"Elementary" Exhibition by Denise Milan

O Museum of Sacred Art of São Paulo (MAS-SP), institution of Secretariat of Culture, Economy and Creative Industries of the Government of the State of São Paulo, managed by Social Organization of Culture SAMAS, presents the exhibition “Elementary”, by the artist Denise MilanThe exhibition, curated by Naomi Moniz, presents a collection of works that articulate art, science, and contemporary thought through the investigation of matter. It highlights the artist's recent work in dialogue with her established career, marked by the use of geodes and crystals as central elements of her research.

Bringing together a significant collection of works, the exhibition investigates the dynamic systems of matter at the molecular level, articulating concepts such as chaos, creativity, survival, adaptation, and transformation. At the heart of this journey is what the artist defines as the "drama of matter"—a narrative that understands the Earth as a living organism, bearer of memory and energy.

By treating the stone as a database, Denise Milan proposes reading the material as an archive of processes that traverse the planet's deep time, revealing stories formed over millions of years. The works presented highlight the cycles of creation and destruction that structure life on Earth and point to a shift in perspective: old metanarratives give way to a speculative fabulation that includes all of nature as an active agent.

In this context, animals, forests, microorganisms, and minerals take center stage, highlighting the interdependence between different life systems and the delicate harmony that sustains the universe. Combining conceptual rigor and visual power, the exhibition brings art and science closer together to reflect on the role of matter as a creative and narrative force.

With “Elementares”, Denise Milan invites the public to rethink the relationship between humanity and nature, at a time when understanding the planet's cycles and energy is becoming increasingly urgent. The exhibition reaffirms the relevance of her career in the contemporary art scene and proposes an experience that connects aesthetics, knowledge, and imagination about the possible futures of Earth.

The exhibition is organized into five sections that function as a journey between matter, origin, transformation, and perception. Each section occupies a stage of this journey and helps guide the visitor through Denise Milan's research on art, science, nature, and spirituality.

Elementares I brings together images derived from geodes and crystals in which human figures, organisms, and hybrid forms emerge, inscribed within the mineral matter itself. The works stem from the observation of basalts and quartz crystallized over millions of years. Denise Milan treats these formations as "enunciations of eternal lives" and associates the core with the origins of matter and the processes of coexistence between different mineral structures.

Elementares II expands on this investigation and shifts the mineral figures to a more corporeal and sculptural dimension. The core of the exhibition presents cast aluminum pieces derived from the forms observed in the crystals, transforming mineral designs into physical presences. Here, the exhibition brings together geology, body, and memory, proposing an interpretation of matter as an organism in continuous transformation.

Imaginários da Terra (Imaginaries of the Earth) articulates stone, metal, and quartzite in works that bring together science, imagination, and landscape. Denise Milan treats nature as a language and constructs compositions in which minerals, surfaces, and voids function as symbolic maps of the Earth's formation. The core of the work directly engages with the idea of ​​listening to nature "in its own language," a concept cited in the catalog based on the work of physicist Frank Wilczek.

Explosions focuses on works related to the expansion, rupture, and internal energy of crystals. The works start from geometric and symmetrical structures found in nature to discuss instability, transformation, and unpredictability. The catalog connects this core to the complexity of the universe and the forms of organization of matter.

Origins functions as the conceptual axis of the exhibition and connects all the previous themes. The idea of ​​origin appears in both a geological and a spiritual sense: the origin of matter, of life, of consciousness, and of images. Throughout the exhibition, science, mineralogy, and imagination are brought together to construct a narrative in which the human being ceases to occupy the center and comes to be understood as part of a broader cosmic, biological, and terrestrial process.

“Denise weaves fables as metaphors to suggest a revolution in human behavior patterns and a new conduct, centered on connection, cooperation, and healing, instead of polarization, greed, and rivalry. Elementares not only expands the artistic boundaries that Milan has been exploring throughout her career, but also incites us to question not only how we, as humans, think we should interact and behave with each other, but to see ourselves as part of Nature and the web of life. It is an invitation to a journey beyond ourselves: a “transhumanization,” as Dante Alighieri would say, acquiring more knowledge to evolve and accompany the “Guiding Star” to the dark and deep caverns of the earth's womb. In them, strangely familiar figures awaken lost memories of unconscious states of memory as we recognize ourselves – beings floating in places of “before” and “after,” suspended in the symmetry of time and space that reveals the center, the place of origin and of the future.”

Naomi Moniz, curator

Service
Exhibition | Elementary
From May 29th to September 27th
Tuesday to Sunday, from 09am to 17pm (entry until 16:30pm)