Through a radical conceptual paradox, Antonella Mellini utilizes insulating media as the chosen vectors to transmit her art.

The choice of Extruded Polystyrene as a primary medium for Antonella Mellini’s sculptures stems from an intuitive perception emerging during the state of hypnagogia. Historically utilized within architectural frameworks for its insulating properties, this material is selected by the artist for its profound conceptual potential. Characterized by a completely inert matrix, XPS possesses an absolute impermeability to moisture and bacterial alterations, maintaining a stable structural integrity over time.

This rigorous synthetic barrier is paired with marble, acting as a natural electrical insulator. The noble stone par excellence, historically associated with monumentality and formed through millions of years of geological metamorphosis, reveals its most intimate essence here, composed almost entirely of calcium carbonate, marble lacks the free electrons capable of movement and energy transmission. 

The paradox lies precisely in the inversion of their intrinsic nature. Both born to insulate, block, and separate matter from the external world—are transformed through the artistic gesture into a contemporary antenna capable of receiving and transmitting, becoming the primary vehicle for memory and energetic dynamics.