Artist Statement
Riccardo Arena is a visual artist, researcher, and teacher. His practice is dedicated to the creation of visual and narrative environments that, combining theoretical and formal research, are conceived as cultural devices of imaginative knowledge.
Exploring heterogeneous disciplinary territories, his work emerges from the intertwining of phenomena and events distant in time and space, woven into a network of correlations that form the basis for complex narratives formalized through multiple languages and expressive modes. Driven by these tensions, over the years he has developed long-term projects in various countries, whose poetics, and contents are defined by a rhizomatic investigation constructed through travel experiences. These projects, consisting of layers of myths, scientific speculations, geographies, fictitious models, cosmogonies, and mirages of consciousness, open a field of vision where historical frameworks and cultural backgrounds dissolve, favoring an evocative dimension capable of revealing more intimate and universal components. During this process, the oscillation between rational methodology and intuitive action generates a series of cognitive movements that crystallize into mental diagrams, abstract cartographies, and gestural atlases—tools of orientation that unveil the very substance of the mental laboratory and provide the foundation for the creation of figurative, verbal, and spatial works that constitute the corpus of each project. Installations, films, visual reflections, narratives, seminars, workshops, and lectures configure an imaginative geography open to horizons in constant reformulation, contamination, and expansion, within the scope of a research endeavor aimed at experimenting with hybrid modes of expression and sharing across various contexts. After developing projects in China (The Fourfold Tree, 2006–2008), in Argentina (Dual Death Ellero and Visual Ecosystem, 2009–2012), in Russia (Vavilon, 2013–2017), and LuDD! – Topography of Light (2017–2020), based on the eponymous novel written by the artist following a series of journeys through Iran, Armenia, and Ethiopia, since 2022 he has been engaged in the Geranos project. The latter is the result of a research collaboration with Monte Verità, the Eranos Foundation, the Anthropological Museum of Mexico City, and the Warburg Institute in London. He is currently pursuing a Ph.D. program at the Brera Academy of Fine Arts. Riccardo Arena (1979) lives and works between Milan and La Spezia. He is currently a visiting professor at the National Film Academy of Amsterdam (AHK) and a Ph.D. candidate at the Brera Academy of Fine Arts. His work has been recently exhibited at: ICA - The Institute of Contemporary Art, Sofia; MUSEO ELISARION, Locarno; TRIESTE CONTEMPORANEA, Trieste; MONTE VERITÀ, Ascona; GALLERIA MILANO; MATERA EUROPEAN CAPITAL OF CULTURE 2019; MAMBO, Bologna; IIC Addis Ababa; MERKUROV MUSEUM, Gyumri; MUSEO MAXXI, Rome; IMMA MUSEUM, Dublin; IIC London; CENTRO PECCI, Prato; QUADRIENNALE D’ARTE, Rome; FONDAZIONE SANDRETTO RE REBAUDENGO, Turin; VIAFARINI, Milan; FURLA PRIZE, Palazzo Reale, Milan; MART, Rovereto; MAGA, Gallarate; MUSEO DEL NOVECENTO, Milan; PALAIS DE GLACE, Buenos Aires; 1918 ARTSPACE, Shanghai. He was a finalist for the PREMIO MAXXI 2016, winner of the LONG PLAY National Award - XXIV at MA*GA, and recipient of the First Prize at MANUALMENTE, Villa Panza, Varese. He has conducted workshops, seminars, and readings at: FONDAZIONE FELTRINELLI, Milan; ECOMUSEO DI NIGUARDA, Milan; MATERA EUROPEAN CAPITAL OF CULTURE 2019; MUSEO MAGA, Gallarate; P.I.A. Persistence Is All, Lecce; AAU - University of Fine Art and Design, Addis Ababa; TUMO Center for Creative Technologies, Yerevan; VIAFARINI/MIBACT, Milan. He has taught at the Brera Academy of Fine Arts and the Bologna Academy of Fine Arts. |
Cv
- CV- Download 2022: English
Portfolio
- Portfolio 2025 riccardo_arena_portfolio_ita_gen_2025.pdf
Recent News
August 2024
EX TEMPORE - SUPERPOSITION THREE Exhibition: Riccardo Arena / Emre Huner Aug 6, 2024 – Sep 2, 202 ICA-Sofia Gallery, Bulgary June 2024 QUADRANTIDI - Volcanic Attitude Festival Site-Specific Installation Volcano Island, Sicily March 2024 GERANOS Planomenon Dance - Movement II Solo Show 09/03 - 19/05/2024 Museo Elisarion, Minusio, Locarno CH February 2024 ANTROPOLOGY DAY | ANTI-ARCHIVE Workshop Netherland Film Academy | Amsterdam January 2024 THE FORM IS A STATEMENT Workshop Netherland Film Academy | Amsterdam October 2023 ANATOMY OF A VISION Workshop Netherland Film Academy | Amsterdam June 2023 VOLCANIC ATTITUDE Residency Vulcano Island, Sicily December 2022 ANATOMY OF A VISION Workshop Netherland Film Academy | Amsterdam November / December 2022 TEOMAMA Artist Talk Casa del Lago, UNAM, Mexico City ERROR | espacio de reflexión Residency / Exhibition Mexico City October 2022 MASTER CAMPUS THEATRE Workshop Dimitri School, Hochschule der Künste Bern (HKB), La Manufacture Lausanne, Zürcher Hochschule der Künste (ZHDK). Blenio (CH) Jan 2021 QW11 - Quarantine Workout I 1a restituzione Workshop in collaborazione con Standards e Mixitè https://www.standardstudio.it/it/quarantine-workout May 2020 AUTOPROGETTAZIONE Istruzioni d’artista - Galleria Milano http://www.autoprogettazione.com/portfolio/riccardo-arena/ November 2019 THE ISLAND - NETHERLANDS FILM ACADEMY Workshop on Philosophy of Images Amsterdam |
25th September 2019, h 18.30
GALLERIA MILANO Book Reading + Conferences Speakers: Lama Michel Tulku Rinpoche, Maria Tilde Bettetini, Roberto Pinto, Claudia D’Alonzo Moderator: Bertram Niessen In collaboration with: cheFare, Viafarini Milan September / October 2022 EFFEMERIDI Solo Exhibition Trieste Contemporanee, Trieste, ITALY May 2022 GERANOS. Choreography of a mental landscape - Movement I Solo Exhibition Fondazione Monte Verità, Ascona May 2022 HERE. BETWEEN NOT-YET AND NO-MORE Group Show Galleria Milano April / October 2021 HYPHAE - Dove le cose cadono e non ritornano più a se stesse Solo Exhibition + Public Program Galleria Milano I PRIMI A CROLLARE >>> Short Essay (Italiano) cheFAre - Platform for cultural transformation 16th September 2019 NETHERLANDS FILM ACADEMY Masterclass in conversation with Federico Sande Amsterdam 29th June - 5th August 2019 INVISIBLE PAVILLIONS - HYPOGAEUM WATER-CISTERNS OF VICECONTE PALACE Exhibition Matera Capital of Culture 2019 From 8 of June 2019 FILATURA DELL’ALBEDO Vol. I >>> Workshop per lo sviluppo di un libro d’artista con Giulia Brivio (Studio Boîte) Niguarda, Milan 04th June 2019, h 18.30 LIBRERIA BODONI / SPAZIO B Book Reading In conversation with: Massimo Minuti Turin 27th, 28th, 29th November 2019 THE ISLAND - NETHERLANDS FILM ACADEMY Workshop on Philosophy of Images 22th May 2019, h 18.30 PAV - Parco Arte Vivente Book Reading + Conferences Speakers: Giulia Brivio, Marco Enrico Giacomelli, Lorenzo De Rita, Davide Dal Sasso, Turin 8th May 2019, h 14.00 BRERA FINE ARTS ACADEMY Book Reading In conversation with: Lucrezia Cippitelli Milan 26th April 2019, h 19.00 KUNPEN LAMA GANGCHEN Book reading In conversation with: Lama Michel Rimpoche Albagnano, VB |