Three cultivated mycelium panels form three elemental states: AIR, WATER and EARTH. Each carries its own olfactory composition, transforming the triptych from a static object into an atmospheric work perceived through proximity, movement and breath.
The work does not reveal itself all at once. AIR is volatile and elusive, appearing first and dispersing quickly. WATER occupies a more fluid territory, evoking mineral freshness, vegetation and the shifting character of a river or lake. EARTH is deeper and more persistent: humid soil, moss, roots and organic matter held close to the surface.
Together, the three compositions create an invisible field around the physical panels. As visitors approach and move between them, the scents overlap, recede and reappear. Distance, airflow, temperature and olfactory adaptation continuously alter what is perceived. The work therefore exists not only within its material form, but in the changing relationship between object, atmosphere and observer.
The title refers to a state of potentiality: something that already contains the possibility of becoming, without yet resolving into a fixed form. Rather than representing a finished state, IN POTENTIA asks us to remain within the moment preceding transformation — when multiple outcomes coexist and what something may become is still open.
Mycelium becomes both material and metaphor. Formed through an underlying network of growth and exchange, it gives physical structure to a work concerned with emergence, interdependence and transformation. Scent extends that structure beyond the visible edge of each panel, occupying a space that cannot be precisely contained.
Unlike an image, scent cannot be observed from a distance. It enters the body through breath. Each visitor temporarily becomes part of the work: perceiving it, adapting to it and subtly altering the atmosphere for those who follow.
IN POTENTIA continues Viti Vinci’s exploration of olfaction as an artistic medium — using scent not as an accompaniment to an object, but as material in its own right: invisible, temporal and continually becoming.
