In Autumn 2013, Fiorucci Art Trust presented the first instalment in Lezioni D’Italiano, a series of artist lecture performances. Curated by Fiorucci Art Trust Director, Milovan Farronato, these evening programmes present Italian artists, or those that address Italian subject matter, once a month at the Trust’s HQ at Sloane Avenue. From December 2013 through to June 2014, artists of different generations show work that explores and expands the nature of their practice in the uniquely intimate environment of the residential HQ, creating a dynamic platform for participation and engagement.
Lezioni D’Italiano began with artist Patrizio Di Massimo on Monday 2nd December, followed by Chiara Fumai on Monday 27th January and Liliana Moro on Monday 17th February.
Patrizio Di Massimo presented a performance titled Monologue for two. The work is a monologue in the shape of dialogue between the artist and a video that portrays the artist. Di Massimo is on stage physically but hidden behind a curtain; the video is instead realized with Morfo, an iPhone application that creates 3D avatars through processing a simple bi-dimensional portrait picture. In this work the artist deals with multiple projections of the self, in relation to reality and imagination, to what he could have been and what he is. Monologue for two is an intimate self-portrait, in which the artist invents himself for what he is.
Patrizio Di Massimo (b. Jesi, Italy, 1983) lives and works in London. He graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts of Brera, Milan, and received his MA from the Slade School of Fine Art, London. He is currently exhibiting at Gasworks, London, with the solo show The Lustful Turk. He has participated in residencies at Stipendium Kunstzei- traum, Munich (2012), de Ateliers, Amsterdam (2009-2011), Sommerakademie at Centre Paul Klee, Bern (2010), Fondazione Spinola Banna per l’Arte, Banna di Poirino (2009). His upcoming exhibitions include solo presentations at Artissima, Turin, Kunsthalle Lissabon, Lisbon, Rowing Projects, London. Recent solo exhibitions include Voglio Vivere Così, T293, Rome, The Lustful Turk, Villa Medici, Rome and a performance at the Stedelijk Museum as part of the public program. In 2012 he was selected as a finalist in the Premio Italia 2012, hold at MAXXI, Rome and participated in La Storia che non ho vissuto (testimone indiretto), Castello di Rivoli, Rivoli, Ritual without Myth, Royal College of Art, London.
Chiara Fumai was born in Rome (1978) and lives in Milan. Recent exhibitions include: MUSAC, Leon (2013); Muzeon Art Park, Moscow (2013); Fondazione Querini Stampalia, Venice( 2013); Futura Center for Contemporary Art, Prague (2013); Museo del Novecento, Milan (2013); Maison Rouge, Paris (2013); dOCUMENTA (13), Kassel (2012); Fondazione Bevilac- qua La Masa, Venice (2012); Jeu de Paume, Paris (2011); Museo MAXXI, Rome (2011); Volcano Extravaganza, Stromboli (2011); Survival Kit Festival, Riga (2011), Fondazione Sandretto Re Re- baudengo, Turin (2010), and SMART Project Space, Amsterdam (2009). The artist was the winner of the ninth edition of the Furla Prize 2013 which featured the staging of her new work I Did Not Say or Mean ‘Warning’ as parallel event of the Venice Biennale.
Liliana Moro was born in 1961 in Milan, where she lives and works. She graduated from the Accademia di Belle Arti di Brera in Milan, where she studied with Lu- ciano Fabro. In 1989 she founded, with other artists, the Spazio di via Lazzaro Palazzi in Milan, active until 1993. Liliana Moro has shown in major international group exhibi- tions includine Documenta IX, Kassel (1992), Aperto XLV Ven- ice Biennale (1993) Castello di Rivoli, Turin (1994), Quadrien- nale, Rome (1996/2008), Moderna Museet, Stockholm (1998), PS1 ,New York (1999), De Apple, Amsterdam (1999) and the Biennal de Valencia (2001). Solo shows have included Galle- ria Emi Fontana, Milan (various), Gallery Greta Meert Bruxelles, MUHKA Antwerpen, and Fondazione Ambrosetti Brescia. Recently, Liliana Moro has shown at the Italian Cultur- al Institute of Los Angeles (2008), and Fabbrica del Va- pore Milan (2008), Fondazione A.Ratti Como (2012), and has partecipated in important group exhibitions, in- cludine Italics, Palazzo Grassi Venice (2008), Focus on Contemporary Italian Art,Mambo Bologna (2008), Cel- ebration, Institution, Critique,Galleria Civica di Trento (2009), La Magnifica Ossessione, MART Rovereto (2012).