Massimo Bartolini

Massimo Bartolini (born 1962 in Cecina) studied as a surveyor in Livorno (1976–1981) and graduated from the Accademia di Firenze (1989). He teaches visual arts at UNIBZ Bolzano, NABA (Nuova Accedemia di Belle Arti, Milan) and the Accademia di Belle Arti in Bologna. Also following his experiences in the world of theatre, Massimo Bartolini's first works were performances involving live music, theatre machinery and dancers. Thereafter he devoted himself separately to installation and performance, thereby isolating the actors from the theatrical machinery and the stage in order to create a space that directly alters the viewers' perceptions also through an architectural narrative. Bartolini's typical attitude is one of extreme openness across mediums, which he uses and reinvents in unorthodox ways. He uses an extraordinary variety of languages and materials: from performance works involving temporary actors, the public or the architectural space, to drawings produced over deliberately long periods of time; from large public installations often created with the collaboration of other hands and knowledge, to small sketch-works assembled in the studio; from complex sound sculptures to photographs and videos. Bartolini is one of the most internationally-known Italian artists. Since 1993, he has exhibited in numerous solo and collective exhibitions in Italy and abroad.