Francesco Mariotti
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Francesco Mariotti (born 1943) is a Swiss artist and cultural activist. He was born in
Bern, Switzerland Bern (), or Berne (), ; ; ; . is the ''de facto'' Capital city, capital of Switzerland, referred to as the "federal city".; ; ; . According to the Swiss constitution, the Swiss Confederation intentionally has no "capital", but Bern has gov ...
. He has residences in
Zürich, Switzerland Zurich (; ) is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich. , the municipality had 448,664 inhabitants. The ...
and Punta Sal, Peru.


First projects

Mariotti was born in Bern in 1943 and moved to Peru in 1952. He then studied at the
University of Fine Arts of Hamburg A university () is an institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly means "community of teachers and scholars". Univ ...
between 1965 and 1968. After graduation, he was chosen by the "Project Geldmacher – Mariotti" to participate in an interactive art installation for Documenta 4 in
Kassel Kassel (; in Germany, spelled Cassel until 1926) is a city on the Fulda River in North Hesse, northern Hesse, in Central Germany (geography), central Germany. It is the administrative seat of the Regierungsbezirk Kassel (region), Kassel and the d ...
. He exhibited "The Circular Movement of Light" for the 1969 X São Paulo Biennial.


Period in Peru

In 1971, Mariotti moved back to Peru. During that period, he was approached by Alfonso Castrillon, who at that time was the Director of the Institute of Contemporary Art (located at the Italian Art Museum), who invited him for a solo show. Mariotti proposed to Castrillon a different idea: to develop and open the game by calling artists and cross-cutting creative agents in a sort of festival, which challenged all categories and hierarchies. Mariotti organised Contacta 71, a total art festival, whose results were so successful that it was organised for a second year with the support of the military junta. Then Mariotti is hired by the Government to work for the National System of Social Mobilization ( SINAMOS). Mariotti and María Luy, his partner, were absorbed by the promises of an Andean revolution, and moved in September 1972 to Cusco and Puno, where they developed art and communication projects in popular sectors, which included the socialisation of serigraphic techniques among the peasant population. The first event he organised was the Homage to the 3rd of October (the day of the revolution), a massive popular parade in the main plaza of Cuzco. He then developed the Hatariy (November 1972, organised in collaboration with the House of Culture - INC) and Inkarri (1973 and 1974) Festivals in Cuzco. SINAMOS decided to establish Inkarri as a nationwide popular festival and a final competition that took place at the Campo de Marte. In 1976, he created a course "Conception and development of projects of art and communication" ("Concepción y desarrollo de proyectos de arte y comunicación") at the National School of Fine Arts in Lima, being the first time such a course was given in the country. The success was limited; only three students were registered, which demonstrated the conservative environment at that time. In the late 1970s, after the military junta was over, he returned to Lima and started Huayco E.P.S (the acronym for "Aesthetics of Social Projection"), created as a creative cooperative studio.


Return to Europe

The eighties provided a very complex and uncertain panorama in Peru, and Mariotti, along with his family, decided to move back to Switzerland. From 1981 to 1986, he collaborated with Rinaldo Bianda at the Fabiana Gallery and in the VideoArt Festival of Locarno, becoming the General Secretary of the festival (1982 - 1987). In 1987 he moved to Zurich, where he lives today, undertaking systematic work linked to the creation of lighting and kinetic sculptures, which consisted of metallic structures (usually of industrial materials) to which were added circuits, sensors and computers, creating hybrid sculptures that create the perception of being alive (some recite poetry, others speak, etc.). He was one of the first artists to work intensively with
LED A light-emitting diode (LED) is a semiconductor device that emits light when current flows through it. Electrons in the semiconductor recombine with electron holes, releasing energy in the form of photons. The color of the light (corresp ...
before it became mainstream.Mariátegui, J.-C. (2017). Mariotti’s Ritual Artefacts and the Origins of Media Art. In search of the Lost Multisensorial Characteristics of New Media. Paper presented at the ISEA2017 BIO-CREATION AND PEACE. Proceedings of the 23rd International Symposium on Electronic Arts., Manizales. His work was part of an exploration to analyse nature through oral traditions and Andean and Amazonian myths, to confront, in the late 90s, natural and ecological contexts, producing its first hybrid gardens and quantum gardens and developing renaturalization projects in collaboration with scientists and activists. His works are in collections of major museums and private collections, such as the ZKM Museum für Neue Kunst, Karlsruhe, Germany; Kunstmuseum Celle mit Sammlung Robert Simon, Germany; MALI Lima, Perú; Museo de Bellas Artes, Caracas, Venezuela;
Kunsthaus Zürich The Kunsthaus Zürich is an art museum in Zurich. It is the biggest art museum in Switzerland by area and houses one of the most important art collections in Switzerland, assembled over time by the Zürcher Kunstgesellschaft, a nonprofit art soc ...
; Video Library Sammlung Julius Bär, Switzerland; UBS, Locarno, Switzerland. In 2018 as a part of series of events organized worldwide to celebrate the 50 years of the Leonardo journal, a local tribute to Mariotti was given by Alta Tecnología Andina - ATA, the National School of Fine Arts in Lima and Proyecto Amil to mark the 50th anniversary of the "Projekt Geldmacher-Mariotti 1968" during the documenta4 in Kassel.


Sources

* Buntinx, Gustavo. 1999. "El Retorno de las Luciérnagas: deseo aurático y voluntad chamánica en las tecnoesculturas de Francisco Mariotti." In (in)disciplinas. UNAM. * Mariátegui, José-Carlos. "Peruvian Video/Electronic Art." Leonardo 35, no. 4 (2002): 355–63. https://www.jstor.org/stable/1577392. * Mariátegui, José-Carlos. 2003. "Roger Atasi/Francesco Mariotti: deux génerations/une historie brève." Turbulences vidéo (39):16–17. * Plagemann, Volker. 2000. "Geldmacher-Mariotti auf der 4. documenta 1968." In Klaus Geldmacher: Kunst und Politik, 30–45. Herausgeber / Kunstmuseum in derl Alten Post. * Sánchez Castro, Rebeca. 2013. Entrada al campo inexplorado: Gran Guacamayo Precolombino de Francesco Mariotti en la Trienal de Chile 2009.


References


External links


Francesco Mariotti's official website

EPS HUAYCO – OpenEdition Books
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mariotti, Francesco 1942 births Living people Artists from Bern Swiss artists University of Fine Arts of Hamburg alumni