Rossella Biscotti

Rossella Biscotti
Born Rossella Biscotti
(1978-12-11) 11 December 1978
Molfetta (BA), Italy
Nationality Italian
Education Accademia di Belle Arti di Napoli (IT), Rijksakademie van Beeldende Kunsten Amsterdam (NL), Advance Course in Visual Art Fondazione A. Ratti Como (IT)
Occupation Artist
Years active 2003
Known for Visual arts
Notable work Il Processo (The Trial) 2010–2012, Le Teste in Oggetto (The Heads in Question) 2009, I dreamt that you changed into a cat… gatto… ha ha ha, 2013

Rossella Biscotti (born 1978) is an Italian visual artist best known for her installations, performances and video.

Early life and education

She graduated from the Accademia di Belle Arti in Naples in 2002, she attended the Rijksakademie van Beeldende Kunsten in Amsterdam in 2010-2011. Back in 2000 she was selected for the Advanced Course in Visual Art at the Fondazione Antonio Ratti, Como. IT, visiting professor Ilya Kabakov.

Career

Rossella Biscotti focuses on social and political events, possibly happened in the distant past, which become the starting point for the investigation of individual or collective identity and memory.

Her methodology is based on a meticulous preliminary research into archival materials such as found documents, audio recordings or newspapers documenting stories and events which have been forgotten by history. She uses archive materials to underline the loss of information, the ambiguity of reconstructions and their possible uses as well.[1] Biscotti is interested in the potentiality of new narrations when they start circulating again through her artworks.

With Le Teste in Oggetto (The Heads in Question, 2009)[2] the artist analyzes the relations between art and power raising questions about the status of contemporary artists and their degree of intellectual and conceptual autonomy. The sculpture consists of the heads of King Victor Emmanuel III of Italy and Benito Mussolini, which were found by the artist in the storerooms of the Palazzo degli Uffici in the EUR district in Rome. The sculptures were created for the Esposizione universale (1942) which never took place because of Italy's involvement in World War II. Biscotti decided to appropriate them and exposed them to the public for the first time. Doing so, the artist radically reversed their original meaning: rather than celebratory monuments, they became the focus of reflection and discussion.

In her work Il Processo (The Trial, 2010–12)[3][4] she focuses on the April 7th trial (1983–84), against the members of Autonomia Operaia. The trial was held in the Aula Bunker in Rome, a high-security courthouse, which hosted the most important trials of the period known as Anni di Piombo (Years of Lead). She created an installation composed by concrete sculptures made from casts of the architectural features of the courtroom, taken before their demolition. The installation is accompanied by a six-hour audio edited recording of the April 7 trial.[5] Defendants in the court case included the philosophers Antonio Negri and Paolo Virno, and other intellectuals accused of being ideologically and morally responsible for Italian terrorism developed in the late 1970s. Il Processo won the MAXXI prize in 2010, promoted by MAXXI - Museo nazionale delle arti del XXI secolo in Rome.[1]

The human condition and circumstances in detention are the focus of I dreamt that you changed into a cat…gatto…ha ha ha (2013).[6] Rossella Biscotti developed her research in the women’s prison on Giudecca island at the Venetian lagoon. This prison is not like a traditional one where inmates are locked and unproductive; on the contrary, the prisoners spend their time working outside the prison. As all prison cells are open, Biscotti was given the opportunity to meet every prisoner by creating a dream workshop, called ‘oneiric laboratory’. Using the workshop as a platform to communicate with the prisoners, Biscotti analyzed the institution and the way the inmates figure in it. She processed her research in a sculpture made of compost, which was the result of work that has been done by inmates in the kitchen, cleaning, the growing of vegetables and consumption. The work was presented during the 55th Venice Biennale in 2013.[7]

Exhibitions and awards

Her work has been exhibited widely throughout Italy and abroad, in major museums and galleries.

Solo exhibitions

Selected group exhibitions

  • 2015 Unendliche Bibliothek, Alte Fabrik Rapperswil (CH).
  • 2015 Art In The Age Of… Planetary Computation, Witte de With, Rotterdam (NL).
  • 2014 Future Generation Art Prize 2014, PinchukArtCentre, Kiev
  • 2014 Don’t Embarrass the Bureau, Lunds Konsthall, Lund (SE).
  • 2014 AV Festival, Newcastle upon Tyne (UK) with Kevin van Braak, The Journal, Institute for Contemporary Arts, London (UK).
  • 2014 WE HAVE NEVER BEEN MODERN, Songeun Artspace, Seoul (KR).
  • 2014 Portrait of the Artist as a Young (Wo)Man, Castello di Rivoli, Turin (IT).
  • 2014 The Act of Seeing with One's Own Eyes, CAG, Vancouver (CA).
  • 2014 The Yellow Side of Society. Italian Artists in Europe, Bozar, Brussels (BE).
  • 2014 Homing, Wilfried Lentz Rotterdam (NL)
  • 2013 55th Venice Biennial, The Encyclopedic Palace, Venice (IT).
  • 2013 Sail Away we Must, CDA Projects, Istanbul (TR).
  • 2013 Sofia Contemporary, Sofia (BG).
  • 2013 13th Istanbul Biennial (TR).
  • 2013 Dear Art, curated by What, How and for Whom/WHW, Calvert 22, London (UK).
  • 2013 Nero Luce – Black Light: works by Alberto Burri, Louise Nevelson, Nunzio di Stefano, Rossella Biscotti, prometeogallery di Ida Pisani, Milan (IT).
  • 2013 5x5 Castelló 2013, Espai d’art Contemporani de Castelló (SP).
  • 2013 An Opal World, Kunstraum, London (UK)
  • 2013 Women Commentators, Centre for Contemporary Art, Ujazdowski Castle, Warsaw (PL).
  • 2013 Chambres des Canaux: The Tolerant Home, manifestation in Amsterdam (NL).
  • 2013 Hong Kong Whistleblowers Club, Para Site, Hong Kong (HK).
  • 2012 Dear Art, +MSUM Museum of Contemporary Art Metelkova, Ljubljana (SI).
  • 2012 The Traveller, TENT, Rotterdam (NL).
  • 2012 Sorry... But where am I ? #0, Binnenkant21 Amsterdam (NL).
  • 2012 New Public, Museion, Bolzano (IT).
  • 2012 Manifesta 9, Genk (BE).
  • 2012 dOCUMENTA 13, Kassel (DE).
  • 2012 The Life of Others. Repetition and Survival, Akbank Sanat, Istanbul (TR).
  • 2012 Silence where things abandon themselves, Museum of Contemporary Art Zagreb (HR).
  • 2012 Marrakech Biennale, Marrakech (MA).
  • 2012 An Exhibition of a Study on Knowledge, Forum Stadtpark Graz (AU).
  • 2012 Knell dobre glas, Galeria Quadrado Azul, Porto and Lisbon (PT).
  • 2012 Beyond Imagination, Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam (NL).
  • 2011 RijksakademieOPEN, Rijksakademie van Beeldende Kunsten, Amsterdam (NL).
  • 2011 Premio Furla, Fondazione Furla, Palazzo Pepoli, Bologna (IT).
  • 2011 An extended exhibition for a transition function, Hillary Crisp, London (GB).
  • 2011 European Culture Congress, Wroclaw (PL).
  • 2011 The Third Tiger, Radioartemobile Rome (IT).
  • 2011 Il Belpaese dell’arte. Etiche ed Estetiche della Nazione, GAMeC, Galleria d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea di Bergamo (IT).
  • 2011 Posso errare, ma non di core, GC.AC – Galleria Comunale d’Arte Contemporanea di Monfalcone (IT).
  • 2010 And the Moral of the story is..., Witte de With Center for Contemporary Art, Rotterdam (NL).
  • 2010 Apart, we are together, curated by Victoria Lynn, Adelaide International 2010 (AU).
  • 2010 All the Memory of the World, GAM Torino, Turin (IT).
  • 2010 Tales of the Unexpected, Rotterdam (NL)
  • 2010 21 x 21: 21 artisti per il 21* secolo, Sandretto Re Raubedengo, Turin (IT).
  • 2010 Not Necessarily in that Order, Presentation House Gallery, Vancouver (CA).
  • 2010 In Full Bloom curated by Antonio Grulli, Galleria Raffaella Cortese, Milan (IT).
  • 2010 La XIV Biennale di Carrara curated by Fabio Cavallucci, Carrarra (IT).
  • 2010 Practicing Memory in a time of an all-encompassing present, Pistoletto Foundation, Biella (IT).
  • 2010 Psychosculptures, De Vleeshal Middelburg (NL).
  • 2010 To the Arts, Citizens!, Museu de Serralves, Porto (PT).
  • 2010 The Courage curated by Ilaria Bonacossa, Centro Saint-Bénin, Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, Aosta (IT).
  • 2010 Premio Italia Arte Contemporanea 2010, MAXXI, Rome (IT)

Film/video screenings

Awards

In 2013 she was recipient of the Mies van der Rohe Stipend. In 2010 she won the Premio Michelangelo[9] at Post Monument, XIV International Sculpture Biennale of Carrara (IT), and the Premio Italia Arte Contemporanea 2010.[10] In 2009 she won the Premio Fondazione Ettore Fico, Artissima Art Fair, Turin (IT), the 2nd Prize Prix de Rome, Amsterdam (NL) and the Emerging Talents Award,[11] Strozzina Foundation, Florence (IT). In 2008 she was recipient of 1st Prize Golden Cow at Gstaadfilm Festival, Gstaad (CH). In 2007 she was awarded with the1st Prize The City of Geneva Grand Prize at the 12th Biennial of Moving Images, at the Centre pour l’image contemporaine, Geneva (CH). In 2006 she won the Premio NY[12] promoted by Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in collaboration with the Italian Academy and the Columbia University in New York (US).

Lectures

Artist publications

Monographic catalogues

References

  1. 1 2 Casavecchia, Barbara (May 2011). "Rossella Biscotti". Frieze Magazine (139).
  2. ↑ "Heads in Question by Rossella Biscotti at the Nomas Foundation, Rome. » …..afterart news…..". www.afterartnews.com. Retrieved 2016-03-11.
  3. ↑ "Performa · Rossella Biscotti: The Trial". performa-arts.org. Retrieved 2016-03-11.
  4. ↑ "ROSSELLA BISCOTTI :: For the Mnemonist, S. | DROME magazine". www.dromemagazine.com. Retrieved 2016-03-11.
  5. ↑ Homewood, David. "Exhuming the Archive: Interview with Rossella Biscotti". un Magazine (5.2): 12.
  6. ↑ "The Encyclopedic Palace | Frieze". frieze.com. Retrieved 2016-03-11.
  7. ↑ Bellmann, Karin (October 30, 2013). "Rossella Biscotti". Art in America.
  8. ↑ Johnson, Ken (March 27, 2014). "Social Analysis From the Edge: Rossella Biscotti and Others at Sculpture Center". The New York Times.
  9. ↑ http://firenze.repubblica.it/cronaca/2010/07/24/news/il_premio_michelangelo_agli_anarchici_che_non_archiviano-5807479/
  10. ↑ http://www.fondazionemaxxi.it/en/events/premio-italia-arte-contemporanea-2010/
  11. ↑ http://www.strozzina.org/emergingtalents/e_index.htm
  12. ↑ http://italianacademy.columbia.edu/artist/rossella-biscotti
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