The group exhibition PRIMA MATERIA echoes the alchemist’s thought of the existence of a prime matter that brings everything into being, the original component of the universe. In Aristotle’s philosophy, the concept involves nature in both a physical and a metaphysical viewpoint, referring to plants as the principle of animation and universal psyche. In a sense, this “original substance” appears as a multiplicity, a set of elements found in nature, a cosmic unit.

Nature is what allows the world to exist, and conversely, all that is linked to the world is part of nature, thus the central bond between humans and the micro and macro cosmos.

Departing from the idea of prima materia as the ultimate mixture, the inner form from which everything is shaped, the exhibition presents a constellation of artworks that resonate with the cosmogony phenomena of elements and materials found in our environment.

PRIMA MATERIA is a group exhibition organized by PEANA and Adrian S. Bara at LACASAPARK Art Residency in Gardiner, New York. The exhibition was curated by the art historian and curator Virdiana Mayagoitia.