Prometeo

Rossella Biscotti

The Undercover Man, still from the film, 16mm transfered on DVD, 30’, 2008.

Inside a 1940’s film-noir set the FBI agent Joseph Pistone a.k.a. Donnie Brasco is questioned about his undercover operation inside the American Mafia in the 1980s. His memory is tested in detail. Close ups of situations reveal the duel identity of concepts such as: personality, individual privacy and society. The film noir setting underlines that Joseph Pistone is belonging to an underworld that is not understood by the general public. What we can recognize is its cinematographic representation, the film-noir genre.

Reproduction of FBI surveillance photographs, red marker. The names of those pictured were added by Joseph D. Pistone, during one of the interviews made by the artist for the film The Undercover Man.

Partial view of the installation and the movie The Undercover Man, in the solo-show You have to be focused, prometeogallery, ex church of San Matteo, Lucca (IT), 2008.

Presente!, sculpture (metal, flash , slide, lenses), cm. 80 x 80 x 150.

Every 30 seconds it flashes the word Presente, italian word meaning present time, now or physically presence. The projection is almost imperceptible through human eyes.

Let me tell you something my friend, sculpture with audio piece (wood with polyurea coating, nagra recorder, actual FBI surveillance audio), 2008.

Dai tempo al tempo, video, 10’, 2008.

This video is made from a series of photographic images of mountains taken in the 20th century, by engineer Pietro Pensa as a tool to study landscape and its transformation. For this work sound artist Jacob Kirkegaard recorded ithe internal sound of the rocks. The sound, an unrecognizable close up of this place refers to the transformation at the present time.

Everything is somehow related to everything else, yet the whole is terrifyingly unstable, series of 10 photographs, 2008.

The sun shines in Kiev, film still, 16mm, 18', 2006

The film is based on the life of Vladimir Shevchenko, one of the first filmmakers who was allowed access to the “red zone” after the meltdown of the nuclear power plant in Chernobyl in 1986.

The sun shines in Kiev, slideprojection, 80 slides, 2006

The sun shines in Kiev,slideprojection, 80 slides, 2006

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The sun shines in Kiev,slideprojection, 80 slides, 2006

Mental archive, photograph (out of a serie of 12), 2006, together with Kevin van Braak

New Crossroads, video, 22', 2006, together with Kevin van Braak

Vuurgevecht op de Dam (Shooting on Dam), video, 10', 2005

L'inaugurazione dell'impero (Inauguration of the Empire), black marble, 65 x 30 x 20 cm., 2005

L'Italia e' una repubblica democratica fondata sul lavoro (Italy is a democratic republic founded on labour), video, 10', 2004.

Muctar, 3 channel videoinstallation, 10', 5', 5', 2003

Rossella Biscotti

1978 born in Molfetta (ba), Italy

Lives in Rotterdam, Netherlands

Grants

Awards
2009
Short listed Prix de Rome (NL)
2008
Emerging talents Award, Strozzina Foundation (IT)
Nominated Mies van der Rohe Stipendium Krefeld (D)
Golden Cow (1st Prize), Gstaadfilm, Gstaad (CH) for the movie The sun shines in Kiev
2007
The City of Geneva Grand Prize (1st Prize) at the 12th Biennial of Moving Images, Centre pour l’image contemporain, Geneva (CH) for the movie The sun shines in Kiev
2006
Premio NY, Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in collaboration with the Italian Academy and the Columbia University in New York, NY (USA).

Solo Exhibitions

2009
Le teste in oggetto, Nomas Foundation, Rome (IT)
2008
The Undercover Man, Wilfried Lentz, Rotterdam (NL)
You have to be focused, prometeogallery by Ida Pisani, former church of San Matteo, Lucca (IT)
New Crossroads, Galleria Studio la Citta’, Verona (IT) ) (together with Kevin van Braak)
Everything is somehow related with..., Piccolo Museion (Cubo Garutti), Bolzano / Bozen (IT)
2007
The sun shines in Kiev, Italian Academy at Columbia Univesity, New York, NY (USA)
Cities of Continuous lines, Fonds BKVB, Amsterdam (NL) (together with Kevin van Braak)
2005
L’Italia è una repubblica democratica fondata sul lavoro, Galerie Paolo Boselli, Brussels (BE)
2002
Rossella Biscotti, Galleria T293, Napoli (IT)

Group Exhibitions

2008
What is my name?, HISK, Gent (BE) curated by L. Bruni.
The experience of Atopia, Lokaal 01, Breda (NL) curated by D. Bedel.
Sarah’s Journey, section of the 7th Bulgarian Biennal of Contemporary Art, Varna, curated by L. Bruni.
Peripheral vision and collective body, Museion, Bolzano / Bozen (IT) curated by C. Dieserens.
Dai tempo al tempo, Palazzo Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, Guarene (IT) curated by P. Uran, F. Parry and J. del Pesco.
Cabinet of imagination, Netwerk, Aalst (BE) curated by L. Benedetti.
Interiors, Grusenmayer Art Gallery, Duerle (BE).
Architecture of survival, Sparwasse, Berlin (D) curated by Komplot.
2007
Looking for the Border, Fondazione Stelline, Milan (IT) curated by R. Pinto and F. di Nardo.
Looking for the Border, De Garage, Mechelen / Cultuurcentrum Strombeek (BE) curated by L. Lambrecht and K. Leomans.
Nessuna Paura (No Fear), Center for contemporary art Luigi Pecci, Prato (IT).
The exhibition you deserve, Cultural Center, Zagreb (Croatia), curated by Komplot.
L’evento immobile, Museo d’Arte Nuoro, Nuoro (IT).
Geografie, Vianuova Arte Contemporanea, Florence (IT) curated by L. Bruni
On the edge of vision, Victoria Memorial Hall, Calcutta / National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi / National Gallery of Modern Art, Mumbai (India).
2006
Sense and Sensitivity, TENT Rotterdam Center for the Arts, Rotterdam (NL)
Video_Report, Galleria D’Arte Moderna, Monfalcone (IT)
Video invitational, Viafarini, Milano (IT)
Beautiful nature, Galleria d’Arte Moderna, Castel San Pietro Terme (IT) curated by Synapser
I costruttori: il corpo del lavoro 1906-2006, Castel Sismondo, Rimini / Palazzo Belmonte-Riso, Palermo (IT)
2005
Il grande teatro del mediterraneo, Teatro Clitunno, Trevi (IT) curated by Trevi Flash Art Museum
Beograd nekad I sad, Prodajna Galerija, Belgrade (CS) curated by M. Stamenkovic and J. Van Woensel
Adam, Smart Project Space, Amsterdam (NL)
Padiglione Italia-Out of Biennale, Trevi Flash Art Museum, Trevi (IT) selected by B. Pietromarchi
Honey money - Premio Masay Art Factory, Assab one, Milano (IT)
2004
Conflitto e conflitti, Galleria d’Arte Moderna, Bologna (IT) curated by Synapser
Prototipi 03, Fondazione Adriano Olivetti, Roma (IT) curated by S. Chiodi and B. Pietromarchi

Projects

Site-specific projects
2008
Piccolo Museion, Museion, Bolzano/Bozen (IT)
Pietro Pensa’s archive, Esino Lario (IT)
2006
Museum de Paviljoens, Almere (NL)
New Crossroads, Cascoland / Public Eye, Cape town (South Africa)

Bibliography

A. Serino, Adam, Arte e Critica 44, October/December 2005, pp. 80
G. Massoni, Adam, Made 05, October 2005, pp. 100-101
K. Chandler, Adam, Amsterdam Times, 9 September 2005
B. Pietromarchi, Italiaci vizi e virtù, Flash Art 253, August/September 2005, pp. 72
C. Marfella, Dal fronte giovani, Flash Art 247, August/September 2004, pp. 80
R. Biscotti, Speciale Napoli, Flash Art 247, August/September 2004, pp.71
M. Altavilla, Interview-Rossella Biscotti, Around Photography 00, February/March 2004 pp. 26-28
P. Capata, Our Personal Vision, Arte e Critica 35/36, October/December 2003, pp. 34-35
C. Negherbon, Napoli piccola Russia, Urban 23, November 2003, pp. 17-19
P. Capata, Collaudi, www.exibart.com, September 2003
R. Biscotti, self portrait, Tema celeste 99, September 2003, pp. 78-79
M. Altavilla, Interview-Rossella Biscotti, www.exibart.com, January 2003
S. Barucco, Napoletanità degli artisti campani, Arte e Critica 33, January/March 2003, pp. 34
M. Izzolino, Creatività partenopea. Questioni di contesto, Arte e Critica 33, January/March 2003, pp. 33

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