Filippo Berta. One by One | Italian Council 2019
4 April 2019
Still image from the video presentation of Filippo Berta's project One by One.
One by One is a project by the artist Filippo Berta, promoted by Nomas Foundation, winner of the 5th edition of Italian Council (2019), a competition conceived by the Directorate General of Contemporary Creativity and Urban Regeneration – an organism of the Italian Ministry of Heritage and Cultural Activities and Tourism, to promote Italian contemporary art in the world.
Filippo Berta’s artistic research shows the social tensions caused by the relationship between individuals and their belonging societies. The boundaries that define this dialectical condition, often conflictual and problematic, are the topic of his works. His attention to these social disharmonies translates into works characterized by the exaltation of small daily gestures, presented in such a way as to unmask the differences, tensions and oppositions. His works are mainly collective performances, often summarized in a single iconographic image and in essential videos.
The project One by One is based on the impossible attempt to count all the barbs of the state borders, which are defined by barbed wires (Slovenia, Croatia, Hungary, Serbia, Macedonia, Greece, Turkey, Korea, Mexico and the United States). This simple action will be done by people who live in those places, which will be video-recorded while they count aloud every single thorns. The aim of the project is to make the viewer reflect on those mental mechanisms based on the logic of confinement or exclusion, which make social relations difficult or even impossible, and establish ideological frontiers. The final result will be a video installation in which the video footage will be in relation to the voices of the people involved, immersing the viewer in a global chorus of different languages. The first step will be an exhibition at Nomas Foundation, Rome, in 2020. The reflections of the people involved will be a fundamental part of the final catalog, which will be published by Humboldt Books (Milan).
Filippo Berta (1977). From 2012 to 2017 he exhibited at MADRE Museum of Naples (IT), MSU Museum of Contemporary Art, Zagreb, Croatia, at Museion Contemporary Art Museum of Bolzano (IT), at Massimodeluca Gallery (Venice), at Jonkopings Lans Museum (SE), at Staedtischegalerie of Bremen (DE), at State Museum of Contemporary Art of Thessaloniky (GR), at the Pori Art Museum (FIN), at Victoria Art Center of Bucharest (RO), at Center for Cultural Decontamination, CZKD, Belgrade (SR), at Matadero Centro Creativo Contemporaneo, Madrid (SP), at MAO Museum of Architecture and Design of Slovenia. He participated at Thessaloniki Biennale (GR, 4th and 6th edition), at Curitiba Biennale (BR, 34th edition), the Prague Biennale (CZ, V Edition) and the Moscow Biennale for Young Art (RU, 3th edition). He was selected fot residencies for artists as: Ratti Foundation (Como, IT), Spinola Banna Foundation (Turin, IT). Selected festivals: 30th International Festival of Sarajevo (2014), International Konst Film (2013, Sweden), Corpus 3 (2012, Naples), Romaeuropa Festival (2012, Rome), Tulca-After the fall (2011, Galway, IR), European Performance Art Festival (2011, Warsaw, PL). In 2015 he won the MIA Foundation Award, Bergamo (Italy). In 2014 he won the Maretti Award Habana (Cuba) and he was the finalist of the Talent Prize (Rome, IT). In 2008 he won the 4th Edition of The International Prize od Perfromance, Civic Gallery of Trento (IT)
Realized thanks to the support of:
Italian Council, MiBACT, Directorate General of Contemporary Creativity and Urban Regeneration.
Cultural partners of the project:
CZKD Centre for Cultural Decontamination, Belgrade (Serbia); Galeria Miejska GdĂ nsk (Poland); hase29 Kunstvarein, Osnabruck (Germany); Istituto Italiano di Cultura, Tirana (Albania); Istituto Italiano di Cultura, Brussels (Belgium); Istituto Italiano di Cultura, Seoul (South Korea); Migration Museum, Zurich (Switzerland); MSU, Museum of Contemporary Art, Zagreb (Croatia); The Art Foundation, Athens (Greece); Accademia di Belle Arti G. Carrara, Bergamo (Italy); Contemporary Locus, Bergamo (Italy); IED, Istituto Europeo di Design, Venice (Italy); Liceo Statale Mamiani, Rome (Italy), Mediterraneo Sicilia Europa Onlus, Catania (Italy); NABA, Nuova Accademia Belle Arti, Milan (Italy); Palazzo Monti, Brescia (Italy); Tools for Culture, Rome (Italy), Sapienza University of Rome (Italy).