BROOKLYN 11, Antonio Rovaldi, November 2, 2017, Belt Pkwy and Paerdegat Basin, Brooklyn, Analog print with silver salts on baryta paper, 19.7 x 23.6 in. (50 x 60 cm)
BROOKLYN 11, Antonio Rovaldi, November 2, 2017, Belt Pkwy and Paerdegat Basin, Brooklyn, Analog print with silver salts on baryta paper, 19.7 x 23.6 in. (50 x 60 cm). Realized thanks to the support of the Italian Council (2019).

Antonio Rovaldi

Discussion on Rovaldi’s unique artistic practice of uniting photography, video, sculpture, writing, and design.

Italian artist Antonio Rovaldi and Dr. Steven Handel, Professor of Landscape Architecture at Harvard University Graduate School of Design, held a discussion on the landscapes and physical and perceptual limits of New York City, organized by Magazzino Italian Art Foundation in collaboration with GAMeC - Galleria d'Arte Moderna e Contemporanea di Bergamo, Rovaldi presented two related bodies of work — End. Words from the Margins. New York City, winner of the 5th edition of the Italian Council, and the book, The Sound of the Woodpecker Bill: New York City. Recently featured in exhibitions at Harvard’s School of Design and the GAMeC, these projects reflected Rovaldi’s unique artistic practice, which united photography, video, sculpture, writing, and design in the construction of narratives rooted in landscapes and explorations of space and distance.

End. Words from the Margins. New York City explored the iconic metropolis from the point of view of its city limits and the edges of its five boroughs, which the artist photographed as he walked the city’s outer edges and waterfronts. The project attested to the possibility of describing the city and its development through physical travel, and considered the idea that a conscious rebirth of society can grow from the most marginal spaces.

The project was complemented by the publication The Sound of Woodpecker Bill: New York City, published by Humboldt Books, which included five chapters on each of the city’s five boroughs. Each chapter included a selection of 100 black-and-white photographs documenting Rovaldi’s walk around the perimeter of each area as well as accompanying text by Antonio Rovaldi. The publication also featured geographical maps created by the landscape architect Francesca Benedetto and contributions by Francesca Berardi, Cecilia Canziani, Anna de Manincor, Claudia Durastanti, Lorenzo Giusti, Steven Handel and Mario Maffi.

END. Words From The Margins. New York City was a project by Antonio Rovaldi, promoted by GAMeC - Galleria d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea di Bergamo, in partnership with Harvard - GSD, Magazzino Italian Art, and the St. Gallen Kunst Museum, supported by the Italian Council (5th Edition, 2019), a program to promote Italian contemporary art in the world by the Directorate-General for Contemporary Creativity of the Italian Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities and Tourism.

About Antonio Rovaldi

Antonio Rovaldi (Parma, 1975) works across media, including photography, video, sculpture and drawing, confronting themes related to the perception of places and the landscape.

Rovaldi studied art and photography with Hideyoshi Nagasawa and Mario Cresci. His work has been the subject of solo exhibitions at the Hirshorn Museum (2012), MAN Museum (Nuoro, 2014) and has been featured in group shows including Give Me Yesterday (Prada Foundation, Milan 2016), and European Photography, La via Emilia. Roads, journeys and borders / New explorations (Reggio Emilia, 2016).

Rovaldi has published monographic books dedicated to his work, among them Orizzonte in Italia, an editorial project nominated for the XXV Edition of the Compasso d’Oro Award, and Detour in Detroit, with Francesca Berardi, a book that tells the story of the city through the biographies of its inhabitants. He regularly collaborates with the artist Ettore Favini on site-specific projects and with the artist Michael Höpfner on projects dedicated to the practice of walking. In 2017 he founded the CLER studio in Milan. Rovaldi lives and works in Milan and New York.

About Steven Handel

Steven Handel is the Visiting Professor in Landscape at Harvard University Graduate School of Design. He studies the potential to restore native plant and animal communities, adding sustainable ecological services, biodiversity, and amenities to the landscape. He has explored pollination, seed dispersal, plant population growth, ecological genetics, and most recently, ecological solutions for urban and heavily degraded lands. In addition to his GSD appointment, he is a Distinguished Professor of Ecology and Evolution at Rutgers University. Previously, he was a biology professor and director of the Marsh Botanic Garden at Yale University, Visiting Professor at Stockholm University, and Research Scholar at Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia.

Dr. Handel is an Aldo Leopold Leadership Fellow and Certified Senior Ecologist of the Ecological Society of America, and is the Editor of the professional journal Ecological Restoration. In 2007, he was elected an Honorary Member of the American Society of Landscape Architects. Recognition for this work includes ASLA Honor Awards for Analysis & Planning (2008 and 2009)for Research (2009 and 2015), and for Communications (2015). Also, the AIA National Honor Award in Regional & Urban Design, and the APA National Planning Excellence Award for Innovation in Regional Planning. His research has been sponsored by the National Science Foundation, the National Park Service, and private foundations. He has published widely in ecological and botanical scientific journals.

Handel received his B.A. from Columbia College in Biology and M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from Cornell University in the Field of Ecology and Evolution.

About Casa Italiana Zerilli-Marimò at NYU

Casa Italiana Zerilli-Marimò, home of the Department of Italian Studies at New York University, was established thanks to a generous donation from the Baroness Mariuccia Zerilli-Marimò as a permanent and constructive homage to her husband, Guido Zerilli-Marimò. Casa Italiana was inaugurated in November 1990 with the mission to promote the deepening of knowledge of Italian civilization in the United States. Casa Italiana develops a rich and qualified program of extra-curricular cultural events ranging from Italian literature to political theory to figurative arts to the history of science. Begun by the first Director Professor Luigi Ballerini, the Casa began to collaborate with both public and private Italian centers and institutes that have the common objective of extending Americans’ understanding of Italian culture. In 1998, the direction of the Casa was passed to Professor Stefano Albertini whose leadership has allowed the Casa to become a privileged center for cultural discussion, making New York University one of the most important centers of European and international studies in the world.

About GAMeC - Galleria d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea di Bergamo

The Galleria d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea di Bergamo was opened in 1991.

A virtuous model of shared public-private management, the museum is located in front of the neoclassical building that houses the Accademia Carrara, in the spaces once occupied by the fifteenth-century Monastery of the Dimesse and Servite, the restoration of which was entrusted to Studio Gregotti Associati International in the late nineties.

Over the years, diversified planning has transformed it into a versatile space that draws many types of visitors with its targeted activities. With its 1,500 square meters of exhibition space, GAMeC welcomes contemporary art in all its forms: temporary personal and collective exhibitions by international artists, new projects by emerging artists, and an intense calendar of fringe activities designed for different types of users are among the strong points of the Gallery’s cultural policy.

It is a dynamic place for debate, analysis, and cultural integration, and one evolving daily.

Thanks to both donations and acquisitions, the Gallery has built its own collection, which currently includes modern authors like Wassily Kandinsky, Albert Marquet, Auguste Rodin; masters of the twentieth century like Giacomo Balla, Umberto Boccioni, Alberto Burri, Giorgio de Chirico, Jean Fautrier, Lucio Fontana, Hans Hartung, Giacomo Manzù, Giorgio Morandi, and Mario Sironi, as well as contemporary works of art by Cory Arcangel, Gabriele Basilico, Maurizio Cattelan, Enzo Cucchi, Latifa Echakhch, Pino Pascali, and Sislej Xhafa.

GAMeC is a supporter and founding member of the association AMACI – Associazione dei Musei d’Arte Contemporanea Italiani, and works actively with contemporary art museums and centers both in Italy and abroad.

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