Every year the cultural association Viafarini, founded in 1991 with the aim of fostering the professional growth of young artists and spreading knowledge of contemporary art, hosts a group of Italian and international artists based in Milan in its studios at Via Farini 35 and Fabbrica del Vapore. Viafarini gives young artists the opportunity to have a shared space in which to research and create, to get in touch with curators, critics and museums, as well as to support them in their search for funding and to promote them through exhibitions, workshops and meetings. Artists are selected through open calls launched on a regular basis with a four-month cycle, upon recommendation by curators or under self-nominations.
Who are the artists hosted in these months by Viafarini-in-residence? We find out during the Open Studio on April 11, 2023, which offers an overview of the works, more or less unpublished, of the twelve young international artists hosted in the atelier from the beginning of the year until the end of April.
As soon as one crosses the entrance, one enters a typical Milanese courtyard, full of plants and with a picturesque atmosphere. Here are installed some works that offer a preview to the works inside: the young Ukrainian artist Sofiya Chotyrbok exhibits some of her photographic works depicting faceless women, the artist Federico Vecchi one of his sculptures later taken inside, and finally Laurel Hauge‘s work, which we will find her inside in a “scattered” way.
Inside the spaces, which count a size of 240 square meters, are the works of artists Lidia Bianchi, Alan Borgate, Hyun Cho, Petros Chrisostomou, Laurel Hauge, Alberto Lucarelli, Raffaele Morabito, Fabio Perino, Davide Quartucci, Federico Vecchi and Ana Julia Vilela.
At the end of the visit, one realizes how totally heterogeneous the artists are. Each has a specific and different research that results in equally different works: from sculpture to conceptual art and from painting to photography. Emblematic is the entrance hall that houses in antithesis the sculptural works of artist Alan Borguet and the pictorial works of Davide Quartucci. On the one hand is the three-dimensionality of Bourguet’s copper pipes and “little gardens” and on the other are Quartucci’s bizarre characters, which blend childhood and old age into a new vision of the world. The second room reflects the binomial of the first, hosting the works of Brazilian artist Ana Julia Vilela, who translates into images, colors and words those chaotic thoughts and feelings that are often difficult to decipher, and the photographic works of Lidia Bianchi, who focuses on the Mediterranean landscape as an aesthetic space, a place of ancient and new imaginaries that configure another visual narrative. The large room, on the other hand, is a potpourri of works: from Korean artist Hyun Cho‘s “street” sculptures to Fabio Perino‘s installation composed of dried dung and small lights, from Alberto Luparelli‘s gigantic installation to Petros Chrisostomou‘s surrealist photographs, continuing with Raffaele Morabito‘s collages, household totems and canvased by Federico Vecchi.
In a few weeks this first residency cycle of the year will come to an end, leaving room for other artists, but we recommend that you keep an eye on these twelve artists and follow their path. In fact, Viafarini is very careful in its selection and always identifies talented young people who are unlikely not to pursue a remarkable career. Many of the artists who participated in the residencies in Via Farini 35, then move to the spaces of Viafarini.Work in the Corvetto area, another studio space that the association provides for shared artistic work.
