Modulo A by Tommaso Zagni
Two years of process, twelve biopolymers tested, three unique specimens, and a mould destroyed in public
- Year
- 2022–2024
- Labs
- Spazio, Punto, Tratto Chirale
- Techniques
- FDM, Laser CO₂, UV
- Materials
- biopolymers, synthetic ceramic, silicone, wood
Seen as a finished work, Modulo A looks like a simple object: a small cylindrical solid in pale synthetic ceramic, kept in a wooden box cut to size.
And yet behind this object lie two years of lab work, twelve biopolymers tested, three specimens that are the same piece without being able to coincide, and a silicone mould destroyed in public — a concrete manifestation of what we call the chiral process.
The project began in late 2022 from a conversation with Tommaso Zagni, a compositor and visual artist born in 1995. The artist's initial idea was to build a work capable of describing rationality and relationships, imagined as two lines rising from the bottom upwards, each with its own oscillations until the moment of encounter. When Entity 1 and Entity 2 meet — Zagni writes in the original concept — the two lines inevitably draw closer to each other. From that point, each line can shift its trajectory toward the other, swerve back to its own zero, thicken until merging, or thin out over time. It is a geometric and human idea at once, and to realise it required an object that was modular and replicable.
The first three-dimensional model of Modulo A was made on 9 December 2022 with a Z of 100 millimetres. It was a first verification of scale, proportion and tolerance: every millimetre is a technical decision, every decision a sequence of numbers.
Between March and April 2023 the definitive dimensional specifications were set: (x)100 by (y)100 millimetres, 188.4 grams in weight, 63.17 metres of filament, 8 hours 23 minutes and 58 seconds of print time per specimen. Machine time thus enters the very structure of the work: during that time someone is on watch over the production.
Between July and October 2023 the lab ran a testing phase across twelve different biopolymers. Each material reacts autonomously to bed temperature, extrusion speed, filament deposition and cooling. The samples produced during this phase were presented in October 2023 at Maker Faire Rome as a material archive of the research.
For visitors, the samples were curious objects; for us, they were twelve attempts to find a balance.
The development of the silicone mould began in February 2024, and the first casting in CR 28882 resin was performed on 30 July.
The wooden box, laser-cut on CO₂ at Tratto Chirale, was produced on 9 September: eight minutes of machining per element.
Almost two years after the first meeting, the work was ready.
From 20 to 26 October 2024 Spazio Chirale hosted the first exhibition of Modulo A.
From midnight on Sunday 20 October, the space's window hosted the continuous projection of the video made by the artist: a cloud of points that progressively aggregates into a three-dimensional mesh until it converges into the physical object. Zagni titles the piece "A Documentation Video That Thinks It's the Main Attraction, But Isn't." The title itself acts as a conceptual extension of the work.
From 21 to 23 October, between 3 and 6 pm, the space remained open to the public during the installation. The artist was present in the lab and the preparatory moment became part of the exhibition itself.
Two actions complete this story.
The first action: the public destruction of the mould from which the three definitive specimens had been obtained. Destroying the silicone mould means definitively interrupting the possibility of replication. The fragments of the mould were distributed to those present, accompanied by a certificate of authenticity. This passage overturns the customary hierarchy between finished work and process: here the process is not a residue but a collectable object.
The second action: Zagni sealed the three boxes containing the specimens of Modulo A. The artist in the gallery and the visitors gathered in front of the Spazio Chirale window.
From that moment the work becomes invisible.
Whoever acquires one of the specimens acquires a sealed box and the account of its existence. The only guarantee that the object is really kept inside coincides with the fact that the closure took place publicly, before dozens of witnesses.