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Piero Gilardi


Biography

Piero Gilardi (1942-2023)

He produced his first «nature-carpets» (tappeti-natura) using polyurethane foam, and showed than at the Sperone gallery (Turin) in 1966, then in 1967 at the Sonnabend gallery (Paris) and the Fischbach gallery (New York).


In 1968, he ceased producing artworks and embarked on a career as an art critic, becoming the correspondent for the magazine Flash Art. Travelling around Europe and the United States, he introduced Italy in the works of Richard Long, Eva Hesse, Jan Dibbets, and Bruce Nauman, and helped put on two major international shows: When Attitudes Become Form (Bern, 1969) and Op Losse Schroeven (Amsterdam, 1969), which both present the art tendencies of the moment (Arte Povera, Land Art, Antiform Art).

In 1969, start a lengthy activist and transcultural experience which aimed at theoretical analysis, and the "Arte Vita" (Art Life) conjunction. As a political militant and an organizer of young culture, he undertook different experiments involving collective creativity in urban and "worldwide" peripheral areas, in Nicaragua and in Indian reservations in the United States, as well as in Africa. He resumed his artistic activities in the 1980s, producing interactive installations which deal with our relation to nature and the world, offering visitors a chance to be part of the work. Those proposals sought in particular to raise awareness about ecological challenges, making use of the contribution of technology and science in the art world; with Piotr Kowalski and Claude Faure, he was the co-founder of the association Ars Tecnica in Paris in 1988. In 2003, he promoted the City of Turin's Park of Living Art project, which summed up all his experiences and experiments to do with the Nature-Culture dialectic. In 2012, his work was shown in a large travelling show (Castello di Rivoli, Turin; Van Abbe Museum, Eindhoven; Nottingham Contemporary Art, UK). In 2017, the MAXXI in Rome held a retrospective exhibition, Piero Gilardi. Nature Forever, showing the various aspects of his work.

His work is part of prestigious collections such as MoMA (New York), Centre Pompidou (Paris), FRAC (Basse-Normandie, Caen ; Poitou-Charentes, Angoulême) ; Artothèque (Nouvelle-Aquitaine, Limoges), Modern Art Gallery (Milan), Civic Gallery of Modern and Contemporary Art (Turin), Giorgio Morandi Foundation (Bologna), Ludwig Foundation (Vienna), MAMCO (Geneva), Moderna Museet (Stockholm), Centro per l'arte contemporanea Luigi Pecci (Prato), Museo Rufino Tamayo (Mexico City), Russian Museum (St. Petersburg).


Selected works

Dalie nell'orto, Piero Gilardi
Cachi maturi, Piero Gilardi
Rose Vandeane, Piero Gilardi
Bosco dei cervi, Piero Gilardi
Zuccaia, Piero Gilardi
Conchiglia spiaggiata, Piero Gilardi
Aporrhai, Piero Gilardi
Tucano in volo, Piero Gilardi
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Museum exhibitions

Dunkerque-Krefeld, Haus Lange, Kunstmuseen Krefeld, Krefeld, Germany

Dunkerque-Krefeld, Haus Lange, Kunstmuseen Krefeld, Krefeld, Germany

MAC/VAL, Vitry-sur-Seine, France

MAC/VAL, Vitry-sur-Seine, France

Parco Arte Vivente, Turin, Italy

Parco Arte Vivente, Turin, Italy

Parco Arte Vivente, Turin, Italy

Parco Arte Vivente, Turin, Italy

Parco Arte Vivente, Turin, Italy

Parco Arte Vivente, Turin, Italy

Hammer Museum, Los Angeles

Hammer Museum, Los Angeles

City of Livorno Museum, Italy

City of Livorno Museum, Italy

Magazzino Italian Art Foundation, New York

Magazzino Italian Art Foundation, New York

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Piero Gilardi -

Museum Without Borders Art–Design, cur. Katia Baudin, Dunkerque-Krefeld, Haus Lange, Kunstmuseen Krefeld, Krefeld, Germany, 2024

Piero Gilardi -

Humain Autonome : Déroutes, cur. Nicolas Surlapierre, Marianne Derrien, Sarah Ihler-Meyer et Salim Santa Lucia, Frank Lamy, MAC/VAL, Vitry-sur-Seine, France, 2024

Piero Gilardi -

Car CrashPiero Gilardi, Parco Arte Vivente, Turin, Italy, 2023

Piero Gilardi -

Car CrashPiero Gilardi, Parco Arte Vivente, Turin, Italy, 2023

Piero Gilardi -

Car CrashPiero Gilardi, Parco Arte Vivente, Turin, Italy, 2023

Piero Gilardi -

Lifes, Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, USA

Piero Gilardi -

PIERO GILARDI. Tutto ciò che è, è nella natura, City of Livorno Museum, Italy

Piero Gilardi -

Gilardi: Tappeto-Natura, Magazzino Italian Art Foundation, New York, USA

Piero Gilardi -

Collection MAMCO, Geneva

Piero Gilardi -

Vita Nuova. Nouveaux enjeux de l'art en Italie, (cur. Valérie Da Costa), MAMAC, Nice, 2022, photo : Jean-Christophe Lett

Piero Gilardi -

Regards hors-champ et paysages, La Fab. / collection agnès b., Paris, France, 2020, photo: Rebecca Fanuele.

Piero Gilardi -

non si puo' essere incolti al punto da amare solo cose di alta qualità, (cur. Valérie Da Costa) Martina Simeti's gallery, Milano, Italy, 2020

Piero Gilardi -

Piero Gilardi & Joshua Petherick - Pastorale, Robert Heald, Wellington, UK, 2019

Piero Gilardi -

Piero Gilardi & Joshua Petherick - Pastorale, Robert Heald, Wellington, UK, 2019

Piero Gilardi -

Biopolitics, Frankfurt am Main, Berlin, Germany, 2018

Piero Gilardi -

Biopolitics, Frankfurt am Main, Berlin, Germany, 2018

Piero Gilardi -

Anren Biennale, view of World Wide Protest, Chengdu, China, 2018

Piero Gilardi -

Nature forever, MAXXI - Museo nazionale delle arti del XXI secolo, Rome, Italy, 2017

Piero Gilardi -

Nature forever, MAXXI - Museo nazionale delle arti del XXI secolo, Rome, Italy, 2017

Piero Gilardi -

Nature forever, MAXXI - Museo nazionale delle arti del XXI secolo, Rome, Italy, 2017

Piero Gilardi -

Nature forever, MAXXI - Museo nazionale delle arti del XXI secolo, Rome, Italy, 2017

Piero Gilardi -

Mostra Decorum, view of Tappeto Natura Angurie (1967), Shanghai, China, 2014

Piero Gilardi -

Piero Gilardi - Mezzo secolo di ecologia della mente, Guido Costa Projects, Torino, Italy, 2014

Piero Gilardi -

Piero Gilardi - Mezzo secolo di ecologia della mente, Guido Costa Projects, Torino, Italy, 2014

Piero Gilardi -

View of Work shop O.G.M. FREE, Milano, Italy, 2014

Piero Gilardi -

Collaborative Effects, Nottingham Contemporary, Nottingham, UK, 2013

Piero Gilardi -

Collaborative Effects, Nottingham Contemporary, Nottingham, UK, 2013

Piero Gilardi -

Collaborative effects 1963 - 1995, Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven, The Netherlands, 2012

Piero Gilardi -

Collaborative effects 1963 - 1995, Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven, The Netherlands, 2012

Piero Gilardi -

Collaborative effects 1963 - 1995, Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven, The Netherlands, 2012

Piero Gilardi -

Leçon de Choses, CCCOD - Centre de Création Contemporaine Olivier Debré, Tours, France, 2010

Piero Gilardi -

Leçon de Choses, CCCOD - Centre de Création Contemporaine Olivier Debré, Tours, France, 2010

Piero Gilardi -

Lyon Biennale, installation view of Inverosimile (1990), Lyon, France, 2003

Piero Gilardi -

45th Venice Biennale, Italy, 1993

Piero Gilardi -

Galleria Sperone, view of Inverosimile installation, New York, USA, 1991

Piero Gilardi -

Musée des Arts Décoratifs, view of Banano danzante, arbre electronique, Paris, France, 1989

Piero Gilardi -

Demonstration of the Teatro politico di strada against the G8 Summit in Venice, Italy, 1988

Piero Gilardi -

Ninfee, Cité des Sciences et de l'Industrie de La Villette, Paris, France, 1988

Piero Gilardi -

Performance during a demonstration against nuclear power, Caorso, Italy, 1987

Piero Gilardi -

Galerie Sonnabend, Paris, France, 1967

Piero Gilardi -

Ettore Sottsass Junior with Piero Gilardi


Videos

EXHIBITION

"Nature Forever", Piero Gilardi's exhibition at MAXXI, Rome - Part II

CONVERSATION

Conversation between Piero Gilardi and Valerie Da Costa in the exhibition "Dalla Natura all'Arte" at Galerie Michel Rein, Paris


Press

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Publications

Politiques de la végétation - pratiques artistiques, stratégies communautaires, agroécologie

Politiques de la végétation - pratiques artistiques, stratégies communautaires, agroécologie

Publisher: Eterotopia

2019

Piero Gilardi. La tempesta perfetta

Piero Gilardi. La tempesta perfetta

Publisher: Prearo

2018

Piero Gilardi. Nature forever

Piero Gilardi. Nature forever

Publisher: Quodlibet

2017

Piero Gilardi. La mia biopolitica

Piero Gilardi. La mia biopolitica

Publisher: Prearo

2016

Commons Art

Commons Art

Publisher: Prinp Editore

2014

Piero Gilardi

Piero Gilardi

Publisher: JRP|Editions

2012

Piero Gilardi - Not for Sale

Piero Gilardi - Not for Sale

Publisher: les presses du réel

2003


Portfolio