IMAGES DU FUTUR: Alessandro Brighetti, Donato Piccolo, Francesco Fonassi, Voldemars Johansons

Primo Marella Gallery cordially invites you to the opening of the group show “Images du Futur”. The show focuses on the work of four young artists who, in different ways, are breaking out of the narrow confines of the art world and getting interested in other areas of knowledge, criticizing the traditional separation between humanistic and techno-scientific culture: appropriating ideas, concepts and tools developed by scientists and researchers; working with scientists, engineers, hackers and programmers, doing residencies in research centres and universities, and increasingly rediscovering the pleasure of “getting their hands dirty”, developing forms of technical know-how that can be very specific, requiring a high level of awareness and skill.

Alessandro Brighetti, Donato Piccolo, Francesco Fonassi and Latvian artist Voldem?rs Johansons offer – with the installations, videos and drawings presented in this exhibition – a small yet effective sample of a tendency that is making headway in the field of contemporary art, questioning it as a separate field and working for a better integration of art with other areas of culture. As Domenico Quaranta writes in the catalogue: “The works on show are “images of the future” not because they merely relate to an arena – that of science and technology – traditionally viewed as a driver of progress and innovation, but because they anticipate the lines along which art will develop as soon as it makes up its mind to leave the injurious realm of the short but enduring twentieth century behind.”

“Images du Futur” is the ideal continuation of a curatorial effort started with “Sinestetica”, the show curated by Primo Marella for the Primae Noctis Gallery in Lugano, Switzerland. The show is accompanied by a publication edited by art critic and curator Domenico Quaranta, and featuring texts by physicistsAlfonso Sutera and Michele Galletti.

Alessandro Brighetti (Bologna 1978) lives and works in Bologna. Recent solo shows include "Narchitecture" Scaramuche Gallery, NY, 2013; “Alessandro Brighetti”, M.A.R. Museo Arte Città di Ravenna,  2012; “Chambre de l’invisible”, Parco della Montagnola, Bologna 2011; and “Soul Scanner”, Galleria Oltre Dimore, Bologna 2010. Recent group shows include: “The Wizard’s Chamber”, Kunsthalle, Winterthur 2013; “London Design Festival”, Victoria & Albert Museum, London 2013; “Sinestetica”, Primae Noctis Gallery, Lugano 2012; “Wunderkammer 2.0”, Visionnaire, Milano 2012; “Showtime”, Zak Gallery Project Space, Castello di Monteriggioni 2011. His work is in the public collections of Kunsthalle Winterthur, Switzerland and M.A.R., Ravenna, Italy, among others.

Donato Piccolo (Rome, 1976) lives and works in Rome and Berlin. Recent solo shows include: “Butterfly effect”, Paolo Maria Deanesi Gallery, Rovereto 2012; “Instabile reversibile”, Galerie Mario Mazzoli, Berlino 2010; and “Avant et Devenir”, Gallery Riff Art Projects, Paris-Istanbul, 2009. Group shows include: “Turbulence II”, Villa Empain, Boghossian Foundation, Bruxelles 2013; “After the crash”, Orto Botanico, Roma 2011; “54. Biennale of Venice”, Italian Pavillon, Palazzo Venezia, Roma 2011; “Take the Space”, Palazzo della Vicaria, Trapani 2010; and “Physical Conditions gallery crawl”, Wood Street Gallery, Pittsburgh (USA). He has been resident artist at ISCP, New York and Fondazione Spinola Banna per l’Arte Contemporanea, Turin.

Francesco Fonassi (Brescia, 1986, lives and works in Brescia - www.francescofonassi.com) after attending the Art Academy in Venice, he has been artist in residence at Palais de Tokyo, Paris (2012-13), Fondazione Pastificio Cerere, Rome (2011-12) and Fondazione Bevilacqua La Masa, Venice (2010). Recent solo shows include “Stasi”, viafarini DOCVA, Milan, 2013; “Kollaps, Aufstieg.”, MACRO, Rome, 2012 and “Crocedomini”, Monotono Contemporary Art, Vicenza, 2011. Group shows include: “La méthode Jacobson”, Palais de Tokyo, Paris 2013; “The 338 Hours Cineclub”, Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, Turin 2013; “Theatre of Life”, CoCA, Torun, PL 2012; “Premio LUM per l'arte contemporanea”, Teatro Margherita, Bari 2011. 

Voldemars Johansons (Riga, Latvia, 1980 - http://johansons.info) studied composition of electronic music at the Royal Conservatoire, Institute of Sonology in Den Haag. Recent solo shows include “Attractors”, Latvian National Museum of Art 2012 and “Patterns, Flow”, Centre for contemporary art, Tbilisi, Georgia 2011. Johanson’s work has been presented at events and venues like Venice biennial of Architecture, Venice; ArtGENDA, Hamburg; Ruhrtriennale; WAVES, Dortmund; <>TAG gallery, The Hague; TodaysArt, The Hague; STEIM, Amsterdam; Sound Forest, Riga; Unsound, Krakow; CAC Vilnius; Malmo Konsthall, Sweden; and Liste, Basel. Since 2009 he is a researcher at the Art Research Laboratory and works as lecturer at Liepaja University department of New Media Studies.