Spolia

Spolia takes its name from the medieval practice of reusing fragments of earlier architecture—stones, columns, and sculptural details—woven into new constructions. This project investigates the tension between permanence and fragility, between what is carried forward from the past and what defines the present. Stone holds the weight of time, carrying memory and traces from the past. Glass, on the other hand, is fluid and delicate—its form shaped in a few seconds, first malleable, then fragile.

It feels immediate and instable reflecting the shifting nature of the present. In Spolia, solid boulders are cut into sections and held together by blown-glass elements. These seemingly improbable structures find balance in the tension between opposing forces: lightness and weight, softness and roughness, clarity and secrecy, negative and positive. This work emerges through a dance between human intervention and a desire for imperfection.

Clear cuts and industrial extraction residues on the stone coexist with natural formations and handmade chisel marks. When hot, liquid glass is pressed between the stone parts, it reacts unpredictably. The artist can only observe and respond, molding and compressing a material that seeks to expand. Within a few seconds, the final result is determined by the immediacy of the process.

There is no time to think or rationalize. With this project Cozzani explores the relationship between humans and nature through materials that signify the old and the new, the organic and the manufactured. Ultimately, Spolia stages a dialogue between the weight of history and the impermanence of the present, speculating on the everlasting pursuit of balance between living synthetic and the world we live in.