Gian Maria Tosatti (Rome, 1980) is an Italian visual artist, journalist and essayist.
He trained artistically between Pontedera, Warsaw and Rome in the territory of performance. He lived in New York between 2009 and 2018. He currently lives in Naples. His projects are long investigations of precise topics related to the concept of identity, from political and spiritual perspectives. His work consists mainly of large site-specific installations, conceived for entire buildings or urban areas. His practice often involves the communities of the places for which the works are developed.
In 2014 Domus mentions his work My dreams, they'll never surrender (permanent intervention at Castel Sant'Elmo in Naples) among the world's top 10 exhibitions for that year. In 2015, the international magazine ArtReview listed him among the world's 30 most interesting artists of his generation (Future Greats). He worked for a year in the Calais Jungle making environmental interventions that are currently the only visible evidence of that city's existence.
His projects are usually long term investigations on specific topics related with the concept of identity, from the political to the spiritual standpoint. The resulting research is pervaded by a deep sense of history.
His works are mainly large scale site specific installations conceived for entire buildings or urban areas. His practice involves often the communities of the places where he works.
In 2014 the international magazine Domus declared his installation “My dreams, they’ll never surrender” among the ten best shows in the world for that year.
In 2015 ArtReview put him on the list of the 30 most interesting artists of his generation (Future Greats).
Since 2021 he is the artistic director of La Quadriennale di Roma, the Italian national institution for Research and Promotion of Italian Contemporary Art.
In 2022 he was the first artist in the history of the Venice Biennale to represent Italy alone in the national pavilion.
Tosatti is also a writer. He’s columnist for Corriere della Sera, Sole24Ore and the magazine Opera Viva and he is director of the institutional magazine Quaderni d’arte italiana. He wrote several essays about art and politics.
Since 2021 he has been artistic director of the Quadriennale di Roma.
In 2022 he is the only artist in the Italian Pavilion at the 59th Venice Biennale.
He has developed solo exhibitions and projects at CCS BARD's Hessel Museum (New York - 2014), MADRE museum, (Naples - 2016), Lower Manhattan Cultural Council (New York - 2011), A4 Arts Foundation (Cape Town - 2019), Manifesta 12 (Palermo-Catania, 2018), Homo Novus Festival (Riga - 2018) the Archaeological Museum of Salerno (Salerno - 2014), Fondazione Morra (Naples - 2013-2016), CIAC (Genazzano, Rome - 2009) and Galleria Lia Rumma (Naples, 2017). His work has been exhibited at the Galleria Nazionale (Rome - 2017, 2018), Petah Tikva Museum of Art (Petah Tikva - 2017), American Academy in Rome (Rome - 2013), Villa Croce Museum (Genoa - 2012), Palazzo delle Esposizioni (Rome - 2008), Chelsea Art Museum (New York - 2009), BJCEM (2014), Castelli Gallery (New York - 2019) and other national and international venues. As a curator, he has carried out a number of projects such as Reload - prototipo d'intervento urbano (Rome - 2011), a moment of investigation on the generation of artists and curators of the 21st century in the city of Rome (17 exhibitions and two international conferences) and the exhibition Nowhere - Now here - No we're at the A4 Arts Foundation (Cape Town - 2019).
‘The Other Side’ aims to express he concept of crossing over to the other side is experienced every night during sleep and dreams. From childhood, we learn that death is a mysterious and unknown place that separates life from this other realm. Our consciousness is limited, surrounded by an unconscious
On the second of December 2023, the director Sylvain Bellenger presented Gian Maria Tosatti’s work Damasa to the press and public in the Caravaggio Room on the second floor of the Museo del Real Bosco di Capodimonte. The installation has been acquired for the collection with the support of the
Untitled (Radical Objecthood) is an exhibition that explores the idea and meaning of sculpture today through a group of artists across generations and geographies, interlacing nonlinear narratives and reaffirming the centrality of the physical object in contemporary practice. Curated by Piero Tomassoni, the exhibition takes place in the garage of
Artist Gian Maria Tosatti will be engaged in his new work at the Italian Contemporary Art Center in Foligno. Opening April 22 is “Space #09 – I Remember,” a work that traverses a disorienting space dotted with mysterious lights, whose presence hints at many intimate meanings that induce the visitor
“What you see in front of you, is the past. You cannot see the future,” Tarik Yildrim said one evening over dinner. “The future is behind us.” The exhibition gathers artworks to think about time: vertical time of ideas passing from one generation to the next; from one place to
The exhibition ‘Non mi troverai. Due appuntamenti mancati con Gian Maria Tosatti” opens at the Mudima Foundation on Friday 17 February at 6 p.m.
