Collaborative Projects - Biographies

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Between 1990 and 1993, he was among the founders of Arte Come Evocazione (together with Leandro Agostini, Giuseppe Bonetti, Carlo Cantono, Claudio Costa, and Antonella Spalluto), a working group formed around the Fluxus artist Claudio Costa and curated by Miriam Cristaldi, within which he created installations in decontextualized and emotionally charged spaces, deciphering their evocative traces.

Group Exhibitions
1993
- ARTE COME EVOCAZIONE/Fuoco e Bronzo, ovvero l'ossimoro degli archetipi (Arte Come Evocazione/ Fire and Bronze, or the oxymoron of archetypes) - (The artist evoked through virtual works is Joseph Beuys)
IMMART Gallery, IMMART Foundry, Rome. Curated by Miriam Cristaldi. Catalogue texts by Miriam Cristaldi, Andrea del Guercio, Maurizio Nicosia, Lucrezia De Domizio Durini. In collaboration with Claudio Costa.
(With Leandro Agostini, Michele Bertolini, Krzysztof Bednarski, Giuseppe Bonetti, Antonino Bove, Carlo Cantono, Nataly Maier, Giancarlo Norese, Antonella Spalluto)
1992
- ARTE COME EVOCAZIONE/Carta e Stampa, ovvero il Profumo della Cultura  (Arte Come Evocazione/Paper and Print, or the Scent of Culture) - (The artists evoked through virtual works are Bruno Munari and Dan Flavin)
Fuxia Art Gallery and Tipografia Parise, Verona. Curated by Miriam Cristaldi. Catalogue texts by Miriam Cristaldi, Caterina Colucci, Giacinto Palmieri, Giandomenico Semeraro. In collaboration with Claudio Costa.
(With Leandro Agostini, Michele Bertolini, Giuseppe Bonetti, Carlo Cantono, Giancarlo Norese, Antonella Spalluto, Vittorio Valente)
1991
- ARTE COME EVOCAZIONE/La Regione della Follia, Ovvero La Ragione del Fumo (Arte Come Evocazione/The Region of Madness, or The Reason of Smoke) - (The artists evoked through virtual works are Arman, Bertrand Lavier, Gordon Matta-Clark, Allan McCollum, Donald Judd)
Villa Azzurra, former psychiatric hospital of Grugliasco; Galleria l’Uovo di Struzzo, Turin. Curated by Miriam Cristaldi. Catalogue texts by Miriam Cristaldi, Massimo Melotti, Giovanni Sias. In collaboration with Claudio Costa.
(With Leandro Agostini, Corrado Bonomi, Carlo Cantono, Gianni Caruso, Fulvio Colangelo, Claudio Costa, Antonia Di Giulio, Piero Gilardi, Michelangelo Jr., Silvia Morera, Giancarlo Norese, Ivan Patarcec, Antonella Spalluto, Vittorio Valente)
- ARTE COME EVOCAZIONE/Il Linguaggio del Mercato, ovvero il Mercato della Parola (Arte Come Evocazione/The Language of the Market, or the Market of the Word) - (The artists evoked through virtual works are Giovanni Anselmo, Christo, Piero Gilardi, Andy Warhol)
Teatro Out-Off, Palazzo So.Ge.Mi., Mercati Generali, Milan. Curated by Miriam Cristaldi. Catalogue texts by Miriam Cristaldi and Giacinto Palmieri, with contributions from the artists. In collaboration with Claudio Costa.
(With Leandro Agostini, Giuseppe Bonetti, Corrado Bonomi, Carlo Cantono, Gianni Caruso, Claudio Costa, Antonia Di Giulio, Emilio Isgrò, Silvia Morera, Giancarlo Norese, Mimmo Rotella, Antonella Spalluto, Franco Vaccari, Vittorio Valente)
- ARTE COME EVOCAZIONE/Carta e Acqua, ovvero il Battesimo del Linguaggio (Arte Come Evocazione/Paper and Water, or the Baptism of Language) – (The artists evoked through virtual works are Alighiero Boetti, Claudio Costa, Tony Cragg, Jean Tinguely)
Studio Leonardi V-Idea, Cartiera Fratelli Caviglia, Genoa. Curated by Miriam Cristaldi. Catalogue texts by Miriam Cristaldi, Josef Gerighausen, Boris Brollo. In collaboration with Claudio Costa.
(With Leandro Agostini, Desiree Baumeister, Ulrike Besel, Giuseppe Bonetti, Carlo Cantono, Antonia Di Giulio, Michael Kramer, Rainer Kriester, Silvia Morera, Volker Nickel, Giancarlo Norese, Antonio Porcelli, Fried Rosenstock, Antonella Spalluto, Vittorio Valente)
1990
- ARTE COME EVOCAZIONE/Polveri di Stella, Ovvero Stelle nella Polvere (Arte Come Evocazione/Star Dust, or Stars in the Dust) - (The artists evoked through virtual works are Getulio Alviani, Bernd & Hilla Becher, Alberto Burri, Marcel Duchamp, Eliseo Mattiacci, Fabrizio Plessi, Giuseppe Uncini, Wolf Vostell, Gilberto Zorio)
Fornace di Castello d’Annone, Asti. Curated and catalogue texts by Miriam Cristaldi and Raffaele Perrotta. In collaboration with Claudio Costa.
(With Leandro Agostini, Carlo Cantono, Francesco Caredio, Claudio Costa, Plinio Mesciulam, Giancarlo Norese, Antonella Spalluto, Vittorio Valente)
- ARTE COME EVOCAZIONE/Polveri di Stalla, Ovvero Stelle In/Stallate (Arte Come Evocazione/Stall Dust, or Stars In/Stalled) - (The artists evoked through virtual works are Daniel Buren, Piero Manzoni, Mario Merz, Leonardo Mosso, Salvatore Scarpitta, Daniel Spoerri, Cy Twombly)
Stalla di Vallescura, Rocchetta Tanaro, Asti. Curated by Miriam Cristaldi. Catalogue texts by Miriam Cristaldi and Raffaele Perrotta. In collaboration with Claudio Costa.
(With Leandro Agostini, Carlo Cantono, Francesco Caredio, Claudio Costa, Plinio Mesciulam, Giancarlo Norese, Antonella Spalluto, Vittorio Valente)

From 1992 to 1995, he was among the founders of ACE (together with Leandro Agostini, Giuseppe Bonetti, Carlo Cantono, and Antonella Spalluto), a collective artistic activity parallel to his individual work, focused on the idea of an “extension” of the art system toward the world. The group collaborated, from time to time, with various interlocutors — artisans, public administrators, merchants, students, as well as galleries, artists, critics, and institutions (such as the Turin Book Fair, Amnesty International, the Piedmont Region, and the Castello di Rivara) — all of whom were involved in the initiatives carried out.

Exhibitions of the Group
1995
- ACEMARKET - Care Of, Cusano Milanino
- ACETANDEM -Centro d’Arte Varia Dravelli, Moncalieri, Turin
- ACECARD - “A Pose in the Gallery”, Galleria Mariann Mayer, Milan
1994
- ACESTORY - “Proposte IX”, Palazzo IRV, Turin. Curated by Luca Beatrice
- ACETANDEM - “VII Turin Book Fair”, Lingotto, Turin
- ACESOUVENIR – Local Businesses, Grangesises, Turin
1993
- ACEPARTY - Viafarini, Milan
1992
- ACELAND - Territori occupati (Aceland - Occupied Territories), Galleria Arx, Turin

Group Exhibitions / Video Festivals
1997
- ARTE PER TUTTI (Art For Everyone) - Codogno, Lodi. Curated by Loredana Parmesani
1996
- COMPARTMENTS - Fabbriken, Copenhagen. Curated by Globe
1995
- GIOVANI UMANI IN FUGA - Ritrovi pubblici e spazi urbani di Mendrisio (Young Humans on the Run - Public gatherings and urban spaces in Mendrisio), (edited by Vegetali Ignoti)
- OUTPOST VENICE - Ritrovi pubblici e spazi urbani a Venezia (Public gatherings and urban spaces in Venice)
- ARTE VIDEO TV - Palazzo Sanguinetti, Bologna. Curated by A. Borgogelli, C. Colasanti, S. Grandi, and C. Terrosi)
- GIARDINO DELL’ARTE 2 - Piazza d’Armi, Turin. Curated by Edoardo Di Mauro and Ivana Mulatero
- VIDEO VISION 95 - Galerie im Rathaus, Munich. Curated by Christian Gögger
- CITTÀ AD ARTE - Faculty of Architecture, University of Genoa. Curated by Francesco Arena, Sabrina Boidi, Pietro Millefiore
- ARTE VIDEO TV - Museo Revoltella, Trieste
- TERNI VIDEO HEART - Galleria Ronchini, Terni. Curated by Valentina Bonomo, Antonella Marino, and Atelier Liberi
- MESSE 2OK: Talking the Economics - Cologne. Curated by A. Creischer, A. Siekmann
- ZUCKER - AkademieGalerie U3 / U6 Universität, Munich
- ARTE VIDEO TV - Italian Cultural Institute, Paris
1994
- ENTRATE - Via degli Artisti, Turin
- EQUINOZIO D’AUTUNNO - Castello di Rivara, Turin. Curated by Franz Paludetto, invited by Domenico Papa
- ACESTORY - 12th International Youth Film Festival, Turin
- ACESTORY - CarTv, Zurich. Curated by Peter Schmuki
1993
- II RASSEGNA D’ARTE CONTEMPORANEA (Acestand) - Varzi, Pavia
1992
- PANNI STESI - Public gatherings and urban spaces in Roncoli, Alessandria

Bibliography
Loredana Parmesani, Arte per tutti (cat.), Codogno, 1997.
Giancarlo Norese, «ACE», MESSE 2ok: ökonoMiese machen, Permanent Press Verlag, Cologne/Berlin/Amsterdam, 1996, p. 93.
AA.VV., Compartments, Globe, Copenhagen, 1996.
«Cambi della lira», Vegetali Ignoti, Como, spring/summer 1996, p. 13. [AceTal]
«Attività tribali», Museo Teo, no. 9, Milan, February 1996, p. 38. [Messe2]
Arcipelago, no. 2, Turin, February 1996, p. 5. [cur.Cantono]
Mariaclara Goldschmiedt, «Il talento di Ace», Modo, no. 169, Milan, January/February 1996, p. 6. [AceTal, photo]
Giovanni Bai, «A Colonia arte a suon di miliardi», L’Indipendente, Milan, 17 November 1995, p. 14. [AceTal]
Luigi Di Matteo, «Spray Italy, Torino», Juliet, no. 74, Trieste, October/November 1995, p. 71. [AceLight]
Lucio Cabutti, «Torino capitale delle avanguardie», Arte, no. 265, Milan, September 1995, p. 96. [Ace]
Edoardo Di Mauro, Ivana Mulatero (curated by), Giardino dell’arte 2 (cat.), Multidea, Turin, 1995.
Flash Art, no. 192, Milan, June/July 1995, p. 56. [ArteVideoTv]
Blobcartoon, Rai Tre, Rome, 23 June 1995. [ArteVideoTv]
«Videoarte a Blobcartoon», il manifesto, Rome, 21 June 1995, p. 38. [ArteVideoTv]
Marco Giusti (curated by), «ArteVideoTivù», Fuori Orario, Rai Tre, Rome, 22 June 1995, h 1:20. [ArteVideoTv]
Artshow, Milan, summer 1995, p. 5. [advertisement Giardino 2]
Juliet, no. 73, Trieste, June 1995, p. 14. [advertisement Giardino 2]
Artshow, Milan, May 1995, p. 6. [advertisement M. Mayer]
Teodoro Stamos, «Spray Italy, Milano», Juliet, no. 72, Trieste, April/May 1995, p. 65. [AceMark]
Anna Sartorio, «I diritti umani degli artisti», la Repubblica, Turin, 23 March 1995, p. XI. [AceDrav, photo]
«ACEtandem», Anteprima Torino, no. 2, Turin, March 1995, p. 21.
Arcipelago, no. 3, Turin, February 1995, passim.
Fattori Testori, «Sotto la Mole, niente», Opening, no. 24, Rome, February 1995, p. 22.
Luca Beatrice, Cristiana Perrella, Guido Costa, Nuova Scena, Edizioni Giorgio Mondadori, Milan, 1995, pp. 111, 218.
Cristiana Perrella, «Per costruire un rapporto con gli altri», in Nuova Scena (op. cit.), p. 106.
Fattori Testori, «Equinozio d’autunno 1994», La Stanza Rossa, no. 14, Bologna, November/December 1994, p. 36.
Artshow, Milan, December 1994/January 1995, p. 21.
G. Brosio, W. Santagata, Il “Campo artistico”. I giovani, le istituzioni e il mercato della pittura contemporanea, dossier curated by Regione Piemonte, Turin, October 1994.
Arcipelago, no. 1, Turin, October 1994, passim.
«Ace Tandem», Flash Art, no. 186, Milan, summer 1994, p. 39.
«Artisti», La Stampa, Turin, 23 August 1994.
Francesco Poli (curated by), Torino Anni ’80 (cat.), Unione Culturale Franco Antonicelli, Turin, 1994, p. 113.
Airis Masiero, «Spray Italy, Torino», Juliet, no. 67, Trieste, April/May 1994, pp. 69–70. [Ent]
I. Ca., «Arte e giochi al computer», La Stampa/TorinoSette, no. 311, Turin, 20 May 1994, p. 28.
La Stampa/TorinoSette, no. 311, Turin, 20 May 1994, passim.
«L’arte in favore dei diritti dell’uomo», il Novese, Novi Ligure, 1994.
Guido Curto, «Proposte IX», Flash Art, no. 182, Milan, March 1994, p. 57.
Marisa Vescovo, «Scegliendo tra le mostre», La Stampa, Turin, 21 February 1994.
«Via degli Artisti nuova galleria a Torino», Segno, no. 129/130, Pescara, January/February 1994, p. 26.
Paolo Levi, «Proposte IX», la Repubblica, Turin, 25 January 1994.
Luca Beatrice, «ACE», Proposte IX (cat.), Regione Piemonte, Turin, 1994.
II Rassegna d’arte contemporanea (cat.), Varzi (PV), 1993.
«Viafarini», Flash Art, no. 174, Milan, April 1993, p. 54.
Artshow, Milan, March 1993, pp. 18, 38.
«Mille musei e mille fanzine!», Museo Teo, no. 3, Milan, March 1993.
«Notiziario/Cronache, Milano», Segno, no. 122, Pescara, March 1993, p. 16.
Aceland. Territori occupati (cat.), Galleria Arx, Turin, 1993.
Ivana Mulatero, «Spray Italy, Torino», Juliet, no. 60, Trieste, December 1992/January 1993, p. 68.
Alessandra Galletta, «Raccogliere le tracce del mondo. Cittadini, artisti e critici ad Aceland», Taxiart, no. 6, Turin, November/December 1992, p. 36.
«Appuntamenti», la Repubblica, Turin, 6 October 1992. [Incorrect exhibition date]
«Ace Land: territori occupati alla galleria Arx di Torino», Flash Art, no. 170, Milan, October 1992, p. 121.
«Panni stesi», Buone Notizie, no. 13, Novi Ligure, 20 September 1992, p. 3.
Gennaro Fusco, «“Panni stesi” a Roncoli», il Novese, no. 32, Novi Ligure, 10 September 1992, p. 11.
«“Panni stesi” a Roncoli e Borghetto Borbera», Il Popolo di Novi, no. 33, Novi Ligure, 6 September 1992, p. 4.
Carla Reschia, «Artisti sul Borbera», La Stampa (Alessandria ed.), 6 September 1992, p. 45.
Luciano Biorci, «“Panni Stesi” a Borghetto Borbera», il Piccolo, Alessandria, 5 September 1992, p. 14.
«“Panni stesi”, segnale per rilanciare l’arte», Panorama di Novi, no. 50, Novi Ligure, 5 September 1992, p. 5.
«“Panni stesi” a Roncoli, l’arte come quotidiano», il Novese, no. 31, Novi Ligure, 3 September 1992, p. 11.
«Incontro di artisti a Roncoli», Il Monferrato, no. 63, Casale Monferrato, 1 September 1992.
«Gli appuntamenti», La Stampa, Turin, 8 August 1992, p. 37.
«I “territori occupati” di Ace_land», il manifesto, Rome, 2 August 1992.
«Le gallerie», la Repubblica, Turin, July/August 1992.
Marina Mojana, «Calendart», Il Sole 24 Ore, Milan, 26 July 1992, p. 25.

In February 2004, together with the New York experimental electronic composer William Basinski, he realized the project ANATOMY OF MELANCHOLY, a concert and a video/photographic installation presented for the first time in Italy at the Museo d’Arte Contemporanea di Villa Croce, Genoa, curated by Francesco Arena himself.
Following Basinski’s Disintegration Loop series, where the sound compositions gradually decompose during their progressive looped orchestral playback, he produced a video titled “Circular Bodies” in which four bodies are fused into a single circular sequence, as if creating a hybrid male/female body.
Following this event, six solo exhibitions were held in different galleries in Genoa, each presenting previously unseen material created for the occasion: Archivio Caterina Gualco Associazione Culturale; Andrea Ciani ArteContemporanea; Galleria Joyce & Co.; Passo Blu; Rebecca Container Gallery; Spazio Zebra Arte Contemporanea, Genoa. Catalog texts by Elisabetta Rota and Federica Pinna.

 

In 2005, together with the duo Corpicrudi, he created the project AMC – Arena Meats Corpicrudi, a multimedia work that investigates the body as image and performative device. Set within a symbolic house, the project transforms the domestic space into a mental and sensorial territory, articulated in three episodes — Bathroom, Bedroom, Sitting Room — composing a vision that is both unified and fragmented.
Arena, in the role of Sisko, acts as an inner–outer eye: he films, photographs, observes. His gaze is at once testimony and intrusion, as bodies become image and the image, in turn, devours the bodies.
Each episode intertwines performance, mobile gaze, and film in a single video installation in loop, accompanied by the electronic music of Mass_Prod, which replaces the spoken word and amplifies perceptual tension.
The title itself — Arena Meats Corpicrudi — plays on the double meaning of meet/meat, evoking encounter and flesh, contact and fusion between bodies and images.
“[…] five bodies in relation / non-relation between gestures of a banal everyday and gestures of an everyday extremized under the eye of mobile and fixed cameras... like in a reality show…”
The project was presented in contemporary art galleries and fairs. AMC Film, completed at the end of 2006, brings together the four episodes of the cycle (Bathroom, Bedroom, Sitting Room and Dining Room) in a special multivision montage. It was screened in 2007 during Los Angeles Fashion Week (Fall 2007), within KittenFashionWeek, and was later included in the regular programming of the satellite and web TV channel ArtChannel (France).

Project Preview

- ARTE FIERA BOLOGNA 05 — Bologna. Curated by Galleria Guidi & Schoen Arte Contemporanea, Genoa. (Preview of “AMC,” Arena m-eats Corpicrudi, Francesco Arena + Corpicrudi)
- BOLOGNA FLASH ART FAIR 05 — Galleria NEON / Campobase, Bologna. Curated by Galleria Guidi & Schoen Arte Contemporanea, Genoa. (Preview of the “Bathroom” episode, Arena m-eats Corpicrudi, Francesco Arena + Corpicrudi)
- MILANO FLASH ART SHOW 05 — ATA Hotel Executive, Milan. Curated by Galleria Guidi & Schoen Arte Contemporanea, Genoa. (“AMC,” Arena m-eats Corpicrudi, Francesco Arena + Corpicrudi and sound performance by Mass_Prod – electro DJ set, project sound designer)
- AMC, ARENA M-EATS CORPICRUDI — Galleria Guidi & Schoen Arte Contemporanea, Genoa. (Exhibition of the episode "Bathroom," Arena m-eats Corpicrudi, Francesco Arena + Corpicrudi)
- AMC, ARENA M-EATS CORPICRUDI — Galleria Guidi & Schoen Arte Contemporanea, Genoa. (Preview of the episode "Sitting Room," video, stills, photographs, electronic live set by Mass_Prod, project sound designer for Arena m-eats Corpicrudi, Francesco Arena + Corpicrudi) Collateral events and installations at Broadside Concept Store, Globus Fashion Street Store, and Lebowski Caffè del Cinema, Genoa.
 

Exhibitions and Festivals
 

2005
- FESTIVAL OF PHILOSOPHY 05 – "I SENSI," Notte Bianca — Carpi, Modena. Curated by Andrea Saltini. Text by Francesca Baboni. (Video "AMC," Francesco Arena + Corpicrudi)
- VIDEOMINUTO POP TV — Luigi Pecci Center for Contemporary Art, Prato. (Selected video "AMC", Francesco Arena + Corpicrudi)
- THE LOVE BAR — Collateral events at the "La Galleria dell'Amore" festival, Civic Gallery of Contemporary Art of Trento. Curated by Marina Abramović. (Video/live performance "AMC", Arena m-eats Corpicrudi, Francesco Arena + Corpicrudi)
- EXPERIMENTA – Sound Around — Alberobello Territory Museum, Bari. Curated by Guillermina Di Gennaro. Text by Giusy Caroppo. (Site-specific installation, video "AMC", Arena m-eats Corpicrudi)
- GENOVA FILM FESTIVAL 05 — Genoa. (Video "AMC", Arena m-eats Corpicrudi)
- PANDEMIC FESTIVAL (electronic art and music) — Montevarchi, Arezzo. (Video "AMC", Arena m-eats Corpicrudi)
- ERRATA CORPORA: BODIES AGAINST NATURE — Elettro+, Florence. (Video “AMC” + “Circular Bodies”, Francesco Arena + Corpicrudi)
- GENOA RESTARTS 05 — Starhotel President, Genoa. Guidi & Schoen Contemporary Art Stand. (Site-specific installation “AMC”, Arena m-eats Corpicrudi)
- AMC, ARENA M-EATS CORPICRUDI — Galleria Neon, Bologna. (Live performance + video installation, Francesco Arena + Corpicrudi)
- ATTITUDE VIDEO FESTIVAL — Bitola, Macedonia. (Video “AMC”, Arena m-eats Corpicrudi, Francesco Arena + Corpicrudi)
- ARTUBE, Tenax — Florence. Curated by Channel83 / Albert Hofer. (Video “AMC”, Arena m-eats Corpicrudi)

2006
- EXCURSION PERFORMANCE FESTIVAL 06 — Limerick, Ireland. (Italian selection). Curated by Nicola Angerame. (AMC Film Premiere – Arena m-eats Corpicrudi, Francesco Arena + Corpicrudi)
- CATODICA 06 / International Video Art Festival (2nd edition) — Teatro Miela, Galleria Lipanjepuntin, Trieste. Curated by Maria Campitelli. (Video “AMC”)
- 1st T-REX SHORT MOVIE CHALLENGE 06 — Arena Club, Berlin. (Short film contest, “AMC” – Arena m-eats Corpicrudi, Francesco Arena + Corpicrudi)
- PORRETTA CINEMA 06 – Short Film Festival (5th edition) — Porretta Terme, Bologna. (“AMC”, Arena m-eats Corpicrudi, Francesco Arena + Corpicrudi)
- VIDEOMINUTO 06 — Luigi Pecci Center for Contemporary Art, Prato. (Preview of "AMC – Dining Room" – video + installation, Francesco Arena + Corpicrudi)
- TEMPORARY IDENTITIES, Video Art section at ANIGMA 3rd Novosibirsk International Festival of Digital Imaging, Animation, and Video Art — NSAM Novosibirsk State Art Museum, Novosibirsk, Russia. (AMC – Sitting Room section 1, Francesco Arena + Corpicrudi)
- INDIANA INTERNATIONAL VIDEO ART & ARCHITECTURE FESTIVAL — Indiana University, Kokomo Art Gallery, Kokomo, USA. (AMC – Sitting Room section 1, Francesco Arena + Corpicrudi)
- SHORT MOVIE PLAYGROUND — Tower/Cassiopea, Berlin, Germany. (Special event "ARENA M-EATS CORPICRUDI," AMC evening)
- COME & ENJOY — 65Metriquadri, Milan. (AMC event evening)
2007
- CLIENT 2007/2008 TOUR (USA & Europe) (AMC video projections during the live shows)

In 2007-2008, he structured and completed RESPIRI-BREATH, a concept born from the homonymous video production started in 2004. The series belongs to his latest ongoing video cycle, expressing the need to give form to an obsession with communication between individuals and their deepest emotional states. The project features an international line-up; from 2004 to 2008 Arena produced 23 videos, each interpreted by a different male or female protagonist, giving expression to the bicolored obsessions of breathing faces behind glass (often exposing intimate “constrained” but touching emotional states); each video was in turn interpreted by 23 international musicians, creating original musical tracks: ACT NOIR (Italy), ADRIANO CANZIAN (Italy), ANDREA CHIMENTI (Italy), ASHLEY (France), CATO (ECCOTONIC, USA), CIRQULAR (Japan), CONIGLIO VIOLA (Italy), ELIO MARTUSCIELLO (Italy), GIANLUCA BECUZZI (KINETIX, Italy), HUMAN ERROR (Poland), JAPANESE GUM (Italy), JUDITH JUILLERAT (France), MARIA CASTRO (France), MORE (Poland), MOUNT SIMS (USA), NEONGRAU (Germany), OPISANT/JOHN BELPAESE (Italy), ORY CHALK (Belgium), PENELOPEX (MARTA ZAPPAROLI, Italy/Germany), PIETER NOOTEN (Netherlands), SERGIO WOW! (Italy), SPIN BOLDAK (Italy), STEREOBOY (Portugal).
The project spans from the electro-dark of MOUNT SIMS (USA) to the experimental electronics of GIANLUCA BECUZZI (Italy), from the erudite multimedia compositions of ELIO MARTUSCIELLO (Italy) presented worldwide, to the post-romantic melodies of ANDREA CHIMENTI (Italy), known for collaborations with David Sylvian, to the techno-sexy sounds of ADRIANO CANZIAN (Italy), renowned DJ of Gigolo International, the ambient of MARIA CASTRO (France) with a spoken-text reworking of an Italian 18th-century work, the zen-like sounds of CIRQULAR (Japan), the vibrant atmospheres of PIETER NOOTEN (4AD), and the cutting, sharp notes of MORE, a young Polish composer at the start of his successful career. RESPIRI/BREATHS has been presented as a site-specific work in various contexts—from art galleries to theaters, from festivals to concerts—highlighting its transversal and multimedia nature. Each event acquires a unique character; an original critical text accompanies every presentation.

Since 2014, he has been developing a work-in-progress project, EXTRA ORDINARY PEOPLE, consisting of a series of portraits and stills focusing on the concept of “verisimilitude” of subjects (both physical and object-based) and self-representation. One of the aims is to valorize and decontextualize the image in its peculiarity and communicative power.
“A long journey, a pilgrimage through fifty subjects, across emotions, moods, to find myself in every line, every fold of skin, every breath… The real challenge is to make complex, constructed shots appear simple and immediate, to convey the lightness of an emotion, to impose their audacious self-representation with the scale of an advertisement and the power of direct communication, privileging content over form; hence the choice to print the images on large industrial vinyl canvas, forgetting frames or supports, only images with the force of their representation, now restrained, now explosive. Calm spaces, white spaces, emotional pauses.”
All pieces contribute to a deeply personal journey around the body, pursued rigorously and methodically by Francesco Arena (photographer and artist).

From 2016, he conceived and curated the exhibition project OTHER IDENTITY - Other Forms of Cultural and Public Identity in Genoa, an international collective exhibition with the patronage of the Liguria Region in collaboration with the Municipality of Genoa – Museums and Libraries Department, Goethe-Institut Genoa, and Galleria Guidi & Schoen.
“Other Identity” seeks to analyze a widespread phenomenon that has radically changed the way we “live” and “interpret” our image, constantly displayed and publicized: our self-portraits and presentation to the world, the spectacularization of private life turned public via social media, creating continuously evolving forms of identity. Each edition functions as a litmus test to measure the state of a new narrative grammar and new forms of interpretation of our image. Writers on Other Identity include:
Giampaolo Abbondio, Edoardo Acotto, Alessandra Arnò, Claudia Attimonelli, Lidia Bachis, Emanuele Beluffi, Fabrizio Boggiano, Chiara Boni, Marco Bruschi, Bettina Bush, Anita Calà, Lorenzo Canova, Mario Casanova, Giulia Cassini, Annalisa Cattani, Piera Cavalieri, Claudio Cerritelli, Maurizio Cesarini, Rossana Ciocca, Anna d’Ambrosio, Valerio Deho, Amalia Di Lanno, Isabella Falbo, Anna Fiordiponti, Matteo Fochessati, Patrizia Gaboardi, Alessandra Gagliano Candela, Carlo Gallerati, Francesca Galliani, Roberto Garbarino, Nunzia Garoffolo, Carlo Garzia, Ferruccio Giromini, Caterina Gualco, Romina Guidelli, Chiara Guidi, Flavia Lanza, Amelì Lasaponara, Marla Lombardo, Karolina Mitra Lusikova, Luciana Manco, Angelo Marino, Gianluca Marziani, Chiara Messori, Roberto Milani, Lorenzo Mortara, Ivana Mulatero, Maya Pacifico, Massimo Palazzi, Luca Panaro, Sabrina Paravicini, Claudio Parentela, Claudio Pozzani, Domenico Quaranta, Sandro Ricaldone, Mariella Rossi-Stefano Cagol, Claudia Sensi, Stefania Seoni, Ivano Sossella, Benedetta Spagnuolo, Federica Titone, Caterina Tomeo, Tiziana Tommei, Roberta Vanali, Venette Waste, Bruno Wolf.
The first three editions (2016/2019/2022) featured:
Alessandro Amaducci, Karin Andersen, Francesco Arena, Ray Banhoff, Gaia Benedetti Perinetti Casoni, Betty Bee, Serena Biagini, Holger Biermann, Silvia Bigi, Isobel Blank, Bombshell_bot-(Elleree Fletcher), Bianca Boriassi, Luca Bortolato, Matteo Bosi, Manuel Bravi, Carlo Buzzi, Marco Cappella, Benedetta Cari, Ivan Cazzola, Silvia Celeste Calcagno, Stefania Cerea, Mandra Stella Cerrone, Maurizio Cesarini, Damiana Cicco, Cinzia Ceccarelli, Alessia Cortese, Giacomo Costa, Corrado Dalcò, Davide D’Elia, Amalia de Bernardis, Dana De Luca, Emanuele Dello Strologo, Roberta Demeglio, Montserrat Diaz, Clara Diebler, Boris Duhm, Patricia Eichert, Boris Eldagsen, Nadja Ellinger, Erresullaluna+ChuliPaquin, Anna Fabroni, Pamela Fantinato, Massimo Festi, Fleau Madeleine, FleUr (Enrico Dutto-Francesco Lurgo), Francesca Fini, Nadia Frasson, Luca Fucci, Javier Gallego Escutia, Ivana Galli, Debora Garritani, Teye Gerbracht, Barbara Ghiringhelli, Chiara Gini, Giorgio Galimberti, Olivia Giovannini, Federica Gonnelli, Laura Greco, Anna Guillot, Christina Heurig, Corinna Holthusen, Teresa Imbriani, Giacomo Infantino, Federica Intelisano, Angelica Intini, Donatella Izzo, Richard Kern, Beatrix Kittens, Sebastian Klug, Natasa Korosec, Sandra Lazzarini, Francesca Leoni, Anne Locquen, Francesca Lolli, Cristina Luciani, Cristina Malcisi, Eleonora Manca, Elena Marini, Luca Matarazzo, Lorena Matic, Ralph Meiling, Domenica Melillo, Romolo Giulio Milito, Cristina Mirandola, Monica Mura, Beatrice Morabito, Sami Oliver Nakari, Valentina Neri, Alessandra Pace-Fausto Serafini, Alexi Paladino, Carmen Palermo, Maria Palmieri, Giulia Pesarin, Laura Petra Simone, Phoebe Zeitgeist, Marco Pietracupa, Annalisa Pisoni Cimelli, Angelo Pretolani, Ophelia Queen, Francesca Randi, Marco Réa, Giacomo Rebecchi, Baerbel Reinhard, Christian Reister, Ida Marinella Rigo, Natascia Rocchi, Solidea Ruggero, Chiara Scarfò, Alessandra Scoppetta, Manuel Scrima, Valter Luca Signorile, Paula Sunday, Marcel Swann, The Deep Society (Valerio Visconti-Mirko Grifoni), Chiara Tommasi, Tore Manca (Mater-ia), Roberta Toscano, Tung-Li, V. Silente, Valentina Violo, Valerio Visconti, Mauro Vignando, Chiara Vitellozzi, Cirkus Vogler, Giovanna Eliantonio Voig, Violetta Vollmer, Ye She-Yu, Erika Zolli, Ramona Zordini.
otheridentity.it

Since 2022 the project has also expanded into the editorial field through the weekly column OTHER IDENTITY - Other Forms of Cultural and Public Identity, published by Exibart, a leading magazine dedicated to contemporary art and culture. The column, devoted to exploring new visual and cultural identities in the third millennium, features interviews and in-depth conversations with artists and authors working with photography, video, and performance, investigating the themes of identity and self-representation.
exibart.com/autore/francesco-arena-2