Gian Maria Tosatti
Pirelli HangarBicocca, Milan
February 23 – July 30, 2023
The artistic practice of Italian artist Gian Maria Tosatti (b. Rome, 1980; lives and works in Naples) focuses on the concepts of collectivity and memory in their historical, political, and spiritual dimensions. Tosatti’s projects are the result of long and detailed research, and taking inspiration from the visual arts, performance and architecture, he creates sculptural works and large site-specific installations. Many of them are conceived for entire buildings or urban areas and they are made to last for extended periods. He also often involves the communities around the places where his works take shape. That was the case, for example, with the long-term project entitled Sette Stagioni dello Spirito (2013-2016), a titanic work in seven stages that involved a number of abandoned but emblematic buildings in the city of Naples or more recently My Heart is a Void, the Void is a Mirror an on-going project started in 2018 across various countries.
Gian Maria Tosatti’s retrospective exhibition at Pirelli HangarBicocca, a project on which the artist has been working for over two years now, will retrace his career, with various installations and historical works placed inside a large new environment that will radically transform the space of the Shed, manipulating it and enabling the viewer to enter a novel dimension.
His works and site-specific installations have been presented internationally: Tarlabaşi district, Istanbul (2021); Izolyatsia, Odessa (2020); A4 Arts Foundation, Cape Town (2019); Palazzo Biscari, Catania (2018); Museo Madre, Naples (2016); Castel Sant’Elmo, Naples, Museo Archeologico, Salerno, and CCS Bard– Hessel Museum, New York (2014).
Tosatti’s works have been included in various group exhibitions in institutions such as: Italian Cultural Institute, New York (2019); Manifesta 12, Palermo (2018); Galleria Nazionale, Rome, and Petah Tikva Museum of Art, Israel (2017); Fondazione Rivoli 2, Milan (2015); Fabbrica del Vapore, Milan, and Museo Osvaldo Licini, Ascoli Piceno (2014); Mole Vanvitelliana, Ancona (2013); and the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, New York (2011). Nominated Artistic Director of the Quadriennale di Roma for the triennium 2021-2024, in 2022 he will represent Italy at the 59th Venice Biennale.
Tosatti is the winner of the Premio Frescobaldi (2020), the Premio New York (2017), the Premio Fondazione Ettore Fico (2016) and the Premio Terna (2008). He is also a writer and journalist who has contributed to a variety of publications, in addition to publishing several books amongst which “New Man’s Land: Storia e Destino della Jungle di Calais” (2017).
more. www.pirellihangarbicocca.org