Program held: 4 dicembre/december 2020 | Roma. Access the episode on Instagram or on YouTube below.
About the artist: Marinella Senatore (b. 1977) is a multidisciplinary Italian artist. She is well-known for her installations, public performances, short films, collages, installations, and especially her installations of luminarie, the decorative lights popular in southern Italy, where they are installed for holidays, religious festivals, and other celebrations. For over two decades, she has committed her artistic practice to the power of community. She often engages participatory authorship, emphasizing the transformative power of artistic practice and the importance of environment, in all senses. She studied at the Accademia di Belle Arti in Naples, as well as music at the Conservatorio di Musica, and cinema at the Scuola Nazionale di Cinema in Rome. Her processions, which involve open calls and workshops, with the School of Narrative Dance, are experimentations in collaborative, non-professional, non-hierarchical practice.
About the artwork: Senatore regards Nui Simu (That's Us) (2010) as perhaps the most important work in her practice to date. The work was conceived by 30 analfabeti Italian miners from Enna, Sicily, in collaboration with a local non-professional crew and students from the University of Catania. It included an open call, a month-long workshop, photography, and a short film. The work was by, for, and about community. It was produced by the Riso Museum, Palermo, and exhibited at the 54th Venice Biennale, ILLUMINATIONS.
Image: Marinella Senatore, Nui Simu (That's Us), 2010. Single channel HD video, stereo, color, 15 min. Variable dimension. Installation view at the Premio Furla. Palazzo Pepoli, Bologna. Private collection. Images courtesy of the artist.
At the time of this program, Senatore had just opened exhibitions at the Palazzo Strozzi and at the IIC Madrid, the latter curated by Ilaria Bernardi. She also was conducting collective open soundtracks at Magazzino Italian Art and at the Centro Pecci. Her work has been shown and collected in a wide range of international collections. She is represented in Italy by Mazzoleni Gallery. Artist's website: https://marinella-senatore.com/