Alice Padovani. Hypernatura

The exhibition spaces at the Paper Museum are hosting the exhibition project by Alice Padovani, a journey born out of a deep dialogue between the ancient paper-making tradition of the area, the nature of the Valley of the Paper Mills and the artist’s poetics, centred on the balance between order and chaos, on the scientific classification and on the the memory of matter.

The exhibition features a collection of works on paper characterised by a dense layering of marks and plant and animal textures. La taxonomic drive is expressed through archival material, unlikely pairings and classification labels. From the series Shadows, Root System e Underground, the artist explores the dynamics of the metamorphosis and dissolution, and then continue with Grafts, where marine skeletal fragments encounter the Earth’s flora and fauna. This serves as a counterpoint Entropy, a cascade of butterfly wings held in place by enamelled brass pins, where the biological death It becomes a new form of aesthetic suspension.

The artist also works on 19th-century botanical prints, patterns for tailoring e ancient geographical maps, by superimposing gold leaf, china e pinned insects. The emotional matrix emerges in Reminiscence bump, with the personal diaries cut into strips, and in Letters to Myself (2026), installation with private memoirs tied together with a red cord, accompanied by the video performance Continuum. Perspective No. 1: The Notebook (2020).

The route culminates in a’site-specific work created in artist’s residence with the handmade paper by Toscolano, produced in collaboration with the master papermakers of the Association of Older Workers at the Paper Mill and of Toscolano Paper: the historical watermarks they link together until they form a sort of plant mycelium. With a design that evokes the wunderkammer and the autopsy tables, the exhibition combines the rigour of the scientific method to the spontaneity of the creative impulse.