´s Irene Gaumé created a digital model of Ahmed Mater´s fulgurites

The models were 3D printed by Materialise.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The artworks produced include an installation with a Tesla coil machine evoking the production of fulgurite sculptures and a set of chests with optical illusions recalling the Mirage Boxes created in 2015. Ahmed Mater worked alongside a Factum Arte team of digital modellers, engineers and 3D recording specialists throughout the research and production phases of these works. Quinner Baird installed and operated a Tesla coil machine during the exhibition´s inauguration.

Ahmed Mater created ten fulgurites at Factum Arte´s workshop. These fragile figures were digitized by Factum Arte´s digital modeller Irene Gaumé. A larger version of Mater´s design was printed and covered in sand to emulate the artist´s original design.

Fulgurite (1,1 x 0,8 x 0,3 m)

Fulgurite (1,2 x 0,6 x 0,9 m)

Fulgurite (1 x 0,6 x 0,7 m)

Fulgurite (1,2 x 0,4 x 0,7 m)

Fulgurite (0,6 x 0,3 x 0,4 m)

Fulgurite (1,2 x 0,7 x 0,8 m)

Fulgurite (1,1 x 0,5 x 0,5 m)

Fulgurite (1,2 x 0,7 x 0,8 m)

Fulgurite (1,1 x 0,5 x 0,5 m)

The re-materialized fulgurites were installed at Galleria Continua in a dramatic mise-en-scene that recalled the artist´s own creative process at Factum Arte. The video below, recorded at Galleria Continua, shows a spectacular Tesla coil at work and fulgurites rising from the sand.

The exhibition included other works made by Ahmed Mater at Factum Arte. The series of Mirage Boxes and Slide Viewer are also part of the exhibition.