Chryssa Kotoula. We are walking, talking minerals.

Fondazione Officine Saffi is pleased to present We are walking, talking minerals, the first solo exhibition in Italy by Greek artist Chryssa Kotoula (1995, Larissa). The exhibition is the result of a period of research and experimentation carried out during the artist's residency at the foundation. The series of works on view stems from the observation and reintepretation of ceramic waste materials left over from the foundation’s workshops—dried clays, crystallized glazes, unused pigments—which Kotoula has gathered and transformed into artworks. By bringing together technical skill and a deep sensitivity to material, her process explores new uses and possibilities for the remnants of everyday studio practice.

Kotoula’s practice blurs the boundaries between art, functional design, and craftsmanship, tapping into the unique expressive potential of ceramics. Her work can be read as a form of reverse archaeology: while evoking the appearance of ancient remnants, it instead imagines a possible future for what is typically considered waste. Central to her process is a reinterpretation of the terrazzo technique—first described by Pliny the Elder in the 1st century CE and traditionally used to create continuous, durable surfaces from a mix of materials. Kotoula reconfigures this logic within the ceramic language, incorporating fragments of glaze and clay directly into the body of the work rather than applying them on the surface. Each piece is thus shaped by a specific relationship between context, available materials, and artistic intent, forming open and stratified narratives. From these, hybrid and ambiguous forms emerge, challenging both the domestic and exhibition spaces and positioning themselves in a tension between object and organism, prototype and artifact. This tension is not only formal but also ethical and procedural: each piece is designed to be fired only once, and at a lower temperature, with particular attention to structural resistance. This approach reflects a view of ceramics as a circular practice—one that not only reduces environmental impact, but is grounded in the conscious use of what already exists.

The exhibition’s title is inspired by a passage from Vibrant Matter: A Political Ecology of Things by Jane Bennett, in which the author rejects a traditional view of inanimate matter as inert. Instead, she proposes that all materials—including minerals—possess vitality and dynamism. Humans, in this perspective, are not separate from or superior to nature, but rather assemblages of elements and forces within a interconnected system. A similar principle guides Kotoula’s artistic process: her works emerge as autonomous, composite presences shaped by the lived experience of the materials themselves. Often supported by leg-like structures, they occupy the gallery’s floor and walls with mysterious, branching stratifications that reveal the chemical and chromatic stories embedded in the ceramic remnants from which they are formed.

Chryssa Kotoula (1995, Larissa) holds a Master of Fine Arts from LUCA School of Arts, where she completed an additional two-year training program in the Glass and Ceramics Department. She earned a Master’s degree in Painting from the School of Visual and Applied Arts at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, and has participated in collective workshops and creative initiatives where she had the opportunity to work on numerous multicultural collaborative projects in the fields of art, design, and architecture. She has also studied and worked in the fields of Permaculture and Natural Building, in an effort to deepen the understanding of the relationship between human beings and the natural environment. She works between Athens, Greece, and Mallorca, Spain.

A finalist in the fifth edition of the Officine Saffi Award, Chryssa Kotoula was awarded the Officine Saffi Special Prize in May 2024, a recognition intended to promote and support innovative practices in contemporary ceramics.