Chiara Fumai (1978–2017) was an Italian

performance artist Performance art is an artwork or art exhibition created through actions executed by the artist or other participants. It may be witnessed live or through documentation, spontaneously developed or written, and is traditionally presented to a pu ...

Life and career

Born in Rome, Fumai graduated in architecture from

Polytechnic University of Milan The Polytechnic University of Milan (, abbreviated as PoliMi) is a university in Milan, Italy. It is the largest technical university in the country, with about 40,000 enrolled students. The university offers undergraduate, graduate, and higher ...

, and had her breakout in 2013, winning Furla Prize with a performance based on a work by

Valerie Solanas Valerie Jean Solanas (April 9, 1936 – April 25, 1988) was an American radical feminist known for her attempt to murder the artist Andy Warhol in 1968. Solanas appeared in the Warhol film '' I, a Man'' (1967) and self-published the '' SCU ...

. She took part in

documenta (13) Documenta 13 (stylised as dOCUMENTA (13)) was the thirteenth edition of the German contemporary art exhibition Documenta. It took place between 9 June until 16 September 2012 in Kassel, Germany. The exhibition was held under the theme "collap ...

and held performances at

MAXXI MAXXI (, 'national museum of 21st-century arts') is a national museum of contemporary art and architecture in the Flaminio neighborhood of Rome, Italy. The museum is managed by a foundation created by the Italian Ministry of Culture. The buildi ...

, Galerie nationale du Jeu de Paume and , among other places. In 2016 she won the Premio New York. Fumai in her performance practice centered her artistic focus on the role of women. Her approach involved a combination of deconstruction methods, exploration of freak shows, engagement with

metaphysics Metaphysics is the branch of philosophy that examines the basic structure of reality. It is traditionally seen as the study of mind-independent features of the world, but some theorists view it as an inquiry into the conceptual framework of ...

transvestism Cross-dressing is the act of wearing clothes traditionally or stereotypically associated with a different gender. From as early as pre-modern history, cross-dressing has been practiced in order to disguise, comfort, entertain, and express onesel ...

, and DJ sets. This analysis was conducted through an anarcho-feminist lens, also in relation to the art system. She also exhibited under the pseudonym Nico Fumai, a fictitious character inspired by her father. In 2019 her works were exhibited in the Italian Pavilion on the occasion of the 58th International Art Exhibition of the

Venice Biennale The Venice Biennale ( ; ) is an international cultural exhibition hosted annually in Venice, Italy. There are two main components of the festival, known as the Art Biennale () and the Venice Biennale of Architecture, Architecture Biennale (), ...

. Her work was the subject of a solo show at the

Centre d’Art Contemporain Genève Center or centre may refer to: Mathematics *Center (geometry), the middle of an object * Center (algebra), used in various contexts ** Center (group theory) ** Center (ring theory) * Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentricity ...

in 2020.

Death and commemoration

Chiara Fumai committed suicide on 16 August 2017, at the age of 39. Her archives are held in the

Castello di Rivoli The Rivoli Castle is a former Residence of the Royal House of Savoy in Rivoli (Metropolitan City of Turin, Italy). It is currently home to the Castello di Rivoli – Museo d'Arte Contemporanea, the museum of contemporary art of Turin. In 1997, ...

in Turin. In 2023, the gardens of Piazza Eroi del Mare in

Bari Bari ( ; ; ; ) is the capital city of the Metropolitan City of Bari and of the Apulia Regions of Italy, region, on the Adriatic Sea in southern Italy. It is the first most important economic centre of mainland Southern Italy. It is a port and ...

have been named after the artist.

References

External links

*
Chiara Fumai
at

Artsy Artsy, formally known as Art.sy Inc is a New York City based online art brokerage. Its main business is developing and hosting website for numerous galleries as well as selling art for them. It utilizes a search engine and database to draw conne ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fumai, Chiara 1978 births 2017 deaths 2017 suicides Italian contemporary artists Italian performance artists Polytechnic University of Milan alumni 21st-century Italian women artists Artists from Rome Suicides in Italy