Manuela Corti
Manuela Corti
London, United Kingdom
About Manuela Corti
Born in Siena - ItalyLiving and working in London since 2003.Digital Artist, Web Artist, Video Artist I was born in Siena, the city where Duccio da Boninsegna and Beccafumi were born.Since childhood, my favourite landmarks were the cathedral (a mostly gothic and renaissance building), Piazza del Campo and the many Lavatoi (public places where women, in ancient times, went to wash clothes). The most famous among them is called Fontebranda, and is pure middle-age.My childhood games took place among the famous kitchen gardens, ancient marble, tufa stones, architecture and monuments (which everybody can enjoy just walking by), wood art works, oils on canvas and on wood painted by the great artists of our history.Around the cathedral, where there are many narrow downhill roads, I imagined where Saint Catherine might have walked down those stairs, and I looked for mysterious places from the history my relatives were teaching me, every time with more details and enriched with fantasy and a sense of pride.When I was twelve years old, I discovered the restorers workshops.They were enclosed in tufa and, like the narrow roads, were downhill. In these, one could see works in wood and other fine art works. It was from that discovery that I started to be interested in art. At the beginning it was, of course, a very special game.My grandfather restored parts of the cathedrals two wooden doors. I imagined showing them to everybody, stopping the tourists to describe what my grandfather had made.So the first steps of my childhood, and in the field of art as well, were to learn the techniques of thirteen century art, and I consider myself very lucky for that.According to the theories of Mac Luhan and the Toronto School, that I love ever since I discovered them, both cold medium and low definition medium are a form of expression. Low definition medium has been influencing our society for decades. Classical examples are television, digital advertising and art (from computer or from digital cameras, but also from mobile phone, DVD etc.).Low definition is due to the pixels that make up the screen. The brain has to reconstruct the image seen by the eye, but if you enlarge a pixel you dont see an image there. Because of this you dont perceive the digital image with your eyes, but with your senses. Each pixel consists of one bit. The bits have shattered the high definition standards that were dominating the media before the digital era and, doing that, they have pulverised culture and society.I like the thought of sharing with other artists this virtual, and not only virtual, world that, as Karl Popper says in his Open Society and its Enemies, is not danger-free. On the other hand, because everything depends on everything, I like thinking that society, people can not only enjoy art but also contribute to it.In the course of my career as an artist, I believe I used a computer ever since a minimal number of programs made it available to the general public. I immediately chose to adopt it as a medium that, just like the Aleph, represents all media, and by all can be represented.
Education:
11981 1985University of Bologna, Doctoral Degree in Philosophy of Science, Magna cum Laude.After obtaining my doctoral degree in Philosophy with a specialization in Epistemology at the University of Bologna, I spent four years as an Assistant Professor with Professor A. Pasquinelli, Chair of Philosophy of Science at the University, gaining experience in research and teaching. Since 1990, I have devoted myself exclusively to the visual arts, with particular stress on multimedia: video and post-production, digital images and computer image processing and Net Art.Notes on my activity:At the Donguy Gallery in Paris (1995) and at the Interno e dum dum Gallery in Bologna (1998) I exhibited an installation that simulated rain in the gallery. I used Mozarts Requiem to create a model of laic Transubstantiation that was shown in the exhibit Va Pensiero, Arte Italiana 1984-1996, curated by Edoardo Di Mauro (Torino, Promotrice delle Belle Arti, 1997). Etc...2002 -Paris, Centro George Pompidou, for the video section of Festival Polyphonix 40.Etc...2006 -Auditorium Park of the Music in Rome Studio Theatre, Italian Festival in Videoclip poetry. Etc...,
Events:
Fragili guerriere. Chiamata alle arti
Roma - dal 28 maggio all'undici giugno 2015
Exhibitions:
SOLO EXHIBITIONS:
2013 – Woolwich, London - no format gallery, Second Floor Studios & Arts.
2002 – Bologna (I), Fiorile Arte Gallery - curated by Edoardo di Mauro.
1999 – Venice (I), 48th Venice Biennale, Italian Pavilion and Gardens – Video performance in action.
1998:
- Bologna (I), Spazio&Dum Dum gallery - curated by Daniele Perra
-Parma (I), Galleria AlphaCentauri curated by Daniela Rossi.
1995:
- Parigi (FR), J&J Donguy Gallery, curated by Roberto Daolio.
- Bologna (I), SpazioCulturaNavile Gallery, curated by Roberto Vitali.
- Bologna (I), Hip Hop Gallery, curated by Silvia Grandi.
1994 – Bologna (I), Neon Gallery, curated by Roberto Daolio.
1993:
- Cesena (I), Ex Pescheria Gallery, curated by Roberto Daolio.
- Bologna (I), Jolly Hotel, sponsored by Rank Xerox.
1992 – Thionville (F), Françoise Bolognini Gallery, curated by Renato Barilli
1991:
- Rosemont (PA.- U.S.A), Lawrence Hall Gallery, curated by Renato Barilli
- Cento (Ferrara, I), Contemporary Art Gallery, curated by Renato Barilli
1990:
- Cesena (FO), Galleria dell’Immagine, curated by Renato Barilli
- Cento (FE), Auditorium San Lorenzo, curated by Renato Barilli
COLLETTIVE EXHIBITIONS:
2015 – Rome (I), Lavatoio Contumaciale Gallery, curated by Daniela Rossi.
2014:
- London, The House of Peroni, environmental installations made in collaboration with Carlotta Actis Barone.
- London, Design Museum, sculpture made in collaboration with Carlotta Actis Barone
- Parma (I), Muse Contemporary Art Gallery, Call to the arts, curated by D. Rossi, S. Provinciali.
2013 – Bologna (I), Accrochage Art Space, curated by Patti Campani.
2006 – Potenza (I), Amnesiac Arts Gallery, A Certain Form Of Heaven, curated by Isabella Falbo.
2005:
- Copenaghen (DK), Italian Institute of Culture, Novarum, curated by Edoardo di Mauro.
- Torino (I) Castello di Rivara, Blog on Arthur Rimbaud curated by Hervé Constant, Louis Benassi.
2004:
- London, NYU in London, Celebration: Arthur Rimbaud, curated by Matteo Licitra, Carlo Fatigoni
- London, 291 Gallery, Celebration: Arthur Rimbaud , curated by Matteo Licitra, Carlo Fatigoni
2003:
- Piacenza (I) Castell’Arquato Gallery, Paesaggio e paesaggio, curated by Stefania Provinciali.
- Florence (I) Fortezza da Basso, Momoyamaha Suite curated by Matteo Licitra.
2002:
- Paris (FR), Centre Cultural Canadian, video installations: Corti, Di Giovanni, Capolongo.
- Paris (FR), Centro George Pompidou, Irony, territoriality, and amazement curated by M Corti.
- Perugia (I), Euro Chocolate, finalist for video competition: 45 seconds of sweetness.
- Bologna (I), Strawberries Field Gallery, Good friends.
- Parma (I), S. Ludovico Gallery, A Postmodern Babel, reality and allegory in the Italian Art of the 90's. Curated by Edoardo di Mauro.
- Bologna (I), Artistic Club of Bologna, Thread of Memory.
- Bologna (I), Culture Space Navile, Female Touch, curated by Isabella Falbo.
2001:
- Bologna (I), Galleria Neon, EXIT 5
- Merano (I), Art Forum Gallery, Click Here, curated by Valerio Dheò.
2000:
- Bologna (I), Spazio&Dum Dum Gallery, represented by Giuliano Gavioli.
- Bologna (I), Cafe9 Gallery, curated by Pier Luigi Cappucci.
- Roma (I), Casa della Letteratura, curated by Daniela Rossi
1999:
- Parma (I), Palazzetto Eucherio Sanvitale, Memory ON/OFF, curated by Valerio Dehò.
- Venice (I), 48th Venice Biennale, Italian Pavilion – Oreste project, (S) Definitions / art against war.
- Bologna (I), Academy of Art, W..A.P. web art projects, curated by Piero Deggiovanni
1998:
- Rome (I), Palazzo delle Esposizioni, LA COSCIENZA LUCCICANTE, from video art to interactive art,
curated by Paola Sega Serra Zanetti and Maria Grazia Tolomeo.
- Bologna (I), Salara, Tourist Menu, curated by Edoardo Di Mauro.
- Trevi (I), Flash Art museo, Lady D.
1997:
- Torino (I), Contemporary Art Museum, Promoter of Fine Arts, Va’ Pensiero, Italian art 1984–1996, curated by E.di Mauro.
- Curriculum continues but there is no more space ...