Courtesy Archivio Elisabetta Catalano
event
Wednesday 11 December 2019 ore 18:00 - 19:30

Performing the Archives. Elisabetta CatalanoPhotographing the performance

Curated by Laura Cherubini
in collaboration with the Elisabetta Catalano Archive
lobby / archive wall –  € 5 – subscription to three meetings € 10
10 individual seats free and reserved for myMAXXI cardholders by writing to mymaxxi@fondazionemaxxi.it, by the day before the event

Three meetings to retrace the activity of one of the greatest photographers of our time.

On the occasion of the third set-up of the Archive Wall space, the exhibition area dedicated to the enhancement of contemporary world archives, with a focus on Elisabetta Catalano’s artistic production, MAXXI organises three meetings that retrace the activity of one of the greatest photographers of our time.

Through the words of scholars, sector experts, photographers, artists and protagonists of the art scene of those years, the three meetings will analyse the beginnings and development of her work, her relationship with the photographers of her generation, and her work as a portrait photographer. Particular attention will be given to the work on performances and to the various ways to document it.


Photographing the performance

Starting in the 1970s, Elisabetta Catalano created photographic sequences for various artists, often reconstructed or created in her studio, which document actions and performances. Thus, a true genre is born, the performance in the studio, behind closed doors, without audience, made for the photographic outcome, to be handed down and not consummated, in a silent dialogue between the artist’s iconography and the photographer’s eye.

Starting from these premises, the meeting will try to understand how the documentation of making art since the introduction of video recording has evolved over the years. Witnesses of this phase of passage are Massimo Bartolini and Bruna Esposito who, on the occasion of the meeting, will show some excerpts of their performances bringing a testimony from the inside on the relationship between art and photographic and video documentation.

Introduction and moderation by
Laura Cherubini Artistic Director of the Elisabetta Catalano Archive

Speakers
Bruna Esposito artist
Massimo Bartolini artist
Costantino D’Orazio art historian