OUT OF ORDER - at CAMeC Museum (Italy)

My video on claustrophobia and loss of identity, included in the exhibition Living in Lift, curated by Roberto MAstroianni and Walter Vallini at the CAMeC Museum (Italy)

Through April 14th.

Out of Order - by Pietro Reviglio from Pietro Reviglio on Vimeo.

A Critical Essay on my work by Roberto Mastroianni

In the occation of the retrospective exhibition I'm having in Turin.

Here it is:  http://www.reviglio.com/new-york-interiors-2013 in English

Versione originale in italiano: http://www.reviglio.com/new-york-interiors

Enjoy :)

Pietro Reviglio: New York Interiors

NEW YORK INTERIORS: pictorial, photographic and cinematic perspectives of Pietro Reviglio

A RETROSPECTIVE CURATED BY ROBERTO MASTROIANNI

Living in Lift - Castel dell'Ovo, Naples

The exhibition at the museum of Castel dell'Ovo in Naples curated by Walter Vallini and Roberto Mastroianni featuring my work among the work of several other Italian and international artists opened on February 23.

Living in Lift, Palazzo Ducale, Genova

 Palazzo Ducale, Genova

Pietro Reviglio. Parallel Lives (2012) - Emptiness (2012)

Video of exhibition: Living in Lift. Curated by Walter Vallini and Roberto Mastroianni. 

 Link to photographic gallery: La Repubblica (6.11.2012): "Vivere nell'ascensore"

Interview on career shift

Here's the link to a recent interview by Careershifter.org that just came out.

Pietro Reviglio: from Astrophysics Researcher to Visual Artist

It's never too late for a life change!

Enjoy!

The Cosmic Sucker : a short story

THE COSMIC SUCKER (2012)

A short-story by Pietro Reviglio

The universe... the desert... the fight against the machine... art and science intertwine in this autobiographical short-story  on how a crazy night in the desert can change your life for good. 

Excerpt:

          Sometimes change in life happens slowly over time and you find  yourself  drifting  almost unconsciously in directions you would have never imagined before. Some other times instead, you can pinpoint the place, the day and even the hours when your new life began.

          For me it was Kitt Peak, Arizona, a night of May 2005.

          I had never been in the desert on my own before. It felt like real adventure...  just me, the telescope and the universe.  No friends, no colleagues, not even a pet  to keep me company during the long sleepless nights I had ahead of me.  

           I had left New York on a dull, cloudy morning to find myself hours later  in the hot sunny weather of Arizona. Dry air, no rain, no haze: the perfect weather to peep into the secrets of the universe... the kind of weather astronomers would kill for... literally.

           The man  who picked me up at the airport to drive me into the mountains was an affable man from the West with white mustaches  and  a rifle in the back of his pickup: the kind of man that has lived in the desert most of his life... the kind of man that you hope has remained sane after all those years and won't use that rifle against you at any point during the car ride. Or after.

           On our way up,  the valley looked bare and thirsty. Only cacti and rocks under a scorching sun. Not a breath of air. Not a living soul in sight: no coyotes, no roadrunners, no mirages... just an occasional driver on the road to the mountain top. 

            As we proceeded through the desert [...]

FOR SALE ON AMAZON.COM:  click here to buy.

Ascending White - new video

ASCENDING WHITE (2012) 

Part of the project In Albis curated by Vittoria Biasi.

Two opposite forces: white as color of suffering, loneliness, alienation and white as a symbol of the experience of transcending the human condition, a symbol of the absence of pain... a white that ascends above itself. This video contrast these two forces through autobiographic imagery. Music by Jack White.

Click image to view.

THE SILENT SCREAM - new video

THE SILENT SCREAM

by Pietro Reviglio

The Psychological Portrait in the Digital Era 

Web release. Click on image to watch it.

Booksigning at MIA - Milan Image Art Fair

Pietro Reviglio

CINEMATOGRAPHY OF URBAN MADNESS

booksigning at

MIA Milan Image Art Fair
the art fair devoted to photography and video
s.t. foto libreria galleria 
PAD 5, STAND 1 

Friday  - May 4, 2012 at 6 p.m.
MIA Fair – Via  Tortona, 27 Milan (Italy)

"A riveting new book, Pietro Reviglio’s Cinematography of Urban Madness questions the nature of real and imagined cinematic narratives in a visually stunning manner. The harsh lighting of an artist studio sets the tone for this short enigmatic work wherein autobiography meets fiction with violent overtones. Reviglio’s book is a quick read but densely populated with rich info, which makes a revisit compelling. Reviglio’s new book highlights the contemporary condition: fragmented and suspended in a world always already an image." (Jason Stopa, NY Arts)

Curated by noted art editor Paola Gribaudo for the DisegnoDiverso series with afterword by Amalia Piccinini (FlashArt), Pietro Reviglio's Cinematography of Urban Madness has received international acclaim together with the photographic and video installation based on the book.  

Pietro Reviglio received a Ph.D. in Astrophysics from Columbia University (New York) and  has exhibited internationally. Recent shows include Palazzo Farnese (French Embassy, Rome), Museo Laboratorio d’Arte Contemporanea (Rome),  The Italian Academy for Advanced Studies in America (Columbia University, New York), the 54th Venice Biennial, the Ishida Taisheisha Hall (Kyoto), the Museum of Oriental Art (Turin), Galleria Weber&Weber (Turin), Franz Paludetto (Turin)

Palazzo Farnese (French Embassy in Rome)

Exhibition of the winning artwork for the European project Research in Art, on the interplay between art and science, organized by the european platform Atomium Culture (Bruxelles)

The official presentation and exhibition of the winning artwork  took place at Palazzo Farnese on January 21, at the presence of the French Ambassador in Rome and the Italian Minister of Education, University and Research, Francesco Profumo.

Here a few pictures from the grande soiree. The exhibition will be moved to the University La Sapienza in February and open to the public.

Among the winning artists, the following were present: Alex Barchiesi, Claudio Beorchia,  Alessio Chierico, Valentina Daga, Valentina Garbagnati, Ngucaj Arta, Pietro Reviglio.

 

The hall of Palazzo Farnese where the artworks were exhibited. 

Pietro and his piece :-) Courtesy of Alessio Chierico, one of the other winners.

The Gala Dinner

The day of the installation. Artists at work.

New York, a picture

 New York, April 8th, 2011

Urban Madness at the Venice Biennial

I've been invited to exhibit at the Regional (Piedmont) Pavilion of the Venice Biennial, curated by Vittorio Sgarbi and Sergio Anelli.

I chose a diptych from Cinematography of Urban Madness which I entitled "Death Scene". The exhibition was held in the beautiful halls of the Castiglia di Saluzzo. The exhibition will be extended through December 26 ;)

Cinematography of Urban Madness - New York

After its Italian debut in Turin, the exhibition Cinematography of Urban Madness traveled to New York, where it was shown at the Italian Academy for Advanced Studies of Columbia University. Prof. David Freedberg and Allison Jeffrey curated the exhibition. The initial one-month long exhibition turned into a six (!) month exhibition after being extended over summer. 

The exhibition took place in the two main halls of the Academy, and in the movie theatre were we projected the video Cinematography of Urban Madness.

Cinematography of Urban Madness - Torino

The exhibition Cinematography of Urban Madness debuted in Turin in January 2010 at the Weber&Weber Arte Contemporanea gallery, in the historic center of the city. 

The installation comprised 14 photographs and the homonymous video. Here are some pictures of the exhibition.   In the occasion of the opening we also presented the book Cinematography of Urban Madness, curated by Paola Gribaudo

 

 

Museum of Oriental Art - Gemine Muse

In an attempt to catch up, here are some pictures of my installation at the Museum of Oriental Art in Turin for the  Gemine Muse 2010 exhibition, sponsored among the others by the Italian Government.  The exhibition curator was Maria Teresa Roberto. The other artists selected were the Aurorameccanica group and Cornelia Badelita.

The four large (180x60 cm) photographs were installed in the Zen Garden and are the bulk of the series entitled "The Weight of Time" 

The photographs were lamba prints mounted on leger. The other artists were exhibiting painting and interactive video art in other wings of the museum.

Two more pictures of mine were on display in the Indian gallery describing the backstage of this project.

Thousands of visitors! And lots of press, including main newspapers La Stampa and Repubblica ;)

Back to writing

OK, time to start updating this blog... after, ehm, a couple of years... :)

Main reason I didn't update this journal is not me being lazy (OK, maybe that too)but   the little white mop below, who's taking up most of my time... 

La bolla and the permanent collection

 

I couldn't have chosen a worse day to move part of the Physika exhibit from the wing of the Castello di Rivara where it was put on display in September to its new home, the permanent collection of the Museum of Contemporary Art, hosted in the Medieval castle in the back of the complex.

Under a pelting rain I park my car, my cousin who "volunteered" to help with the installation parks behind me. Franz awaits us in the kitchen, as usual. In five minutes I find nails, hammer, meter, and a strange object in my hands.

``Do you know what this is?'' asks Franz

``No''

``You'll figure it out''

I  look at the object, it's a rod with some liquid in the middle and an air bubble in the middle of the liquid... I play a little with the object, hoping that my physics background will come in handy at a certain point...

Still tucked in her raincoat and rain hat (London style  and perfect for the dreary weather of the day) my cousin nods knowingly. 

``La bolla!'' she says

Still no clue... I don't even know how call that in  English... Later I'll figure it out the importance of such object.

Apparently Franz is granting me the honor to install the pictures without his strict supervision ...WOW. I'm honored.  He mumbles something about my special spatial sense and was very pleased how I installed the September show. Yet I'm still a little suspicious the pelting rain and the pleasant warmth of the kitchen stove is playing a role in his decision, after all. But from what I hear,  he's the pain-in-the-neck kind of curator, mounting and dismantling things a million times before being pleased, so probably he wouldn't have let me mess around with the permanent installation just because of a little rain, if he hadn't some true belief in the outcome.

In any case, we take nails, hammer, umbrellas, bolla and off we go. Moving stuff from one building to another is not a joke... especially if what you're moving  are pictures which can be ruined by just a little droplet falling on their surface. We pile, wrap, pack a first set of pics  and move them to the old castle under umbrellas and pieces of plastic. It's freezing and dark outside. We try not to slip on the stony steps illuminated by my car...

The old castle, where the photographs will go has a sinister feeling on such a gloomy, misty night. I turn on the lights and a wonderful work by Nitsch appears in the room next door. It's all spattered in blood and reminds me of the horror that must have gone on when this castle was a medieval prison where people were tortured and killed. Upstairs, Cattelan hanged  linens out of a window to metaphorically escape from this place...  I think my taste for the macabre and the mysterious is being satisfied here... it'll be a good place for my work to live in. 

We leave the first pack of pictures and go get the other. Once we have all of them there, I start thinking about which ones to install, while my feet are reaching the freezing point.  I sense that my cousin would appreciate if I hurried up... but I take my time... let's try this, let's try that... and what about this other one there? 

Finally I reached the point where I'm satisfied. We take the hammer and put the first nail up. Then the picture on the wall. When we let it go, it hangs like a poster in a junkie's room, all slanted. Sbilenca, says my cousin. Now we see why la bolla was given to us. A rapid inspection confirms our suspicion... the old walls are all slanted and bumpy... we need the physics of la bolla to find the perfect equilibrium point. We grab la bolla and we set out to work. We hammer and hammer...  a centimeter up, a centimeter down until the installation is finally in place... Eureka. 

More info about the museum :  http://www.castellodirivara.it/storia.php?sez=0&lang=1

Castle of Rivara Exhibit

In the awesome scenery of the Villa Neobarocca, its old stables and wine cellar, four exhibitions opened on the same night: an international group show, Davide Oddenino's and Plinio Martelli's solo shows and mine :)

 In the background the Medieval Castle where the permanent collection is kept... which was opened for the night.

It was September (yes I've been bad at keeping this blog) and a large population of artists, collectors, gallerists, critics and art enthusiasts were there to enjoy the park, the art and the banquet.

(somehow, you find them mostly around banquet in all of those occations).

I spent the night running from one wing to the other of the complex... meeting a critic here, one there, a cousin in the villa, an aunt in the stable, a friend in the park and so and so forth... by the end of the night I was exhausted.  Cars kept coming in from the gate, in the night, up the road, skidding over the grit and splashing the puddles water all around... it had just stopped raining in the afternoon.

While I'm there, I barely have the time to have a look at the other exhibits and talk to the fellow artists.. Mariusz Tarkawian, who I met earlier in the week, seems to have a good time in his black dress... we chit-chat, while Franz, the owner and the host, hops around in  improbable baggy pants  and crocs and an odd lady keeps reciting a monologue I have no time to listen to...  there's always someone else to meet, to talk to, to take to the two rooms where my work is.  Those who come to have a look stop, ponder, ask... not all of them dare commenting on a topic like physics... some admit their complete ignorance.. some pretend they know a lot and say amusing things. I have to be careful not to laugh in their face when they talk nonsense... As I do my best to explain, show, engage, chatting and drinking go on on the outside. As I talk to these people, I wonder what will come out of this. 

Pics of the exhibitions on this page if you want to poke your nose around:

http://www.reviglio.com/castle-of-rivara-exhibition/

Physika - Solo show

Physika - 14 installed 100x75 cm photographs  - Solo show at the Center for Contemporary Art of the Castle of Rivara (Italy)

Pietro Reviglio  -  Physika (2009)

From the structure of the matter an artwork is made of, to the creation of its perceived image, the laws of physics govern and limit the creation of a work of art. The series Physika visually explores the branch of  physics that governs the visual arts by dissecting and analyzing its primary concepts: space, time, light and matter.

Applying the experimental scientific method to the practice of art and experimenting in the limited space of an artist’s studio with the physical processes of reflection, refraction and absorption of photons, physics becomes pictorial medium to create with by exploiting the responses of different materials to the interaction with light. The digital images created are thus the result of physical processes in the real world that abstract and recombine forms and objects, without  the help of computerized  graphic effects.

ITALIAN

Dalla struttura della materia che costituisce un’opera d’arte, alla creazione dell’ immagine percepita, le leggi della fisica governano e limitano la creazione e la fruizione di un’opera d’arte. La serie Physika esplora visivamente la branca della fisica che governa le arti visive,  dissezionandone e analizzandone i suoi concetti di base: spazio, tempo, fotoni e materia.

Applicando il metodo scientifico sperimentale alla pratica artistica e sperimentando nello spazio limitato di uno studio d’artista con i processi fisici di riflessione, rifrazione e assorbimento di fotoni, la fisica diventa mezzo pittorico con cui creare sfruttando la diversa risposta di differenti materiali all’interazione con la luce. Le immagini digitali così create sono il risultato di processi fisici nel mondo reale che astraggono e ricombinano forme e oggetti senza l’ausilio di effetti grafici computerizzati.