1. Publication

    Sundial has been featured in a beautiful article for Elle Decor Italia - Architecture

    Our project Sundial has been featured in a beautiful article by Ludovica Proietti for Elle Decor Italia - Architecture, 'EPHEMERAL ARCHITECTURES OF SUMMER 2023 TO REDISCOVER THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN MAN AND NATURE', together with other wonderful installations. 'A selection of temporary artworks, destined to disappear after a short period of time, which invite us to reflect on how to highlight new ways of conceiving nature, building space and interacting with it'. Sundial is a Public Art commission by the Department of Culture and Education of Salzburg, Austria. The installation is part of Supergau Festival, a Contemporary Art Festival located in the landscape of UNESCO Biosphere Reserve Salzburg’s Lungau.

    August 2023
    1. Installation
    2. Event

    Maetherea has been invited to participate in the Dubai Design Week with Urban Cyanotype project

    Urban Cyanotype explores the atmospheric alchemy of one of the most abundant resources in Dubai: sunlight. Commonly known as Blueprint, Cyanotype is a cameraless photographic process introduced by Sir John Herschel in 1842 during his investigation on light, developed using light-sensitive papers and exposing them to sunlight. The idea arises from the exploration of the interdependency of the actions of nature and humans in the environment. Urban Cyanotype is a modular bench inspired by the traditional Dubai Dhow. Merging the wood and the sea it shapes lightweight benches designing a geometrical landscape. Four different iterations from the same module are composed to create a spatial exploration, to lay, rest, and seat. They exhibit the custom-made cyanotypes printed on the fabric, producing an alternation of lights and shadows.

    August 2023
    1. Publication
    2. Research

    Our publication on Nature/Artifice Dualism is now online and open access Augmented Territories is a radical essay on the material aspect of technology. It poetically investigates the fundamental role of the matter in crafting the technologies of each era.

    “Materia (matter), as being the passive role that mother (mater) plays in conception.” - Cristina Morbi, Augmented Territories. Essay and comment to Bruno Zamborlin Hypersurfaces. Our publication on Nature/Artifice Dualism is now online and open access Augmented Territories is a radical essay on the material aspect of technology. It poetically investigates the fundamental role of the matter in crafting the technologies of each era. “Materia (matter), as being the passive role that mother (mater) plays in conception.” - Cristina Morbi, Augmented Territories. Essay and comment to Bruno Zamborlin Hypersurfaces The essay is part of “DUALISM MANIFESTO. Design challenges for the XXI Century” edited by Giovanna Piccinno. It is an open-access book presenting a speculative, emergent and often radical approach to designing, gathering also experimental teaching and learning results collected during the six-year coordination period of the Master of Science in Interior and Spatial Design at the Politecnico di Milano - School of Design from 2016 to 2021.

    June 2023
    1. Award

    Torre Maggese explores the relationship between human rituals and agricultural land.

    Torre Maggese explores the concept of rest, the counterpart of action, and the forgotten side of growth. The art piece is archetypical, symbolising repose, pause and otium. It explores the relationship between art and agricultural land through the practice of fallow (Maggese in Italian). When Torre Maggese appears in a landscape, it means that the soil around it is resting. The artwork acts as a nourishing presence. It is an ephemeral architecture; it can be mounted, dismounted and moved to another field. An ‘ancient meadow’ of fodder crops (piante foraggere) will grow around Torre Maggese. People will disperse the seeds in the field around it, leaving a polyphite meadow as a trace of this seeding ritual. These practices replenish mineral nutrients, fix nitrogen and fertilise the soil.

    Design: Maetherea (Cristina Morbi, Aurora Destro, Giorgia Mazzetti).

    Torre Maggese won an Honorable Mention in the Art On The Top international design award in collaboration with YAC - Young Architect Competitions. “Celebrate the growing and giving of good food as the highest gift is the most revolutionary act.” - Vandana Shiva Competition Award Agriculture Design Productive Landscape Public Art Nature Ephemeral project Ecological Artwork

    June 2023
    1. exhibition
    2. installation

    Sundial is a gesture in the landscape that works as a natural device, including the phenological observation of heliotropic characteristics of vegetal species.

    Different species of heliotropic flowers in bloom create a vegetal clock. Slowly tracking the sun’s path across the sky, these flowers are believed to use heliotropism to improve pollination, fertilisation, and seed development.

    ‘Our latest installation for Supergau_festival Sundial is an astral geometry. It invites you to position your body in relationship to the movements of the Sun. Connecting the Land to the Sky, its shadows indicates the passage of time.. In this way, an ephemeral structure becomes a ‘naked-eye observatory’. Different species of heliotropic flowers in bloom create a vegetal clock, slowly tracking the sun’s path across the sky. This creates a symbiosis between art and its environment.’

    Pictures and video by  Giulia Maretti Studio Ephemeral nature Public Art Architecture Landscape

    May 2023
    1. Workshop
    2. Event

    Field Trip with our students from The Bartlett School of Architecture MEng visiting Milan, Italy.

    A special thanks to Fondazione Prada for the wonderful insights over the refurbishment by OMA.  Our students investigated the relationship between Brownfields and the public domain through caferul architectural actions rewilding the urban fabric through art and nature. We have been guests of Teatro Arcimboldi, guided by Giulia Pellegrino, and the backstage of Design Week ‘ Vietato l’Ingresso ‘. A special thanks to LAND Milano for guiding us to a tour to their Urban projects in Gae Aulenti and Biblioteca degli Alberi.  Tutors: Cristina Morbi, Francesco Banchini, Yi Zhang Course: Architectural Design and Engineering, MEng, Y3, Y4

    1. Research

    Our visit to Salzburg Botanicl Garden for our collaboration with Universität Salzburg.

    The wonderful garden hosts numerous species of pollinators and native plants, researching the effect of Climate Change in the phenology of the alpine landscape. We collaborated with the Botanical Garden for our latest Austrian project, selecting native heliotropic species.  Heliotropic flowers track the Sun’s motion across the sky from east to west. During the night, the flowers may assume a random orientation, while at dawn they turn again toward the east where the Sun rises. The motion is performed by motor cells in a flexible segment just below the flower, called a pulvinus. The motor cells are specialized in pumping potassium ions into nearby tissues, changing their turgor pressure. The segment flexes because the motor cells at the shadow side elongate due to a turgor rise. This is considered to be turgor-mediated heliotropism. For plant organs that lack pulvini, heliotropism can occur through irreversible cell expansion producing particular growth patterns. This form of heliotropism is considered to be growth-mediated. Heliotropism is a response to light from the Sun.

    September 2022
    1. Awards

    Maetherea - Cristina Morbi, shortlisted in the category Young Professionals Portfolio 2022 by Landzine International Landscape Award


    Jury:
    João Nunesproap.pt
    Robin Winogrondrobinwinogrond.ch
    Sarah Cowlesruderal.com
    Hanneke Kijnemorelandscape.nl
    Zaš Brezarwww.landezine.com

    June 2022
    1. workshop
    2. event

    Highlights from the Broads, ‘We Are a River’, a sensory workshop and Community Engagement project along the River Yare with the extraordinary environmental artist Liz McGowan.

    On July 2022, we invited the community of Norfolk to join us at Reedham Ferry Inn for an engaging day of landscape exploration. This environmental art-making experience engaged the community in the design of our Iron Reef, Reedham Ferry’s new site-specific artwork. Landscape observation through Kaleidoscopes: While the surrounding reeds were at their maximum height, we headed to the water and hosted conversations along the river. Engaging our senses we collected flora and natural materials: leaves, reefs and flowers. We observed them through kaleidoscopes, experiencing the variety of details of botanical elements around us. Nests making and wishes: Collected botanical materials were weaved together and transformed into environmental art. Each nest is unique and expresses the personality of the maker and contained a wish written on seeded paper. Seeds-bearing papers offer to the River: Rafts were weaved by the community using a lattice of reed stems. Once ready, seeded wishes and nests were placed on the rafts and sent off down the river, carrying the wishes to the sea and seeding the river banks on their way. This gesture is an offer to connect to the water and the river; a propitiatory act of germination and grafting for the beautiful amphibious landscape of Reedham Ferry.

    July 2022
    1. Publication

    Maetherea work and research published in the Italian Newspaper ‘Il Nuovo Torrazzo’

    ‘The poetry of Places: Investigated by Cristina Morbi in her London Studio. Exploring innovation, art and mutations around the world“. An Article by Luca Guerini.

    June 2022
    1. Exhibition
    2. Research

    Cristina Morbi Exhibition at MAKING MATTERS: CREATURE Research Group. 

    6th May - 13th May 2022 (Opening times: Mon-Fri 2pm-6pm) Private view on Thursday 5th May, 5:30pm-8pm - Welcome notes will include contributions by Prof. Matthew Barac and Dr Jacek Ludwig Scarso. The Wash Houses- Aldgate Campus, London Metropolitan University Exhibitors George Fereday Francesca Filatondi Maria-Irina Georgescu Johanna Hallsten Simone ten Hompel James Hunting Cristina Morbi Kaye Newman Gina Pierce Wendy Ross Jane Turner Samuel Wingate

    May 2022
    1. Awards

    Iron Reef Shortlisted for Norfolk Art Trail

    We are excited to finally announce that our design for the Norfolk Art Trail has been shortlisted for the Reedham Ferry Inn Location. You can vote our proposal among many other artists and designers inspiring work

    December 2021
    1. Exhibition

    Woolwich Print Art Festival - Selected Artist

    We’re extremely pleased to be part of 2021 Woolwich Art Festival Showcasing the best in international contemporary printmaking & formulating new approaches to contemporary print with over 500 artists & specialist galleries at Londons latest landmark creative destination. A collaboration with Kristina Chan

    November 2021
    1. Pubblication
    2. Research

    Arcana Nature Artifice

    We have been excited to work with the Philosoper Emanuele Coccia for the set of Major Arcana Nature-Artifice. The arcana set interwave the meaning of the traditional Visconti-Sforza arcana set, designed by Brembo Cicognara in 1451. Each Major Arcana has been translated in a symblolic glossary of design issues on the theme of Nature and Artifice, for the 2021 interdisciplinary Workshop of Politecnico di Milano , Lead by Professor Giovanna Piccinno, Elisa Cattaneo and Emanuele Coccia. As in the dadaist game of Cadavre exquis, we created for each issue a card, allusion and symbolic meaning are translatedwith mixed media. They are completed by the aphorism written for each card by Emanuele Coccia, inspired by emblem literature and latind Palindrome.

    January 2021
    1. Exhibition
    2. Award

    Competition ReuseItaly: Reuse the Roman Ruin


    Result: SPECIAL SELECTION FOR INNOVATIVE PROPOSALS
    Team: Aurora Destro, Cristina Morbi
    Brief: The second edition of the cultural project Reuse Italy promotes an international architecture competition on the reuse of Piscina Mirabilis, a Roman reservoir located in the countryside of Naples. The contest is powered by a partnership with ArchDaily, KooZA/rch, 120g, EX32, and with the official support of the Parco Archeologico dei Campi Flegrei, the Minicipality of Bacoli (Naples) and the FAI.
    Juror: Fala Atelier (Filipe Magalhães, Ana Luisa Soares & Ahmed Belkhodja), DNA Architecture (Xu Tiantian), KooZA/rc (Federica Sofia Zambeletti), Open- fabric (Francesco Garofalo), Fernando Guerra, Enorme Studio (Carmelo Rodríguez & Rocío Pina), Peter Guthrie, SET Architects (Lorenzo Catena, Onorato di Manno & Andrea Tanci), ArchDaily (Diego Hernandez).

    August 2020
    1. Workshop
    2. Conference

    Maetherea Invited Designer and Artists to its launch event, CADAVRE EXQUIS, with Patricia Stadler at the BargeHouse in London.

    In 1925, on a winter night in Paris, the Cadavre Exquis was born from the surrealist imagination of Andre Breton, Marcel du Champ, and Yves Tanguy.The term Exquisite Corpse refers to a collective assembly of images and words. It is an exercise in appropriation and applied creativity. It doesn’t tell the story of a single frame, but stratification of narratives, each unique and recognizable, overlapped in time.5 Tables. 5 Talks. 25 Designers.We will re-live the Dadaist parlor experiment collectively generating unpredictable designs. The process of appropriation is the mechanism. Letting go is the key.In this our inaugural event. over the course of the evening, 5 invited artists, designers and architects will speak. This is a symposium of Natural Technology and Digital Biodynamics. We are interested in seeing output from these overlapped discussions. How we shape nature in a non-real world? How do we interlock biological features and digital landscapes?

    Cristina Morbi Presented the Concept of Surralist Parlour an Appropriation as process of Design. Design Art and Architecture Symposium.
    Talk and Simultaneous Design. Kristina Chan – Lucid Dreams in Printed Landscapes. Gabriel Tanase – Ethereal to Pixels. Bruno Zamborlin – Hyperfurfaces. Diane Chappalley – Psychological Landscapes. Alicia Hidalgo – Ethereal Non-Natura.

    January 2020
    1. Workshops
    2. Conference

    Climate Performance Workshop at Politecnico di Milano, Markus Jatsch and Cristina Morbi for the second year collaborated with Giovanna Piccinno for the Interdisciplinar Workshop, Landscape, Interior and Ephemeral Design, on the topic of Climate Performance, lateral thinking on climate change and urban design solutions.

    Video Credit: Zhou Kang
    Professori: Giovanna Piccinno (Interdisciplinary Workshop Coordinator), Markus Jatsch (Lead Visiting Professor Interdisciplinary Workshop), Cristina Morbi (Tutor Visiting Professor Interdisciplinary Workshop)
    Assistent: Alice Zingales, Daniele Mazzinghi
    Students Assistent: Kristina Miskute, Gaia Brambilla
    Criticsi: Luca Guerrini, Giulia Gerosa
    Assistants: Daniele Mazzingi, Alice Zingales

    February 2018
    1. Conference

    DETHUN - DESIGN THE UNPREDICTABLE Presentation by Cristina Morbi at Milano design Week 2017:

    7th - Talents from the 7th Design University in the World Nell'ambito di Space&Interiors by MADE exp Il QS World University Rankings by Subject 2017 attribuisce al Politecnico di Milano il 7° posto al mondo nell’area Art & Design. Un evento, nella settimana del design milanese, per celebrare il traguardo raggiunto attraverso il racconto dei docenti e dei migliori laureati del Polimi Design System. POLI.DESIGN

    May 2017
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