Stefania Galegati Senza titolo

cm 156 x 50 x 40; scultura in terracotta h cm 20

Stefania Galegati trained at the Accademia di Belle Arti di Brera. She joined the young artists of Via Fiuggi, pupils of Alberto Garutti, and established herself in the 1990s. Ranging from painting and photography to installation and video, her work explores the boundaries between reality and individual perception, dwelling on aspects of the collective cultural imagination. The work in the collection attracted critical acclaim at the first Premio per la giovane arte italiana (2000). Addressing the theme of “Migrations and multiculturalism”, the artist positioned a radioactive salt, potassium 40, in the innards of a terracotta samurai, considered by Eastern culture to be the seat of the spirit. In doing so, she linked one of the most emblematic figures in Japanese history with a topical scientific subject. To produce the work, Galegati amassed a large amount of documentary material on this theme, and consulted with the Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare in Milan. Regarding the association between the sculptural object and the substance, the artist says: “Radioactivity and the samurai are necessary to each other. I wanted the radioactive spirit to be carried by a warrior, and the samurai is the supreme example.” Interested in viewers’ reactions to this small statue, a vehicle of fears and disturbing thoughts, the artist placed a Geiger counter alongside the samurai. Emitting a discontinuous sound, it made the radioactivity perceptible, and the state of alert and danger aroused by the work was further underlined during the official opening of the award.

No

S. Pinto, A. Mattirolo (eds.), Il Premio per la giovane arte italiana del Centro nazionale per le arti contemporanee 2000. Migrazioni e Multiculturalità, exhibition catalogue (Rome, Centro nazionale per le arti contemporanee), Turin 2001, p. 53. F. Bonami (ed.), Exit. Nuove geografie della creatività italiana, Milan 2002, p. 87. C. Piccoli (ed.), Stefania Galegati, exhibition catalogue (Rome, MACRO-Museo d’Arte Contemporanea di Roma), Milan 2005.

Foto Roberto Galasso

Premio per la Giovane Arte Italiana 2000

Installation