Marcello plays with his world at his pace and over periods of time with innocent and pure atonement taking you into a real and yet fantastic world. Marcello poetically represents his view in simple and powerful motions describing life as it unfolds under his eyes. Each individual work from the early years to now has a unique touch of irony, sexiness and intensity that make the project an emotional journey in a man’s mind.

The series of photographs portrays men from Peru and Ecuador disguised with clerical dresses. Their posing in three-quarter profile, the chromatic choice of black-on-black and the psychological aspects suggested by their gaze recall the portraits by Antonello da Messina as well as Flemish paintings. While the men’s dresses allude to the obsessive religious feeling of South- American people, the portrayed men have a disturbing gaze, reminding of serial killers

WAM: Obsessive religious feelings, serial killers, how the pop singer Madonna has influenced your vision in this work?

Marcello Maoloberti:

I like the way Madonna taught all of us the importance of being an idol, also Antonella Rettore, the Madonna of the italian suburbs was an avantguard model, for the look, the spirit the colours and the presence on the stage. All the 80's were like feeling to be at the right place at the right time, everything was celebrated with this strong faith in the immediate present, we were always thrilled and at the same time feeling in danger. In those years there was still the ghost of the Terrorism of Brigate Rosse. I'm also fascinated by the question of faith, the way in South America, maybe more than in other places in the world, there's a great religious believing, stronger than love and death.

 

The photograph immortalizes Marcello Maloberti hanging on the road sign marking the entrance to Casalpusterlengo, the artist’s home town. In the act of physical resistance, the artist simulates a constant precariousness and his devotion to precise socio-cultural roots. In the photograph, the two-dimensionality of the road sign juxtaposes to the surrounding bucolic land- scape. The unreal image evokes a profane fall from heaven.

WAM: Is there a deep wish to escape your hometown in this ironic hanging on the road sign?

MM: Yes, I'm like falled from the above, an unexpected blitz. We can say that while I'm hanging on that sign, I'm striving to keep my roots while I'm at the same time projected to an escape. These two directions create the space for the experience of the work of art, belonging to and at the same time far away from it.

 

A group of 15 people stand in a line and hold 15 porcelain tigers in the air. After one minute they all simultaneously let the tiger fall and crash on the hall floor. It is a shocking action that plays with the contrasting ideas of fiction and reality, natural and artificial, exotic and terror. In a small room, an animated fridge with three big holes moves in the space like a whacky domestic nightmare. In the hall entrance a kid cuts hundreds of paper knives from magazines until the room becomes a deep lake of blades.

WAM: is the act of crashing a mean to kick out something you dislike? Is it a gesture to express your dislikes in the fiction and in the artificial, and the domestic castrating imagery of your childhood ?

 

MM: My experience of the domestic dimension has always been disquieting, since one of my first works with my grandma under the kitchen table. that's because i need to question the space of the safe place, of the nest, but always in ironic and light way. Talking about the smashing tigers, it's about the inevitable consequence of matter that needs to be transformed. The tigers are pieces of a low-culture exotic imagery, fragments of articial desire, and a quick dose of violence it's a way to change the atmosphere in an immediate space of time.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

At the Raffaella Cortese Gallery in Milan a continuous collective situation created a narration device ordered by unpredictability. Tagadà emerges from the overlapping of different languages; it is the sum of varied situations that come to life contemporaneously in the absence of a stage and of a unique point of view. The exhibition originates from a multiform dialog between objects: the porcelain Tiger, the checked table cloth, the magazine cuttings, the whirling lights, the safety pins, melons and pineapples; while a child, wearing a crash helmet covered in white shells, obsessively rides a motorbike through the exhibition space. The multiple images and the myriads of perceptive stimuli melt in the sound space expressly composed by Igor Muroni. The simultaneity of these events spreads out an involving energy in form of chromatic and kinetic disorder. Tagadà is the name of a merry-go-round making very dizzy, very popular in the nineties.

WAM: is the chaotic setting of this work indicating your disgust for the reality around you, you could not help to shape?

MM: I won't talk about disgust, I'm more interested in the exasperated vitality that each fragment of reality brings in itself, like Ninetto in many Pasolini's movies. Tagada it's like a vertigo, it's the name of a carousel, wich destibilize, taking the self out of control, but in a way more authentic and alive than any other moment.

A group of teenagers occupies the entrance to the exhibition space. A young boy runs and jumps surrounded by other teenagers that throw at their feet a constant rain of bangers. The explosions and the light trails burst into the suspended atmosphere of the arty night event. Notwithstanding the lightness of the comic-like inspiration, the work successfully transforms an every- day gesture of game-surprise-fear into the repetition of an art gesture

WAM: what chaos and explosions represent in your mind as a contemporary man?

The chaos are the answers and the explosions are the questions. Is this the last explosion? Boom.

MARCELLO MALOBERTI

Born Codogno (Lodi) nel 1966, live and work in Milano.

Obsessive. Obsessed. Serious. Good, or at least as so he would like to be perceived and loved. In fact evil. Obsessed by performance. At any cost. He doesn’t give a fuck about the rest. Indians, old ladies: pure plastic material for his exhibitionist purposes. Marcello holds out. As a Viking convinced of having discovered America but who in the end was only interested to go home. Non-sense. Joyously useless. Which in the end is what fascinates about performances, and of his ones in particular. His being out of the system unmissable and without value. Then there is the cult of the physique, his one and the male body in general. We desperately try to interpret something which is apparently daily or homely, but which doesn’t belong to anybody. Because in the end it is artistic, whatever this may mean today. And belongs to a happy few. Because it’s performance in the sense of ready made behaviours. But also performance as a last attempt of remaining tight to the improbable. But with feet well down on the ground. Aware of the rhetoric. Aware that the only thing that it can witness is not the other’s pain, but only oneself personal one. During a performance it is as if we were always on hold. Maybe we are still waiting something from performances in general. And it’s where we have to learn, by Marcello Maloberti above all. There is nothing that will happen and nothing to wait. This is the point. Learning to take with joy what it seems to be just a moment before, but which instead is not and will not be anymore. Marcello! Marcello! (Testo di Carlo Antonelli e Andrea Lissoni)

 

 

2010 Die Schmetterlinge essen die Bananen (Le farfalle mangiano le banane), Performance a cura / curated by Sabine Folie. Fondazione delle Generali / Generali Foundation, Wien*

2009 Die Schmetterlinge essen die Bananen (Le farfalle mangiano le banane), a cura di/curated by Lelio Aiello, Xing, nell’ambito di/part of déjà.vu 3° edizione, Raum, Bologna

Ghiaccio, a cura di/curated by Pietro Gaglianò; Teatro Studio, Scandicci, Firenze Raptus, a cura di/curated by Alessandro Rabottini, GAMeC Galleria d’Arte Moderna e

Contemporanea, Bergamo* 2007 Tagadà, Galleria Raffaella Cortese, Milano; testi di/texts by Andrea Lissoni, Carlo Antonelli

Circus, a cura di/curated by Francesca Pasini; Galleria Francesco Pantaleone, Palermo

2006 Kasalpusterlengo, a cura di/curated by Daria Filardo; Fondazione Lanfranco Baldi, Pelago (FI)

Set, a cura di/curated by Elisa Fulco, Teresa Maranzano; Atelier Adriano e Michele, Centro Fatebenefratelli, San Colombano al Lambro (MI)*

2005 a cura di/curated by Sergio Risaliti; Quarter – Centro Produzione Arte, Firenze

2004 Citying, a cura di/curated by Riccardo Caldura, Mara Ambrožč; Piazza Condominio Circus, Chirignago, Venezia*

Galleria Raffaella Cortese, Milano* Special Project, Corso Buenos Aires 14, Milano*

2003 a cura di/curated by Agnes Kolhmeyer; Kunstverein Ludwigsburg, Ludwigsburg, D* Galleria S.A.L.E.S., Roma*

2002 Quaggiù, a cura di/curated by Dede Auregli; Spazio Aperto, Galleria d’Arte Moderna, Bologna*

All’incirca alla vita. All'incirca alla caviglia, Galleria Raffaella Cortese, Milano 2001 Galleria Luigi Franco Arte Contemporanea, Torino* 1999 Galleria Raffaella Cortese, Milano 1998 Sotto pelle e altre storie, Galleria Neon, Bologna 1993 Cupola, Galleria Placentia Arte, Piacenza 1992 La vertigine della signora Emilia, Galleria Valeria Belvedere, Milano*

 

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2011 Sega Lega; Galleria Zero e Galleria Giò Marconi, Milano Dogodek/ The Event,The 29th Biennial of Graphic Arts, a cura di/curated by Beti Žerovc;

Moderna Galerija/Museum of Modern Art, Ljubliana* Nuit Blanche, a cura di/curated by Pierre Bal Blanc e/and Luca Cerizza, in collaborazione

con/in collaboration with CAC Bretigny; Arénes De Montmartre, Paris

2010 Aware: Art Fashion Identity, a cura di/curated by Gabi Scardi, Lucy Orta; GSK Contemporary, Royal Academy of Arts, London*

1/2/3/4/5 acrobazie, a cura di/curated by Elisa Fulco, Antonella Massari; Atelier di pittura Ariano e Michele, San Colombano al Lambro, Milano*

Manimal, a cura di/curated by Andrea Sala; Kaleidoscope project space, Milano* Che cosa sono le nuvole, a cura di/curated by Ēric Mézil e Letizia Ragaglia; Museium,

Bolzano* Le mois Italien: La difference?, a cura di/curated by Vincent Verlè; Centre d'Art Bastille,

Grenoble Behind the Fourth Wall, fictitious lives-lived fictions, a cura di/curated by Ilse Lafer;

Generali Foundation, Wien*

2009 Performa 2009, a cura di/curated by RoseLee Goldberg, The Ants Sruggle on the Snow a cura di/curated by Barbara Casavecchia e Caroline Corbetta; Washington Square Park, New York.*

Living With... Galleria Raffaella Cortese, Milano

2008 Sguardo periferico e corpo collettivo, a cura di/curated by Corinne Diserens; Museion – Museum für moderne und zeitgenössische Kunst/Museo d'Arte Moderna e Contemporanea, Bozen/Bolzano* La sfida, a cura di/curated by Luca Cerizza, Giacinto Di Pietrantonio; nell’ambito di/part of MiArt, Rotonda della Besana, Milano

Incontemporanea numero due, a cura di/curated by Gabi Scardi, Triennale di Milano; su invito di/invited by Assab One Dopo la Sicilia, a cura di/curated by Marco Meneguzzo; Galleria Credito Siciliano, Acireale (CT)

2007 Pan Screening. Opere e documenti 2005-2007, a cura di/curated by Marina Vergiani; PAN Palazzo delle Arti, Napoli

2006 Girato a Palermo, a cura di/curated by Marcello Faletra, Ida Parlavecchio; Ex deposito Sant'Erasmo, Palermo*

La scelta della gente/The People’s Choice, a cura di/curated by Marco Scotini; Isola Art Center, Milano Ecce Uomo, a cura di/curated by Gemma De Angelis Testa, Sergio Risaliti; Spazio Oberdan, Milano*

2005 La Dolce Crisi. Fotografia Contemporanea in Italia, a cura di/curated by Francesco Bonami, Sara Cosulich Canarutto; Villa Manin – Centro d’Arte Contemporanea, Codroipo (UD)*

The Gesture, a cura di/curated by Sergio Risaliti, Marina Fokidis, Dafne Vitali; Quarter – Centro Produzione Arte, Firenze Donna Donne, a cura di/curated by Adelina von Fürstenberg; Palazzo Strozzi, Firenze Modern Times (volume 1), a cura di/curated by Maria Rosa Sossai; MAN Museo d’Arte Provincia di Nuoro, Nuoro

Padiglione Italia Out of Biennale, Trevi Flash Art Museum, Trevi (PG); su invito di/invited by Francesca Pasini* Minyonies, a cura di/curated by Giuliana Altea, Maria Luisa Frisa; Scuola elementare Sacro Cuore, Alghero (SS)

Light Lab. Cortocircuiti quotidiani, a cura di/curated by Letizia Ragaglia; Museion – Museum für moderne und zeitgenössische Kunst/Museo d'Arte Moderna e Contemporanea, Bozen/Bolzano* No Code. Italian Contemporary Art, a cura di/curated by Cecilia Castrati; Slovenská Národná Galéria, Bratislava, SL* domus-Circular, a cura di/curated by domus; Stadio San Siro, Milano Theorema, Collection Lambert, Avignon, FR* Femme/s, a cura di/curated by Adelina von Fürstenberg; Musée de Carouge, Genève, CH Radiodays, a cura di/curated by Francesco Bernardelli; de Appel, Amsterdam, NL

Incontemporanea,, a cura di/curated by Francesca pasini; PAC, Milano

2004 Video.it. Il gioco del corpo, a cura di/curated by Elena Volpato; L’Espace, Torino* Lo sguardo ostinato, a cura di/curated by Elio Grazioli; MAN Museo d’Arte Provincia di Nuoro, Nuoro Le mille e una notte, Stecca degli Artigiani, Milano Polvere d’arte, a cura di/curated by Elio Grazioli; Assab One, Milano Beuys don’t cry, ZERO..., Milano Your private sky, a cura di/curated by Xing; Festival Internazionale sullo Spettacolo Contemporaneo, Bologna On Air, a cura di/curated by Andrea Bruciati, Antonella Crippa; Galleria Comunale d’Arte Contemporanea, Monfalcone (GO)* Anteprima, XIV Quadriennale di Roma, Palazzo della Promotrice delle Belle Arti, Torino

2003 Assenze Presenze, Le Botanique – Centre Culturel de la Communauté Française Wallonie, Bruxelles, BE

Peripheries become the center, Prague Biennale 1, Národní Galerie v Praze, Praha, CZ* In Alto. Arte sui ponteggi, PAC Padiglione d’Arte Contemporanea, Milano Moltitudini - Solitudini, a cura di /curated by Sergio Risaliti; Museion – Museum für moderne und zeitgenössische Kunst/Museo d’arte moderna e contemporanea, Bozen/Bolzano*

Intervallo n. 1, a cura di/curated by Alessandro Rabottini; Vistamare, Pescara Ad'a area d'azione, a cura di/curated by Roberto Daolio; Rocca Sforzesca, Imola

2002 Italianamente, a cura di/curated by Caroline Corbetta; Uks galleri, Oslo, NO Next Art. 20 musei per l’arte di domani, Sala Murat, Bari e/and Fortino Sant’Antonio (BA)* Cherche l’Italie, a cura di/curated by Andrea Lissoni; Bateau Batofar, Paris, FR* Tensio, a cura di/curated by Andrea Bruciati; Galleria Comunale d’Arte Contemporanea, Monfalcone (GO) Ferrotel: stanze, passaggi e luoghi d’identità, Fuori Uso 2002, a cura di/curated by Teresa Macrì, Mario Codognato, Sandro Chia; Ex Albergo Ferrovieri, Pescara* Fragilités, Printemps de septembre, a cura di/curated by Marta Gili; Toulouse, FR* FullContact, a cura di/curated by Sergio Risaliti, Caroline Corbetta, Salvatore Lacagnina; Galleria Civica di Montevergini, Siracusa

Verso il futuro. Identità nell’arte italiana 1990-2002, a cura di/curated by Ludovico Pratesi, Costantino d’Orazio; Museo del Corso, Roma* The Horse Would Know, But the Horse Can’t Talk, mostra degli artisti selezionati per la terza edizione del Premio Querini Stampalia-Furla per l’Arte, a cura di/curated by Chiara Bertola; Palazzo Querini Stampalia, Venezia*

Video Lounge, a cura di/curated by Maria Rosa Sossai; Fondazione Adriano Olivetti, Roma

2001 My Opinion, a cura di/curated by Francesca Pasini; Palazzo Lanfranchi, Pisa* Espresso. Arte oggi in Italia, nell’ambito di/part of Boom!, a cura di/curated by Sergio Risaliti, Gianfranco Maraniello, Luca Cerizza; Manifattura Tabacchi, Firenze Adriatico. Le due sponde, a cura di/curated by Angela Vettese; LII Premio Michetti, Museo Michetti, Francavilla al Mare (CH)* Chairs in contemporary art, a cura di/curated by Agnes Kohlmeyer; Civici Musei del Castello, Udine Terraferma, a cura di/curated by Riccardo Caldura; Centro Culturale Candiani, Mestre (VE)* Short Stories, a cura di/curated by Roberto Pinto; Fabbrica del Vapore, Milano* The Overexcited Body, a cura di/curated by Adelina von Fürstenberg, Yorgos Tzirtzilakis; Velodromo Vigorelli e/and Palazzo Reale, Milano; SESC Pompéia, São Paulo, BR; Université, Genève, CH; Queens Museum, New York, USA*

2000 Quixotic Landscape, kjubh Kunstverein, Köln, D m2: Insensatezza, a cura di/curated by Luca Cerizza; Fondazione Teseco per l’Arte, Pisa Futurama. Arte in Italia 2000, a cura di/curated by Bruno Corà, Marco Meneguzzo, Raffaele Gavarro; Centro per l’Arte Contemporanea Luigi Pecci, Prato* Vedere voci, a cura di/curated by Giorgina Bertolino; Galleria Luigi Franco Arte Contemporanea, Torino* Museo-Entr’acte, a cura di/curated by Marco Scotini; Museo Marino Marini, Firenze 3nds: Milano, a cura di/curated by Gianfranco Maraniello; Salara, Bologna*

1999 Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed, Something Blue, a cura di/curated by Rita Selvaggio; Casa Masaccio, San Giovanni Valdarno (AR) Stranger Knocking, nell’ambito di/part of Signs of Life, sezione italiana a cura di/Italian section curated by Roberto Pinto, Jen Budney; Italian Pavilion, Melbourne International Biennial, Melbourne, AUS*

FWD>>UTZ, a cura di/curated by Michele Dantini; Palazzo delle Papesse – Centro Arte Contemporanea, Siena* Figurazione-Defigurazione, a cura di/curated by Letizia Ragaglia; Galleria Civica, Bozen/Bolzano*

Attraversamenti, a cura di/curated by Alessandra Galasso, Diego Grandi; nell’ambito di/part of Teatri 90, Teatro Litta, Milano*

1998 La coscienza luccicante, a cura di/curated by Maria Grazia Tolomeo, Paola Sega Serra Zanetti; Palazzo delle Esposizioni, Roma* Periscopio 1998, a cura di/curated by Paolo Campiglio, Angela Madesani, Francesco Tedeschi; Cascina Grande, Rozzano (MI)*

Fast Forward, rassegna video a cura di/curated by Giovanna Amadasi; Boston University, Boston, USA Subway, a cura di/curated by Roberto Pinto; stazioni della Metropolitana Milanese, Milano* Luoghi non comuni. Invideo, mostra internazionale di video d’arte e ricerca, Palazzo della Triennale, Milano*

1997 L’eredità?, a cura di/curated by Luca Cerizza; Casa Masaccio, San Giovanni Valdarno (AR) Art Like, a cura di/curated by Roberto Daolio; Ex Chiesa Santa Maria delle Croci, Ravenna* Generazione Media, Palazzo della Triennale, Milano*

 

PERFORMANCES

2011 Doppietta, Sega Lega, Galleria Zero e/and Galleria Giò Marconi, Milano Butterflies eat Bananas, Performance a cura di/curated by Beti Žerovc, 29th Biennial of

Graphic Arts, Ljubliana* Tarzan Noir, Performance a cura di/curated by Pierre Bal Blanc e/and Luca Cerizza, in

collaborazione con/in collaboration with CAC Bretigny, Nuit Blanche, Arénes De Mortmartre, Paris

2010 Die Schmetterlinge essen die Bananen (Le farfalle mangiano le banane), Performance a cura / curated by Sabine Folie. Fondazione delle Generali / Generali Foundation, Wien*

2010 Die Schmetterlinge essen die Bananen (Le farfalle mangiano le banane), Performance a cura / curated by Sabine Folie. Fondazione delle Generali / Generali Foundation, Wien*

2009 The Ants Struggle On The Snow, Performa 2009, Washington Square Park, New York* Raptus, a cura di/curated by Alessandro Rabottini, GAMeC Galleria d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea, Bergamo*

2008 Bang! Bang! Rotonda della Besana, Milano

2007 Tagadà, Galleria Raffaella Cortese, Milano La terra dei meloni, Villa Manin – Centro d’Arte Contemporanea, Codroipo (UD) La terra dei meloni, via Padova, Milano

2006 Set, Atelier Adriano e Michele, Centro Fatebenefratelli, San Colombano al Lambro (MI)

2005 Untitled, Spazio Oberdan, Milano Boys don’t cry, Alghero (SS)

Via col di lana 8, Stadio San Siro, Milano Un certo presentimento, Collection Lambert, Avignon, FR

2004 Le mille e una notte, Stecca degli Artigiani, Milano Un certo presentimento, ZERO..., Milano

2003 Fuori Campo, Transmec Group, Trucazzano (MI)* Un certo presentimento, Vistamare, Pescara Un certo presentimento, Museion – Museum für moderne und zeitgenössische Kunst/Museo d'Arte Moderna e Contemporanea, Bozen/Bolzano

2002 All’incirca alla vita, Bateau Batofar, Paris, FR Quaggiù, Spazio Aperto, Galleria d’Arte Moderna, Bologna All’incirca alla vita, Galleria Raffaella Cortese, Milano All’incirca alla caviglia, Galleria Raffaella Cortese, Milano

2001 La confidenza col sole, Università Luigi Bocconi, Milano

La neve non attacca, SESC Pompéia, São Paulo, BR

2000 Voci di corridoio, Fondazione Teseco per l’Arte, Pisa La distruzione di un mattino, Museo Marino Marini, Firenze Voglio che si sappia, Link, Bologna

1999 Sotto pelle e altre storie, Teatro Litta, Milano

* Mostra con catalogo/Exhibition catalog

 

VIDEOS

2011 Doppietta, performance Giò Marconi/Zero Milano, colore/video, color 3'13'' 2010 Die Schmetterlinge essen die Bananen, performance Generali Foundation Wien,

colore/video, color 2'51''

2009 Ti prendo e ti porto via, video installazione: uno scooter e una proiezioni video/video installation: one scooter and one projection; 3'41" The Ants Struggle on the Snow, Performa 09 Washington Square Park New York, colore/video: color; 4'46"

The Ants Struggle on the Snow, Performa 09 Chelsea New York, colore/video: color; 4'47" 2008 Via Padova 138, video: colore/video: color; 30'

Il Mare e la Superstizione dei Marinai, Porto Palermo, video: colore/video: color; 29'52''

2007 C.I.R.C.U.S. Palermo, video: colore/video: color; 11’ Tagadà, video installazione: 1 monitor al plasma/video installation: 1 plasma monitors; color; 1'22''

2006 Kasalpusterlengo, video installazione: un’automobile e 2 proiezioni video/video installation: one car and 2 projections

Ismael, video: colore/video: color; 7’13’’ Set, video: colore/video: color; 7’36’’

2004 Erre Enne, video installazione con Paola Bianchi: 2 video monitor al plasma/video installation with Paola Bianchi: 2 plasma monitors

C.I.R.C.U.S. Mestre, video: colore/video: color; 5'41''

2002 Quaggiù, video installazione: 3 monitor al plasma/video installation: 3 plasma monitors; 5’

2001 Alda, video: colore/video: color; 2’46”

2000 Le farfalle nello stomaco, video installazione: 3 proiezioni, colore /video installation: 3 projections, color; 2’

1999 Nessun rumore sulla pelle, video installazione: 4 monitor, colore /video installation: 4 monitors, color; 4’

1998 Nel respiro, video installazione: 5 monitor, b/n/video installation: 5 monitors, b/w; 4’30”

1997 Sotto pelle, video: colore/video: color; 13’40” Si dice, video: colore/video: color; 5’40”

1996 La coda dell’occhio, video: b/n e colore/video: b/w and color; 5’40” Luca a parole, video: b/n/video b/w; 1’50”

1994 Mario Collocchio, video: colore/video: color; 2’55”

 

SELECTED REVIEWS AND ARTICLES

Barbara Casavecchia in Rolling Stone, n.93 "Umanità da Preservare" luglio 2011 Francesco Spampinato in Kaleidoscope, issue 12 “Tips” fall 2011 Bartolomeo Pietromarchi in Reset "Azzannare la Realtà" maggio/giugno 2010 Sabine Folie in Kaleidoscope, issue 06 "Theater Without Theater" aprile/maggio 2010

S.Chiodi S.Menegoi, I.Gianni in Specchio+il mensile della stampa "ControBiennale" giugno A.Lissoni in Rolling Stone, n.65 "Estremistan del collage", marzo 2009 L.Barreca in Arte, n. 428, "La poesia della banalità", aprile 2009 D.Perra in GQ Italia, n.115 "Cos'è questo caos bellissimo?", aprile 2009

B.Casavecchia in Flash Art, n.275 "L'imitatore di voci", aprile-maggio 2009 E. Volpato in Arte e Critica, n. 55, giugno-agosto 2008

M. Tagliafierro in Combo, n. 2, 2008

M. Casati in Espoarte, n. 50, dicembre 2007-gennaio 2008 “L’oggetto mancante”, Special Press Project in Cross, n. 6, 2007 C. Corbetta in Vogue Italia, n. 688, dicembre 2007 G. Verzotti, recensione/review in artforum, XLVI, n. 4, dicembre2007 E. Fulco in Flash Art, n. 266, ottobre-novembre 2007

L. Cerizza in frieze, n. 102, October 2006 L. Pesapane, recensione/review in tema celeste, n. 117, settembre-ottobre 2006 M. Casati, recensione/review in Flash Art, n. 259, agosto-settembre 2006

A. Vignoli, “Un certo presentimento”, Made 05, n. 3, settembre 2005 F. Pasini, “Il filo rosso del mio padiglione”, Flash Art, n. 253, agosto-settembre 2005 F. Pasini, “Il padiglione di sabbia e nebbia”, Flash Art, n. 252, giugno-luglio 2005 C. Corbetta, “Marcello è uscito allo scoperto”, domus, n. 881, maggio 2005

F. Romeo, “Marcello Maloberti”, artforum, XLII, n. 4, dicembre 2004 L. Pignatti, “Marcello Maloberti”, Kult, novembre 2004 R. Ridolfi, “Marcello Maloberti, Joao Onofre, Hans Op De Beeck”, Flash Art, n. 248, ottobre-novembre 2004 M. Clementel, LOSINGTODAY. The Indie Music Magazine, ottobre 2004 E. Fulco, recensione in Flash Art, settembre-ottobre 2004 A. Crippa, recensione in tema celeste, n. 105, settembre-ottobre 2004 T. Macrì, “VistaMare, gli azzardi dell’arte”, Il Manifesto, 8 luglio 2004

G. Verzotti, “Marcello Maloberti”, tema celeste, novembre 2002 A. Pioselli, “Marcello Maloberti”, artforum, XLI, n. 2, ottobre 2002 A. Mancini, “Marcello Maloberti”, Flash Art, n. 234, giugno-luglio 2002

2011

Bartolomeo Pietromarchi, L'Italia in opera. La nostra identità attraverso le arti visive. ed. Bollati Boringhieri, (TO) 2011

Nevenka Šivavec, Beti Žerovc Dogodek/The Event, 29th Biennial of Graphic Arts, testo di/text by Beti Žerovc, ed. Mglc (Ljubliana) 2011

Roselee Goldberg, Performa 09 Back To Futurism, testo di/text by Barbara Casavecchia e/and Caroline Corbetta, ed. Performa (NY) 2011

Luca Cerizza, L'uccello e la piuma. La questione della leggerezza nell'arte italiana, ed. et al.

2010

E. Di Raddo, “Marcello Maloberti”, tema celeste, n. 92, estate 2002

2001 T. Conti, “Marcello Maloberti”, tema celeste, n. 85, maggio-giugno 2001 M. Arfiero, “Cronaca su lavori di giovani artisti”, Arte e Critica, n. 26/27, aprile-settembre 2001 M. Farronato, “Marcello Maloberti”, Arte e Critica, n. 25, gennaio-marzo 2001

2000 A. Berruti, “Marcello Maloberti”, Juliet, n. 95, novembre 2000-gennaio 2001

1999 G. Maraniello, “Marcello Maloberti”, Flash Art, n. 218, ottobre-novembre 1999 F. Bonazzoli, “Marcello Maloberti”, Corriere della sera, 26 maggio 1999 A. Galasso, “Appuntamento sul pianeta giovani”, Il Sole 24 Ore, 28 marzo 1999 L. Cerizza, “Marcello Maloberti”, Flash Art, febbraio-marzo 1999

R. Daolio, “Marcello Maloberti”, recensione Flash Art, n. 207 M. Dantini, “Undici interni di (giovane) arte italiana”, Ipso facto, n. 3, gennaio-aprile 1999 N. Cobolli Gigli, A. Fiz, “Vizi e virtù di un’autentica passione”, Arte, n. 305, gennaio 1999 C. Coronelli, “Marcello Maloberti. Storie di pelle”, Photo, n. 33, gennaio 1999

1996 A. Lissoni, recensione in Flash Art, n. 199, estate 1996

 

MONOGRAPHIC CATALOGS

2009 A.Rabottini, MARCELLO MALOBERTI RAPTUS, ed.Kaleidoscope (MI) 2009 A.Rabottini, M.Herbert, S.Folie, C.Corbetta, Marcello Maloberti, RAPTUS, ed.Damiani

(BO) 2009

2006 AA.VV., Acrobazie2 – Marcello Maloberti, Atelier Adriano e Michele, Centro Fatebenefratelli, San Colombano al Lambro (MI) 2006

2003 S. Campagnola, Fuori Campo. Marcello Maloberti, Transmec Group, Trucazzano (MI) 2003

2004 L. Cerizza, A. Kolhmeyer, Marcello Maloberti, Galleria Raffaella Cortese, Milano 2004

2002 D. Auregli, S. Risaliti, Quaggiù, Spazio Aperto, Galleria d’Arte Moderna, Bologna; edizione Pendragon, Bologna 2002

2001 L. Cerizza, A. Lissoni, G. Bertolino, Marcello Maloberti, Galleria Luigi Franco Arte Contemporanea, Torino 2001

 

OTHER CATALOGS

(MI) 2010 Gabriele Guercio, Anna Mattirolo Il confine evanescente, Arte italiana 1960-2010 testo

di/text by Stefano Chiodi, ed. Electa, (VE) 2010 Elisa Fulco, Antonella Massari 1/2/3/4/5 acrobazie, ed. Omina (Mi) 2010 Gabi Scardi, Lucy Orta Aware: Art Fashion Identity testi di/text by Gabi Scardi, ed.Damiani (BO) 2010 Patrizia Brusarosco, Milovan Farronato Souvenir d'Italie a nonprofit story testo di/text by Barbara Casavecchia, ed.Mousse Publishing, (Mi) 2010

Ilse Lafer, Sabine Folie Hinter deer Vierten Wand/Behind the Fourth Wall, ed. Generali Foundation, Wien 2010

Ēric Mézil, Letizia Ragaglia Che cosa sono le nuvole, opere dalla collezione Enea Righi, ed. Kaleidoscope (MI) 2010

Marinella Paderni La fotografia nell'arte contemporanea/Photography in contemporary art, ed.Johan&Levi, (Mi) 2010

2008 AA.VV., Sguardo periferico e corpo collettivo, Museion – Museum für moderne und zeitgenössische Kunst/Museo d'Arte Moderna e Contemporanea, Bozen/Bolzano, 2008

2007 F. Boehm, F. Hütte, C. Schicktanz, Deutsche Bank Collection Italy, Silvana Editoriale, Cinisello Balsamo (MI) 2007

2006 M. Faletra, I. Parlavecchio, Girato a Palermo, Ex deposito Sant'Erasmo, Palermo, Skira, Milano 2006

2005 G. Verzotti, Theorema, Collection Lambert, Avignon 2005 R. Caldura, M. Ambrožč Citying. Pratiche creative del fare città, Supernova, Venezia 2005

2002 M.Gili, Fragilités, Printemps de septembre, Toulouse 2002. M. Beccaria, intervista a Marcello Maloberti, in C. Bertola (a cura di/edited by), The Horse Would Know, But the Horse Can’t Talk, Fondazione Querini Stampalia, Venezia; Charta, Milano 2002. R. Daolio, “Marcello Maloberti”, in Verso il futuro. Identità nell’arte italiana 1990-2002, Museo del Corso, Roma; Charta, Milano 2002.

2001 R. Pinto (acura di/edited by), Short Stories, Fabbrica del Vapore, Milano; Comune di Milano, Milano 2001

A. von Fürstenberg, The Overexcited Body, Palazzo Reale, Milano; Art for the World, Genève 2001 F. Pasini, My Opinion, Fondazione Teseco per l’Arte, Pisa 2001 R. Caldura (a cura di/edited by), Terraferma, Palazzo Candiani, Mestre (VE); Charta, Milano 2001.

2000 B. Corà, R. Gavarro, M. Meneguzzo (a cura di/edited by), Futurama, Centro per l’Arte Contemporanea Luigi Pecci, Prato 2000 G. Bertolino, C. Demaria, Vedere voci, Galleria Luigi Franco Arte Contemporanea, Torino 2000.

1999 R. Pinto, J. Budney, Stranger Knocking, Italian Pavillion, Center for Contemporary Photography, Melbourne; Comune di Milano, Milano 1999. R. Pinto, J. Budney, “Stranger Knocking”, in Signs of Life, Melbourne International Biennial, City of Melbourne, Melbourne 1999. M. Dantini, Numero Zero. FWD>>UTZ, Palazzo delle Papesse – Centro Arte Contemporanea,

Siena 1999 L. Ragaglia (a cura di/edited by), Figurazione-Defigurazione, Galleria Civica, Bozen/Bolzano 1999

1998 P. Zanetti, M. G. Tolomeo (a cura di/edited by), La coscienza luccicante, Palazzo delle Esposizioni, Roma; Gangemi Editore, Roma 1998 A. Madesani, P. Campiglio, F. Tedeschi, Periscopio 1998, Cascina Grande, Rozzano (MI); Edizioni Gabriele Mazzotta, Milano 1998 R. Pinto (a cura di/edited by), Subway, Milano; Comune di Milano, Milano 1998 AA.VV., Luoghi non comuni. Invideo 1998, Palazzo della Triennale, Milano; Charta, Milano 1998

1997 L. Vecere, 1995/1997 Valeria Belvedere, Galleria Valeria Belvedere, Milano 1997. AA.VV., Generazione media, Palazzo della Triennale, Milano; Comune di Milano, Milano 1997 AA.VV., Associazione NEON, Galleria Comunale d’Arte Contemporanea, Castel San Pietro Terme (BO) 1997 R. Daolio, Art Like, Ex chiesa Santa Maria delle Croci, Ravenna; Comune di Ravenna, Ravenna 1997

1994 M. R. Rubinstein, 1991/1993 Valeria Belvedere, Galleria Valeria Belvedere, 1994

 

OTHER PUBLICATIONS

2007 C. Birrozzi, M. Pugliese (a cura di/edited by), L'arte pubblica nello spazio urbano. Committenti artisti fruitori, Bruno Mondadori Editore, Milano 2007

2006 S. Chiodi, Una sensibile differenza, Fazi Editore, Roma 2006

Milano

2002 A. Madesani, Le icone fluttuanti, Bruno Mondadori Editore, Milano 2002. M. R. Sossai, Artevideo. Storie e culture del video d’artista in Italia, Silvana Editoriale, Cinisello Balsamo (MI) 2002.

2000 L. Cerizza, S. Chiodi, G. Maraniello (a cura di/edited by), Espresso. Arte oggi in Italia, Electa, Milano 2000.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

WAM: Aidan, we think that your work has an important role in the ongoing discussion on modernity. Your investigation on gender themes in the context of Islam trigger many important questions that relates to many. Also we think that, this investigation can be made to other religions as well. The gender theme is a crucial theme in the development of humanity and modernity. Many contemporary artist shave brought up themes related to democracy, equality and humanism. Many contemporary artists have clearly challenged political and religious institutions making headlines of newspaper around the world. We believe you fit perfectly in the scenario of those young revolutionary artists that have decided to make a difference in society, with their work and activity. In your personal and artistic carrier when did you decided to embark through this path? When and what made you decide to develop the gender / Islamic theme?

Aidan Salakhova: At the end of the 90s, and early 2000s. First of all, it was my video projection on painting, «Sleeping beauty», that showed a woman in eastern dress. Then, I made the more outspoken series of drawings, "Persian Miniatures". It started as a private diary, a sort of unconscious sketches. Gallery owner Volker Diehl happened to see my album opened and was surprised why I didn’t show these sketches to anyone. The Habibi exhibition was under way – a series of photographs, combining classical elements and an Orientalist Eros. So, I decided to show "Persian Miniatures" with these photos.

WAM: What had inspired you to create these miniatures?

AS: At first, I made ​​these miniatures colorful, bright and more erotic. And it looked like the series of paintings, "I love myself." But I decided to transform it when I saw news report about the Nord-Ost terror siege in Moscow. I was completely blown away by the unusual beautiful eyes and shivering hands of suicide bombers holding bombs. This impression is changed visually in the "Persian Miniatures" from color to monochrome images. I wondered Why, What for?

WAM: How did the theme of eroticism appear in this series?

AS: The hands of girls were touching the bomb’s wires. It was a strange effect. Nerves, and at the same time sexy hand movements. I've always been interested in such duality.

WAM: Do you think religion also has a duality?

AS: In religion this fact always makes me embarrassed. Do you know Mohammed’s Satanic Verses? He wanted to introduce Islam and to gain the confidence of the Quraysh tribe, who were praying to three of Allah's Daughters called Al-Lat, Al-Uzza, and Manat. The Prophet said they are highly respected Goddesses and their intercession is accepted with approval. He wanted Quraysh to embrace the religion of Islam. Then an angel came to the Messenger and said, ``Muhammad, what have you done? You have recited to the people that which I did not bring to you from God, and you have said that which was not said to you. Allah is very merciful to you and makes no reckoning of your mistake. Satan had cast words into your recitation. Allah erases these words”. So this is the famous incident which Christians have titled as the satanic revelations. Now we have the same things. I don’t now what about Christianity, but The Virgin Mary… she also gave birth later.

WAM: Is it possible to change this situation? Do you change it via your creativity?

AS: Anyway, only a few people can understand that. For example, The Black Stone of Kaaba is the feminine symbolism of Al-Lat goddess. Why do you think I put the Goddess in front of the black stone at the Venice Biennale? She faces her femininity.

WAM: What was the reason of taking out your work from pavilion Azerbaijan at Biennale in Venice?

AS: I was accused of giving a vaginal shape to a black stone. But this form was invented long ago. I created this stone using the proportion of the gold plate that in the Tut-Kapi museum, but I made it more oblong. It was my interpretation of the museum’s gold sarcophagus. The only liberty I allowed myself was turning it into a tear emerging from all the prayers and sufferings. This combines with the tears which are above on the Wailing Wall. The Ministry of Cultural Affairs was troubled. They saw the country's identity crisis in this diptych. (smiling). Azerbaijan has a secular state and an exposition supported by the state should not start with a woman in a black veil. But then they were scared that Islamic fundamentalists would be against the fact that I did the vaginal form. After I had to move this work to the Italian pavilion and there have been no protests.

WAM: What was your experience at Venice Biennale?

AS: I was confused by this scandal. I would greatly prefer journalists to write about my work not about this scandal. Many people congratulated me on my PR success. But it was not my goal. To be honest, most of all I was upset over the fact that I couldn’t see my sculpture for a week. The point is that the sculpture was made in Carara. I was visiting it once per month, but I have not able to exhibit it finished and polished.

WAM: Before the scandal at the Venice Biennale, do you ever receive negative comments about your works?

AS: Yes, in 2003. I presented "Kaaba," which is a video installation in XL gallery in Moscow. Russian Orthodox groups protested. They wrote to mosques saying this installation discredits Islam. I was invited to the mosque and fortunately had the chance to explain the meaning of this work. Chief mufti of Russia, Ravvil Gayammetdinov, visited my exhibition. After that he answered the protestors in a very interesting way, "Any interpretation of Islamic culture brings an interest in Islamic culture". I have the greatest respect to the religious aspects in my work. This is something sacred and spiritual, about love and faith. There is no intention to discredit at all. The purdah (veil) is not the most important thing in my work. It could be a nun garb also. The brevity of this image is important. The nice visual images expresses much, like a specific language. This is not just about eastern woman. This is about woman in general. Try to get into the veil! You’ll feel free. For European people it is difficult to understand how they wear this dress. Europeans think that women in veil are unhappy and deprived of its rights. But when you put on the veil, you find a strong feeling of freedom within, you can close yourself. It makes you stagger. This is internal freedom. You can look as you want, you can be dressed as you want. This anonymonity gives you inner freedom in particular. In general, all these are works about it! The same duality: an external closed nature and a spiritual openness.

WAM: Have you ever tried to wear the veil?

AS : Yes of course. It's very beautiful. Without the veil you are going out wearing a mask of sadness or joy; do you understand me? Wearing the veil is definitely another thing, you may play just with a look, and no one will recognize you.

WAM: Where do you find inspiration? What moves you?

AS: Generally, it’s my first-hand experiences, but sometimes my fantasy. Yes, mostly, it is personal experiences, and sometimes fantasy. Some images appear and I am trying to bring them to life. But most of all my art is my personal feelings. With God’s help, I am trying to realize who I am, to realise the world is another step.

WAM: Do you worry about women’s status in society?

AS: I have some things to worry about. I never feel myself flawed as a woman, as a gallery owner and as a citizen. I always feel on a par with men. But community dictates its own terms about women’s position in society. This annoys me. We deserve better. Why again the black stone? Well, it is also a metaphor of women’s situation, how they are confined. But this is no gender issue. Men also find themselves in a social framework. I hate questions concerned on male and female themes: “How many men and women do you have in the gallery?”, “Why do you present women’s art as a priority”? For me, art has no gender, nationality, etc. It is located in another state, a state of the name of “Art”

WAM: Do you tend to explain your works?

AS: No. It’s difficult for me to give an interview. I don’t like to force my ideas on others. Viewers have a visual image already. Only this image can act on them different ways.

WAM: Why did you choose Islamic symbols?

AS: It's beautiful. Visually, it is very good to express the sense that I put in. I do like minarets. It’s a beautiful architectural structure, very masculine. I like to look at the minarets.

WAM: Who are the contemporary artists who inspires you and why?

AS: I really like Louise Bourgeois, Matthew Barney, Olaf Orealeasa. When you look at their exhibitions, works of art, you feel totally involved in their world.

WAM: How do you see the dialogue between tradition and modernity?

AS: I show classical traditions of painting in my works. In graphic arts it transforms into a modern language of course. I graduated art school and art university. I always use the classic things - composition, the golden ratio. I’m sure that the ability to sculpt and paint is very important for artist because many people have learned to think and speak, but are not quite savvy in terms of classical art. And you can see it in their works. It’s not enough to have just an idea. The artist should be able to draw, and orchestrate.

WAM: What are you working on now?

AS: Now I am working on a series of bas-reliefs. There will be 12. Five are ready. Now I am creating two big statues from these series. The first one I made three years ago was "Trinity"- three women sitting on a gold background. I didn’t know about the Satanic Verses then. But I began to think why I have all the time three women in my head, three statues of the trio. I started to dig to the roots. I do not know the Koran in principle. But when you start to read, you begin to understand and learn how it was.