CONTACT: pirrotta.giusy@gmail.com

STATEMENT

My research aims to produce site-specific environments which investigate the relationship between the use of sculpture and moving image through codes of production belonging to cinema, visual art and design.
I use ceramic, film, video, photography, and I design wallpaper and textile to create immersive installations which investigate the perception activity of the viewer and question the use of light in relation to sculpture. Therefore, in my work, light sources and the moving image are complemented by the use of sculpture and experimentations with other materials to create a tactile experience not only in relation to the object but also to the surrounding.

I also investigate the border between real and fantastic through the creation of ceramics with symbolic references to magical and pagan rituals of a surrealist and ethnographic nature, that are enriched with autobiographical references.
My aim is to expand the borders between disciplines such as art, craft, design and moving image, subverting the pre-established use of a specific medium or language.

I think about my installations as set design made for shooting a movie or environments where some peculiar instruments or characters are shown to explicate optical or light phenomena or to tell about a specific narrative story.

My work emerges from the use of analogue media (16mm film, super8, film projector, slides, etc.) and DIY methods for developing and printing film, that I practiced as means to analyse the materiality of moving image and the projection process. These investigations contribute to the development of my practice towards sculpture and the making of objects that elaborate on the phenomenon of light perception and how it is experienced by the viewer. My sculptures are inspired to projectors and lamps that interact with environments designed by the elaboration of elements belonging to the space where moving image is usually experienced (cinema, museum and gallery).
Recent personal events, such as the discovery and the fight against breast cancer and a pregnancy soon after, have pushed my research towards the creation of sculptural works of an autobiographical nature.

BIO

Giusy Pirrotta is an Italian born artist who lives and works in Rome.
She has a visual background related to painting, sculpture and photography, acquired during her studies at the Academy of Fine art of Florence where she attended her BA in fine art in 2006 and a postgraduate qualification in Art & Design teaching in 2008. Later, she started focusing her practice on the study of moving image in relation to film, video and sculpture deciding to move to Milan and then London, where in 2010 she attended a Master in Fine art at Central Saint Martin College of Art and Design.
During her MA program she won the Red Mansion Art prize, an art residency program in Beijing promoted by Red mansion Foundation, with final show at Royal Academy of Art, where she was representing Central Saint Martin College of Art and design. During that time she started working with different means of production finalized to the manipulation of different equipment for the projection of light and moving images, using film, slides, and experimenting with different light sources. Through this she started focusing on the study of light in relation to architecture and sculpture.

The post master period was structured through internships and artist in residence programs which allow her to keep working with specific equipment. First, Central Saint Martin film and Video department Intern and Residency Program where she specialized herself with the use of printing and developing techniques on 16mm film within the production of different works like vanishing Point Film. After, Prestech Film Laboratories, London, where she developed her interest in the preservation and restoration of Film, within also specific training in digitalisation and colour grading.
Later she started and successfully completed her PhD project at at UCA, University for the creative Arts in Farnham, under the regulations of the University of Brighton, with a practice based program which focused on the study of moving image and its relationship with the architecture and the exhibition display (Museum, Gallery and Cinema).
Her PhD project also analyses the sculptural quality of light in relation to the viewer's perception and the exhibition context. During this program, her research developed through the realisation of a body of works which examined the sculptural quality of moving image with a parallel investigation on curatorial strategies finalised to the display of time based installation works.
Her PhD titled "Moving Image and the space around the frame: Time-based installations and forms of experience" is published and available on line on the University of Brighton and the British Library website.
Her current research interests focus on the relationship between diverse creative languages (such us ceramic, textile design, light-based technology, video projections) and novel display solutions, and how this interaction is creating a hybrid system of moving image installation-based works in contemporary art.
Now she lives and works in Rome, after living a couple of years in Milan.

QUALIFICATIONS

2018 PHD, Doctor of Philosophy, University for the Creative Arts/University of Brighton
2011 Master in Fine Art, Central Saint Martin College of Art & Design, London
2008 Teaching Qualification in Art & Design, Academy of fine art Florence, Italy
2005 BA in Fine art, Academy of fine art Florence, Italy

AWARDS / RESIDENCIES

2019 Le stanze di Ferenc: Carta da parati e nuova progettualità, progetto vincitore, Villa d'Este, Tivoli, Roma
2014 Premio Cairo, shortlisted, Palazzo Reale, Milan
2013 Combat Prize, winner video category Giovanni Fattori Museum, Livorno
2012 Red Mansion Art Prize, winner, Red Mansion Art Foundation, London, Residency in Beijing promoted by Red mansion art Foundation after a selection at CSM 2010/2011
2011 Nova Award, Cross Over, Lethaby Gallery, London, curated by Lisa Painting, best work produced for Master Fine art 2010/2011
2008 Real Presence 2008, residency award, Belgrade, exhibition at MKM - Magacin/Militar Museum-Kazamati/ Galleria 063 - Castello di Rivoli Turin - curated by Biljana Tomic e Dobrila Denegri nKA / ICA - Belgrade
2006 La fotografia come arte, l'arte come fotografia (The photography as art, art as photography), residency award, Daniel Spoerri Foundation, Grosseto, Italy, Curated by Fiammetta Strigoli,Cassero Senese, Grosseto

SOLO SHOWS

2023 Tiamat, TACA Studio; curated by Beatriz Escudero, Palma di Miorca, Spain
2019 Taixunia, Dimora Artica, curated by Dimora Artica, Milan
2017 Seamlessness, Galleria Massimo de Luca, curated by Elana Forin, Venice
2017 Between the Glimpse and the Gaze, James Hockey Gallery, curated by Richard Hylton University Cultural Program, UCA Farnham
2014 Long time ago when the earth was flat, Galleria Massimo de Luca, curated by Alice Ginaldi, Venice
2014 The quality of Scale, Murata Centoventidue Contemporary Art, curated by Angela Gonnella, Bari

SELECTED GROUP SHOWS

2023 Ettore Fico, Dialoghi contemporanei. Un artista, un museo, una collezione. curated by Andrea Busto, Fondazione Bevilacqua la Masa, Venezia
2023 Keramikos, CAR Gallery, Curated by Andrea Busto, Bologna
2023 Riportando tutto a casa, Museo Delle Navi Romane, curated by Lorenzo Madaro, organised by Contemporary Cluster, Nemi, Roma
2022 Ontica, Contemporary Cluster, Roma, curated by Giacomo Guidi
2021 Aliena Comune, Galleria Macca, Cagliari, curated by Efisio Carbone
2020 The Mummy Complex, Il complesso della Mummia, Palazzo Monti, Brescia, curated by Matteo Pollini
2020 Tree Time, Musee Museo della scienza e della tecnica, Trento, curated by Andrea Lerda
2020 Christine, Metodo Proect space, Milano, curated by Marta Pierobon
2020 Corpi sul Palco, MMSU Rijeka, Modern Art Museum, curated by Andrea Contin, Croatia
2020 Renovation, Galleria Marina Bastianello, Venice
2019 Tree Time, Museo della Montagna, Torino, curated by Andrea Lerda e Daniela Berta
2019 Le stanze di Ferenc: Carta da parati e nuova progettualità,Villa d'Este Tivoli, curated by Andrea Bruciati, Davide Bertolini, Elisabetta Ciniglio
2018 Charming Encounters, Galleria massimo de Luca, Curated by Dionisio Gavagnin e Marina Bastianello, Venice.
2017ARTVERONA/7 Galleria Massimo de Luca, Mezione speciale stand
2017 Why Analogue? Screening of 16mm film at UCA Cinema, UCA Farnham, curated by Giusy Pirrotta and Richard Hylton
2017 BOCCIONI 100 MODERNOLATRIA | BOCCIONI in the BOCS , Curated by Valentina Tebala, Gemma Anaïs Principe, Melissa Acquesta, Galleria Nazionale di Cosenza – Palazzo Arnone
2016 Immateriality: Possibilities and Experiences, UCA Research Student Exhibition, Herbert Read Gallery,Canterbury
2016 SUBSTANCE RIFT, House of Vans Gallery, curated by Gala Bell, London
2015 Praestigium Contemporary Artist from Italy, Imago Mundi Luciano Benetton Project, curated by Luca Beatrice, Sandretto Re Rebaudengo Foundation, Turin
2015 Analogica, Special screening programme, Resistenza Analogica, Bolzano
2014 Premio Cairo, Palazzo Reale, Milan
Analog Recurring Double Vision, Lo & Behold Gallery, curated by Bea Haut, London
2013 Lumen, Mars, curated by Lorenza Boisi, Milan
2013 Analog Recurring 2013, Lo & Behold Gallery, curated by Bea Haut, London
2013 Young at art 2013, Maca Museum Cosenza, curated by Massimo Garofalo and Andrea Rodi, Italy
2013 Journey to the Center of my mind exhibition, BunkHouse, Madrid curated by Gala Knorr
2013 Fama Gallery, Eva's Daughter curated by Andrea Bruciati, Verona
2012 Red Mansion Art Prize 2012, Royal Academy of Art, curated by Eliza Bonham Carter e The Red Mansion Foundation
2011 Lab.it, Italian Platform for Chinese contemporary art, Beijing, curated by Cecilia Freschini
2011 Cross Over, Nova award finalist best work produced for Master in Fine Art Central saint martin 2011 Lethaby Gallery, curated by Lisa painting, London
2011 Women at work, Placentia art gallery, curated by Lino Baldini, Piacenza
2011 MAFA Final Show, Central Saint Martin College of art & design, London
2011 Life is elsewhere, Crypt gallery, Curated by Oliver Guy Watkings, London

PROFESSIONAL TRAINING

2013 PresTech film laboratories, 35mm 16mm film restoration, grading, TK, printing, processing
2012 16 mm film specialist at Central Saint Martin College of Art & Design Film and video department