Eugenio Viola

Portrait of Eugenio Viola
Eugeno Viola in 2015

Eugenio Viola (born 1975, Naples) is an Italian art critic and curator. He got his Ph.D. in “Methods and Methodologies of Archaeological and Historical-Artistic Research” at the University of Salerno. Since 2009 he is curator at MADRE, the Contemporary Art Museum of Naples.

Institutional work as a curator

At Madre Museum[1] in Naples, from 2009 to 2012, he was the Curator of the Project Room, a space dedicated to the young and experimental artists. He arranged - right before the “Arabian Spring”- a network residence and exhibition program in partnership with some institutions and nonprofit organizations from Middle East (Transit Project: Madre Museum, Naples / Townhouse, Cairo / PiST, Istanbul / CCA, Tel Aviv / State Museum, Thessaloniki, 2009-2011); and an annual performance festival named Corpus. Art in Action (2009-2012), presenting site-specific actions of a number of artists such as Tania Bruguera, Regina Josè Galindo, Teresa Margolles, Maria José Arjona, Ron Athey, Milica Tomic, Tobias Bernstrup, Kira O’Reilly, Davide Balliano, Francesca Grilli, Jamie Shovlin and Lustfaust, and many others.

Since 2013, as Curator at Large, he is responsible for the research and development of the Madre Museum's collection ('Per_forming a collection' project started in 2013). He co-curated the first Italian large-scale exhibition of Francis Alÿs (Reel-Unreel. Afghan Projects, 2010–14); a complex Daniel Buren’s project, conceived in two times: 'Comme un jeu d’enfant' (Work in situ, 2014-2015, Madre Museum, Naples - #1); 'Axer / Désaxer' (Work in situ, 2015, Madre Museum, Napoli - #2); the biggest exhibition ever devoted to the Italian artists Vettor Pisani and Giulia Piscitelli.

Other curatorial works

As a curator he worked with several Italian and International institutions. Among the others, Eugenio Viola curated the Estonian Pavilion at 56th Venice Art Biennale (Jaanus Samma, NSFW- Not Suitable For Work. A Chairman’s Tale, Palazzo Malipiero, Venice); Regina Josè Galindo ('Estoy Viva', PAC | Contemporary Art Pavilion, Milan,[2] then exhibited at ZAC Cantieri Culturali alla Zisa, Palermo, 2014-15); Karol Radziszewski (CoCA Torun, 2014); Mark Raidpere (held in Morra Greco Foundation in Naples, then in EKKM The Contemporary Art Museum of Tallinn, 2013); 'The Abramović Method', the pioneering project of Marina Abramović at PAC (Contemporary Art Pavilion, Milan, 2012), "the first after the great retrospective of 2010 at MoMa in New York." was curated by Eugenio Viola together with Diego Sileo;[3] He also curated the retrospective of ORLAN’s work at the Tallina Kunstihoone in Tallinn (Estonia, 2008) held after the most comprehensive retrospective of ORLAN’s work, 'Le Récit' at Musée d’Art Moderne de Saint Etienne in 2007 (Saint Etienne, France), curated with Lorand Hegyi.

Writings and criticism

As a thinker Eugenio Viola is one "of the most talented and inspirational young people who are driving forward the art world today"[4] as stated by the British art magazine 'Apollo' in 2014.

He is a scholar in theories and practices related to performance and Body Art. On this subject he has extensively lectured in Italy and abroad. He has published several essays and he has edited the monographs on Regina José Galindo (Ed. Skira, Milan, 2014), Hermann Nitsch (Ed. Morra, Naples, 2013),[5] Marina Abramović (Ed. 24 Ore Cultura, Milan, 2012),[6] and ORLAN (Ed. Charta, Milan, 2007).[7] He collaborates on regular basis with "Artforum"(USA) and "Arte" (Italy). His writings also appeared in several Italian art magazines such as Flash Art, Segno, Arte e Critica, and on the Spanish Exit Express. He is a member of IKT[8] (“International Association of Curators of Contemporary Art”);[9] and he is on several awards international committees and panels like Tent.[10]

References

  1. "link to the Madre museum's website".
  2. "'Estoy Viva' by Regina Josè Galindo, Pac, MIlan".
  3. Link to the quote from Pac website www.pacmilano.it/exhibitions/marina-abramovic-the-abramovic-method/ translated from italian: "Pac in Milan was the exhibition space chosen by Marina Abramovic for her new awaited work, the first after the great retrospective of 2010 at MoMa in New York. The event was curated by Diego Sileo and Eugenio Viola". Original quote: “Il PAC di Milano è stato lo spazio espositivo prescelto da Marina Abramovic per il suo nuovo attesissimo lavoro, il primo dopo la grande retrospettiva del 2010 al MoMA di New York. L’evento, è stato curato da Diego Sileo ed Eugenio Viola.”
  4. 27 aug 2014, 40 Under 40 Europe, 'Apollo, the international art magazine' - online short version of the article
  5. 135.AKTION LA HABANA CUBA. Naples: Ed. Morra. 2013. ISBN 88-7852-029-2.
  6. Sileo, Diego; Viola, Eugenio, eds. (2012). Marina Abramović. The Italian Works. Milan, Italy: Catalogo 24 Ore Cultura. ISBN 978-88-6648-100-3.
  7. Hegyi, Lóránd; Viola, Eugenio (2007). Orlan. Le récit-The narrative. Charta. ISBN 978-88-8158-652-3.
  8. "IKT is the International Association of Curators of Contemporary Art. It is a members organisation that brings together curators from across the world, to meet, share knowledge, exchange ideas and broaden their professional networks. IKT represents the professional interests of contemporary curators worldwide, and is the equivalent of international organisations such as ICOM, CIMAM or AICA." from IKT website www.iktsite.org/about-ikt/
  9. Complete list of active IKT members at the page http://www.iktsite.org/active-members-2/
  10. "TENT Academy Awards 2015 - TENT Rotterdam". TENT Rotterdam. Retrieved 2015-10-27.
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