Super double for Gian Maria Tosatti: Italian Pavilion (only artist) and artistic director of the Quadriennale

Artist Gian Maria Tosatti (Rome, 1980) marks a historic double today: he has in fact been chosen as the sole artist for the Italian Pavilion at the Venice Biennale (the first time in history this has happened) but also as the next artistic director of the Rome Quadriennale.

The choice of Tosatti as sole artist for the Italian Pavilion for the 2022 Biennale, which will be curated by Eugenio Viola, had been in the air for some time, and was confirmed today to news agencies by Viola himself. No details about the project have yet been leaked, which will be revealed later. The real surprise of the day, however, is his appointment as artistic director of the Quadrennial.

In fact, the Board of Directors of Fondazione La Quadriennale di Roma, chaired by Umberto Croppi and composed of Lorenzo Micheli Gigotti, Fabio Mongelli, and Valentina Tanni, has appointed Gian Maria Tosatti as artistic director of the Quadriennale di Roma for the three-year period 2021-2024. Tosatti is thus the new head of cultural programming for the institution, whose mission is to promote contemporary Italian art.

His name was identified at the end of a selection process in which 43 candidates took part in response to a notice published last May. The nominations were reviewed by a commission appointed by the Foundation’s Board of Directors and composed, in addition to Umberto Croppi and General Director Ilaria Della Torre, of Valentina Tanni as an internal member and Laura Cherubini as an external member.

The choice of Gian Maria Tosatti, the foundation explains, took into account the characteristics of the challenges facing the institution over the next three years. A transitional period that lies between two editions of the Quadriennale d’arte (the last one concluded in July 2021 and the next one expected in 2025) and in a phase of planning for the future relocation of its headquarters, expected from the end of 2023, to the former Pontifical Clementine Arsenal.

“We are confident that, with Gian Maria Tosatti as Artistic Director, the Quadriennale will be able to shake up its programming and consolidate its role as a reference point for the promotion of contemporary Italian art,” says Umberto Croppi. “Calling an artist is a challenge, however, which finds confirmation in the most advanced international events and realizes the intention expressed at the beginning of my mandate, that of bringing artists back to the center of the institution.”

“This assignment, which came almost simultaneously with my designation for the Italian pavilion at the Venice Biennale, seems like the second movement of a single breath,” says Gian Maria Tosatti. “In my path, the commitment-sometimes exhausting, sometimes exhilarating-to stimulate the construction of solid and critical dialogues among artists has been a constant line of conduct. I never thought that a single page of art history could be written that was a history of solitudes. Art history is a symphony of confrontations, tight, open, enlightening. This I will keep in mind as I initiate an exhilarating prospect that comes back to strongly empower an artist.”

In November, the new programming will be presented, which will move from the guidelines established by the Foundation’s Board of Directors: a line of activities dedicated to research and the promotion of emerging art; training and professional development initiatives in the field of contemporary arts; initiatives aimed at the creation of stable collaborative relationships with similar institutions abroad; and communication, research and training initiatives related to the world of digital and network technologies.

As an artist, Gian Maria Tosatti has initiated projects such as long-term investigations into issues related to the concept of identity, both on a political and spiritual level(read our interview with Tosatti about his latest project here). Her work consists mainly of large site-specific installations conceived for entire buildings or urban areas. His practice often involves the communities connected to the places where the works take shape. Tosatti is also a journalist and writer. He contributes to Corriere della Sera and Opera Viva magazine. He writes essays on art and politics.

Super double for Gian Maria Tosatti: Italian Pavilion (only artist) and artistic director of the Quadriennale

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