Altri Venti – Ostro – Altri Venti – Ostro is a project by artist Bruna Esposito promoted by the Cultural Association Mantellate – STUDIO STEFANIA MISCETTI and winner of the 9th edition of Italian Council 2020, program by the Directorate General for Contemporary Creativity of the Italian Ministry of Culture.

Project

Altri Venti – Ostro is the project by Bruna Esposito selected among the winners of the 9th edition of Italian Council 2020 – a program to promote Italian contemporary art in the world by the Directorate General for Contemporary Creativity of the Italian Ministry of Culture. It will be realized in collaboration with several partners, as: Magazzino Italian Art, New York (USA), UNTREF, Buenos Aires (Argentina), Italian Institute of Culture of Lisbon (Portugal), Center for Contemporary Art Luigi Pecci, Prato (Italy); and with the support of Tools for Culture. International promotion will follow an itinerary of exhibitions and talks ending in Spring 2022 with the acquisition of the artwork by Centro Pecci.

Ostro is the first of several variations on a theme designed to evoke the warm winds of the Mediterranean, such as the libeccio, sirocco, and grecale. The installation consists of a gazebo made of natural materials such as bamboo canes and rope: the welcoming space is warmed by the breeze created by a solar-powered ceiling fan, and also features several ship propellers (a recurring motif in Esposito’s work).

The work is borne out of a synergy of various areas of research, bringing to life the artist’s vision – and increasingly explicit conviction – that only to eliminate the distances between people and the tools used to improve the standard of living, we can image a radical change of direction in favor of a more ecological approach. In this way, we will stop the excessive use of consumer goods, as for example the condition air.

The work is presented as a device aiming to reinvigorate the space, imbuing it with new, possible relationships, reflections, and meanings. At a time when the subject of “meeting” is as topical as ever, the artist offers us a space to rest, a break that becomes an encounter. Ostro is a political and poetic exhortation: an invitation to take stock of the impact of our actions and consider the inevitability of other choices, as well as the power of simplicity; it is an ode to ancient, frugal alternatives.

Altri Venti – Ostro was shown at STUDIO STEFANIA MISCETTI in Rome. On the occasion of the exhibition, the book Altri Venti was published, featuring contributions by the artist, Benedetta Casini, Arkfactory.

Itinerary of exhibitions and talks:

Magazzino Italian Art, New York (USA) – May / September 2021

Bienalsur, Buenos Aires (Argentina) – October / January 2022, curated by Benedetta Casini

Italian Institute of Culture of Lisbon (Portugal) – Spring 2022

Center for Contemporary Art Luigi Pecci, Prato (Italy) – Spring 2022

Realized thanks to the support of:

Bruna Esposito

Bruna Esposito was born in Rome in 1960, where she lives and works. In 1979 she graduated from the IV Liceo Artistico in Rome, where she studied with Carmengloria Morales. In 1980 she attended the Faculty of Architecture at La Sapienza University, Rome, and later studied aerial dance in New York with Batya Zamir. In 1984 she was selected to take part in the Whitney Museum of American Art’s Independent Studio Program. In the late 1980s she moved to West Berlin, where she was awarded two scholarships by IBA Berlin in 1987 and 1988, for the project and feasibility study for Two public biotoilets. She has worked with artists, poets and musicians including Paola d’Agnese, Federico Fusi, David Hammons, Enzo De Leonibus, Stefano Maria Longobardi, Kristine Lovejoy, Progetto Neola, Annie Ratti, Andries van Rossem, Barbel Rothaar, Stalker-Osservatorio Nomade and Penelope Wehrli. Her work draws on numerous material and sensorial elements, such as our sense of smell and hearing, and tends to be made using simple materials and techniques. Her practice includes drawing, photography and collage, as well as sculpture, video, installations, live performance, artistic actions and site-specific projects.

Awards and recognition for her work: in 1999 she was awarded the Golden Lion at the 48 Venice Biennal, for the group female’s Italian Pavilion dAPPERTutto, as well as the Italian Studio Program PS1 Award in New York. In 2000 she was awarded the Premio per la giovane arte italiana, (the Young Italian Artist Prize) by the Centro nazionale per le Arti Contemporanee (National Centre for Contemporary Art) in Rome. In 2011 she was shortlisted for the Italian Chamber of Deputies Award for the 150th Anniversary of the Unification of Italy at the Palazzo Montecitorio in Rome; in 2021 the acquisition award by Premio Termoli.

International biennials / triennial / quadrennial include: XIII Havana Biennial, Cuba (2019); XIII International Biennial of Cuenca, Ecuador (2016); Prospect 1, New Orleans, USA (2008); Rome Quadrennial, Italy (1996 – 2008 – 2020/21); Gwangju Biennial, South Korea (2004); Istanbul Biennial, Turkey (2003); Venice Biennal, Italy (1999 – 2005); Sonsbeek9 in Arnhem, Netherlands (2001); Documenta X in Kassel, Germany (1997).

Solo exhibitions: Altri Venti – Ostro, Studio Stefania Miscetti, Roma, Italia; MIA, Cold Spring, New York, USA; Bienalsur, Buenos Aires, Argentina (2020-21); ¿Qué puede el humo hacerle al hierro?, MUNTREF, Buenos Aires, Argentina (2020); Perle Rare, Fondazione San Fedele, Milan, Italy (2019); Segnalibro. Quarta vetrina, Libreria delle donne di Milan, Italy; inconveniente, Fondazione Raccolta Cardinale Lercaro, Bologna, Italy; Bruna Esposito. Fiori nel mare, Colégio das Artes da Universidade de Coimbra, Portogallo; Bruna Esposito. e così sia…, MAXXI Museo Nazionale delle Arti del XXI secolo, Rome, Italy (2018); Allegro non troppo, Studio Stefania Miscetti, Rome, Italy (2017); Bruna Esposito. e così sia…, MAXXI Museo Nazionale delle Arti del XXI secolo, Rome, Italy (2017); davvero, FL Gallery, Milan, Italy (2016); inconveniente, FL Gallery, Milan, Italy (2014); Out of the Blue, Olnick Spanu Art Program, Garrison, Usa; Sassi Cantori, Museo d’Arte per Bambini, Santa Maria della Scala, Siena, Italy (2013); Dove è la vittoria, Inner room, Fusi&Fusi, Siena, Italy; In teca, Federico Luger Gallery, Milan, Italy (2011); Compro Oro, Edicola Notte, Rome, Italy (2007); Alla turca, FL Gallery, Milan, Italy (2006); Tulipano Nero, Z33 Hasselt, Belgium (2004); Passiflora, Museolaboratorio Ex Manifattura Tabacchi, Città Sant’Angelo, Italy (2003); Madre Patria, Castel Sant’Elmo, Naples, Italy (2002); Bruna Esposito, Museo d’Arte Contemporanea del Castello di Rivol, Italy (2002).

Selected group exhibitions: Classic Reloaded. Mediterranea, Bardo National Museum, Tunis, Tunisia; Villa Audi Mosaic Museum, Beirut, Lebanon; Villa des Arts, Rabat, Morocco (2018-19); Intuition, Palazzo Fortuny, Venice, Italy (2017); The Raft. Art is (not) Lonely, Mu.Zee, Ostend, Belgium (2017); L’altro sguardo. Fotografe italiane 1965-2015, Triennale di Milano, Milan, Italy (2016); ArtClub#5, I Giovedì della Villa, Académie de France at Rome, Villa Medici, Rome, Italy (2016); Start up. Quattro agenzie per la produzione del possibile, Fondazione Baruchello, Rome, Italy (2016); Lallazioni. Bruna Esposito e Annie Ratti, Auditorium Parco della musica, Rome, Italy (2015); Au rendez-vous des amis, international convention exhibit, Alberto Burri, birth centenary, Palazzo Vitelli a Santo Egidio, Città di Castello, Italy (2015).