Luca Petti (Benevento, 1990) lives and works in Milan. Through sculpture and installation, he constructs speculative organisms that give form to an alternative natural history, in which evolution is no longer an exclusively biological process, but the outcome of human intervention. His works occupy a space between scientific evidence and fiction, examining how domestication, artificial selection, and technological control are redefining the conditions of life and our very understanding of nature.
Conceived as fragments of an unknown ecosystem, his sculptures resist classification. They appear as material evidence of species that might exist—or perhaps already do—in a world where the boundaries between animal, plant, and artificial matter have become increasingly unstable. Drawing on the visual language of natural history collections, Petti turns sculpture into a tool for imagining new evolutionary narratives.
Recent solo exhibitions include When Species Don’t Meet (Spazio Volta, Bergamo, 2026), L’istinto ha preservato la mia specie (La Santissima, Naples, 2025), Precipitazioni sotto il livello del mare (Careof, Milan, 2022), and Processi di domesticazione espansa (Natural History Museum of Verona, 2022). His work has also been presented at Fondazione Elpis, Arte Sella, PAV – Parco Arte Vivente, and the 18th Biennale of Young Artists from Europe and the Mediterranean. In 2021, he received the Combat Prize for Sculpture/Installation and the RAR – Rural Art Residency Prize, promoted by Careof as part of ArtVerona.
Education
- MA in Visual Arts (Sculpture), Brera Academy of Fine Arts, Milan
Teaching
- Lecturer in Sculpture Techniques, Academy of Fine Arts in Verona (since 2019)
- Lecturer in Foundry, Academy of Fine Arts in Venice
- Lecturer in Contemporary Sculpture Techniques, Academy of Fine Arts in Naples (until 2023)
Solo Exhibitions
- 2022Precipitazioni sotto il livello del mare, solo exhibition, curated by Marta Ferretti, Careof, Milan
- 2022Processi di domesticazione espansa, solo exhibition, curated by Marta Ferretti, Museo di Storia Naturale, Verona
- 2022Bello Bellissimo, solo exhibition, curated by superfluo project, Milan
- 2019Nature is our gardener. Relazioni Simbiotiche, solo exhibition curated by Letizia Mari, Galleria Marrocco, Palazzo Venezia, Naples
Selected Group Exhibitions
- 2026When Species Don’t Meet, two-person exhibition with Davide Dicorato, curated by Arnold Braho and Edoardo De Cobelli, in collaboration with Museo Civico di Scienze Naturali E. Caffi, Spazio Volta, ex chiesa di San Rocco, Bergamo
- 2025ARCHETYPE, group exhibition, Galleria Alessandro Albanese, Chiesa del Purgatorio, Matera
- 2025L’istinto ha preservato la mia specie. Luca Petti in dialogo con la Collezione Fabio Frasca, group exhibition curated by Martina Campese, Letizia Mari, Alberto Navilli, La Santissima - Community Hub, Naples
- 2024WAS ERLAUBEN STRUNZ, group exhibition organized by ChezPlinio, Mars, Frankfurt, Germany
- 2023Riportando tutto a casa, group exhibition, curated by Lorenzo Madaro, Museo delle Navi di Nemi, Nemi
- 2022Ontica, group exhibition curated by Giacomo Guidi, Palazzo Brancaccio, Contemporary Cluster, Rome
- 2022WISH YOU WERE HERE, group exhibition curated by Alberto Cerasol, Casa del commiato, Bergamo
- 2021Combat Prize, Sculpture/Installation Section, group exhibition, SAC - Spazio per l’Arte Contemporanea, Livorno
- 2021Linea Festival, group exhibition curated by Attiva Cultural Project in collaboration with Museo Pino Pascali, Terlizzi, Puglia
- 2021Avant-Garden, group exhibition curated by Valerio Dehò, Parco della Vernavola, Pavia
- 2021Starry Speculative Night, group exhibition curated by Edoardo De Cobelli, Spazio Volta, Bergamo
- 2021INCONTRI SENSIBILI, two-person exhibition curated by Viviana Costa, Galleria Villa Contemporanea, Monza
- 2020ON AIR, group exhibition, Galleria Marrocco, Naples
- 2020DA SOGNO, group exhibition, curated by Letizia Mari, La Cattedrale Studio, Milan
- 201816° BIENNALE DI ARCHITETTURA, Lithuania Pavilion, Swamp Pavillion curated by Nomeda and Urbonas Gediminas “Swamp Pedagogy. A manual for the drift”, project curated by Matteo Canetta, Antonio Gramegna, Letizia Mari, Luca Petti
- 2017POV (Part Of Vacations), permanent work, Teatrum Botanicum, PAV, Turin
- 201718 BIENNALE DEL MEDITERRANEO, Domesticated Generation, curated by Curate It Yourself - CIY, Tirana, Albania
- 2017PLAYGROUND, in collaboration with Parasite 2.0 for TERRAFORMA Festival, Villa Arconati, Bollate
- 2017TWO PEOPLE WALKED IN A RURAL SCENARIO, under the patronage of Fondazione Casa Testori, MonzaHub, Monza
- 2017WHITE YOUNG INNOVATIVE, curated by Jonida Turani, Milan
- 2017FORMS OF TURMOIL, in collaboration with RaumLaborBerlin, BASE, Milan
- 2017REFUGE IN CASE OF TROPICAL STORM OUTER SPACE, curated by Ginevra Bria and Atto Belloli Ardessi, FuturDome, Milan
- 2017SPAZI, curated by Andrea Lacarpia and Punto Press, Edicola Radetzky, Viale Gorizia, Milan
- 2017PLLLLA PLLLLA (maybe plants platform), La Cattedrale Studio, Milan
- 2016SPRINT IV° Edition, Independent Publishers and Artists’Books Salon, O’, Milan
- 2016CONTEXTO, a project by Casa Testori, curated by Marta Cereda, Davide Dall’Ombra and Giuseppe Frangi, Edolo
- 2016ACADEMY AWARDS, a project curated and developed by ViaFarini, Fabrica del Vapore, Milan
- 2015UNA SERIE FINITA DI CIAO COME STAI, Out of Fabbrica, Mediterranea 17 Young Artists Biennale / Biennale Off, Fabbrica del Vapore, Milan
- 2014XPOLIS, a project curated by Paolo Martore, Museo Tuscolano Ex Scuderie, Frascati
- 2014THE SPRING AWAKENING, on the occasion of Miart Accademia di Brera, Milan
- 2013BIOCONTAMINAZIONE, a project curated by Emanuele Montibeller, Arte Sella, Borgo Valsugana, Trento
Residencies
- 2022Residenza Artistica RAR, at Villa Fraccaroli curated by Marta Ferretti and Daniele Gilardi, Verona
- 2016ACADEMY AWARDS, workshop and residency programme, project curated by Simone Frangi for ViaFarini, Milan
- 2013On the occasion of the exhibition project BIOCONTAMINAZIONE, Arte Sella, Borgo Valsugana, Trento
Awards
- 2021Winner of the RAR Residenza artistica rurale Prize, Art Verona, promoted by Careof Milan
- 2021Combat Prize, Sculpture/Installation Section, SAC - Spazio per l’Arte Contemporanea, Livorno
Permanent Installations
- 2015MAAM, Museo dell’altro e dell’altrove di metropoliz_città meticcia curated by Giorgio de Finis, Rome
- 2013ARTE SELLA, Borgo Valsugana, curated by Giacomo Bianchi, Trento
Fairs
- 2025Art Verona, Group Exhibition, Galleria Alessandro Albanese, Milan – Matera
- 2022Art Verona, Collective Show, Galleria Marrocco, Naples
- 2021Art Verona, solo show, with Galleria Villa Contemporanea, Monza, Galleria Marrocco, Naples
- 2020Art Verona Digital, participation in the digital black and digital yellow sections with Galleria Marrocco, Naples
Workshops
- 2014Participation in the realisation of the work by Jannis Kounellis for the Mangiagalli Clinic, Brera Academy, Milan