MAGA in Gallarate showcases Davide Coltro, pioneer of technology in art

Until September 1, 2024, MA*GA in Gallarate (Varese, Italy) is hosting a solo exhibition by Davide Maria Coltro (Verona, 1967), a pioneer and master of technological experimentation, entitled Medial Abstraction. The exhibition, which is part of the programming of the Museum’s activities in the Post-Digital Era supported by the Culture Fund 2021 of the Ministry of Culture, is the new chapter in the research promoted by MA*GA on digital art.

The exhibition, curated by Alessandro Castiglioni and with the critical contribution of Elena Pontiggia, presents Davide Maria Coltro’s most recent production in which the medial language, characteristic of his most authentic figure, takes on new abstract and synthetic connotations, capable of highlighting the relationships between the fundamental elements of electronic painting, such as bits and pixels, in a code he himself defines as “painting beyond matter.”

The project stands in continuity with a broader area of analysis on abstract art, from the Concrete Art Movement to Analytical Painting, developed by MA*GA. In this area, Coltro interprets themes that characterize the present such as the complex dialogue between art and science, the new cognitive frontiers of Visual Studies and the redefinition of the relationship between art and spirituality. His medial painting, thanks to his deep knowledge of the digital world, creates surprising expressive possibilities that also involve neuroaesthetics. The exhibition consists of a series of new installations, specially designed and built for the museum spaces, in which the Medial Paintings are characterized by a constantly changing abstract generative flow designed by the artist remotely.

The rooms of MA*GA thus become a place of recollection in which the contemplation of the images in the making brings the public closer to a meditative and private dimension. This aspect will then acquire further significance within the city fabric of Gallarate: Coltro’s works will be broadcast in the city’s digital communication totems, re-proposing the concept of the “Civic Framework” that the artist had already presented in Shanghai, China, in 2006.

The exhibition will also be enriched by an educational program that will result in a permanent workshop in which Coltro will build opportunities for dialogue with audiences of all ages around the relationship between technological physicality and digital immateriality within his work.

Davide Maria Coltro (Verona, 1967) is an artist and researcher. National and international institutions that have hosted or acquired his works include: Mart in Rovereto, Galleria di Trento, GAM Galleria d’arte Moderna Achille Forti in Verona, GAM Verbania, Museum of Modern Art in Moscow, Centro Pecci in Prato, MARCA Museum in Catanzaro, Museo della Permanente in Milan, SPSI Art Museum in Shanghai; ZKM in Karlsruhe; theItalian Cultural Institute in San Francisco, Stadtgalerie in Kiel, ETAGI in St. Petersburg, GASC Villa Clerici in Milan, Künstlerhaus in Graz, Paolo IV Collection in Brescia, Fondazione Lercaro in Bologna. In 2011 he is featured in the Italian Pavilion at the 54th Venice Biennale. In 2023 VAF Fondazione / Stiftung dedicates a monograph to the artist’s complete oeuvre.

For all information, you can visit MA*GA’s official website.

MAGA in Gallarate showcases Davide Coltro, pioneer of technology in art

Warning: the translation into English of the original Italian article was created using automatic tools. We undertake to review all articles, but we do not guarantee the total absence of inaccuracies in the translation due to the program. You can find the original by clicking on the ITA button. If you find any mistake,please contact us.