Davide Sgambaro

Dear all,

I wanted to take advantage of this slow mailing list (which has since shrunk to an “annual email”) to thank all the people who have supported my research this year, to the colleagues with whom one is able to freely converse, and to all those who go out of their way not to be distracted.

Although I am approaching 35 years old (a big bogeyman for artists in a precarious conditions) I had a super 2022.
After the acquisition of Fondazione CRT per l’Arte (for GAM Torino and Castello di Rivoli) during ARTISSIMA in 2021, I was, fortunately, able to catch up with the appointments suspended due to the pandemic.

I have never had such a busy, somewhat abnormal schedule with many personal crises due to the weight of hyper-exposure, things that I still cannot easily get over.
Between the end of 2021 and the beginning of 2022, I worked with the Italian Cultural Institute in Cologne where my installation “I push a finger into my eyes (kiss, kick, kiss) #1” was exhibited thanks to the collaboration with the MAMbo Museum in Bologna and the director Lorenzo Balbi with whom (due to the wake of German red zones) we made a video interview (which you can find HERE) to conclude the Cantica21 project called by the Ministry of Culture and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Subsequently, we managed to catch up with my first solo exhibition in London which was to be dated in 2020, “Feeling fractional” took place thanks to the professionalism of Virginia Simonazzi curator, advisor, and friend. London was one of the best experiences I have had so far and I thank a lot for the support Mauro Mattei, Gianna T, and Giorgio Del Buono as well as Isabella Paghera and Giulia Vandelli for our follow-ups in the past years. After London there was my first solo show in Paris at the Gallery with “Nope!”, Galerie Alberta Pane allowed me to exhibit the second “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do” (2/5) and make an ad hoc production for the occasion. At this juncture, I had the pleasure of working on the critical text with Ilaria Gianni, which can be viewed HERE.
(And yes, I stole the title from Jordan Peele’s latest film which at the time had yet to be released and which, if you haven’t seen, I highly recommend doing so. HERE trailer.)
In conjunction with the Paris exhibition, I was fortunate enough to work with LOCALEDUE in Bologna at Gelateria Sogni di Ghiaccio during ArtCity Bologna and begin work in residence SUPERBLAST II at Manifattura Tabacchi, Florence. Both opportunities led me to make the freshest series titled “Too much and not the mood” and “FENOMENO.” The return exhibition titled “in the land of the last things” was later turned into a publication published by NERO Editions (BUY HERE) in which, in my case, the images of the works were accompanied by a text by Ivan Carozzi who was editor-in-chief of Linus and works as an author for TV. He has written for several newspapers and periodicals. He is the author of Figli delle stelle (Baldini e Castoldi, 2014), Macao (Feltrinelli digital, 2012), Teneri violenti (Einaudi Stile Libero, 2016) and L’età della tigre (Il Saggiatore, 2019), whom I embrace and thanks for their generosity.
Last but not least, she inaugurated in Padua on Corso del Popolo the permanent public work “Don’t Sleep.” A site-specific installation that was commissioned from me in 2021 by the Contemporanea Padova project and which we finally managed to bring to completion.
I have not mentioned in all this the group exhibitions that have been realized in the meantime, but it is already a lot if you have read the first 5 lines of this email…. ❤

Wishing myself a new year with as much work as this year, I embrace you and hope to meet you in person soon even though I’m re-reading Mark Fisher, and as Vanoni used to say “I don’t know if I’ll make it to Christmas.”

Happy end of the year and kisses to all!