Statement:
EN
The artist duo Robberto Atzori and Milena Caldararo, works together from December 2017, mixing painting sculptures and embroidery.
Their research draws on the symbology and the aspects of universal history and social memory aiming to dissect the forces that influence our lives, analyzing the structures and the processes that shape the influences that these forces have in the unconscious - like dream, esotericism, tribal rituals, rock carvings, instincts, religion, and magic.
Their projects emerge from personal stories and fortuitous encounters, taking the final form of objects and images that have accumulated layers of meaning in the world through the transversality of the imaginary and the proximity to moments engraved in personal memories and universal allegorical events.
An ex-voto in an old country church, a premature death of a friend, a scratch with a nail on a jail’s wall, an antique market in a city of the Balkans, a drawing made with the burned wood in a prehistoric cave, a slow ritual of poor and ancient lives, a memory passed down: all that is loaded with conduits of history and identity.
Moving their research from drawing to perfume, through embroidery, installation, and sculpture, they create works as if they were part of a single universe, in which the individual planets live in their own balance but conscious that are always part of the galaxy formed by the condition of the human being, with his fears and his victories, finding the universal allegories that form the multifaceted character that unites humanity beyond time and space boundaries.
FR
Les artistes Robberto et Milena travaillent ensemble depuis décembre 2017, en mélangeant peinture, sculpture, arts textiles et broderie.
Leur recherche creuse dans la symbologie et dans les aspects de l'histoire universelle et de la mémoire sociale, disséquant les forces qui influencent nos vies. À travers leurs œuvres, ils analysent les structures et les processus qui forment les influences que ces forces ont eu dans l'inconscient, les rêves, l'ésotérisme, les rites tribaux, les gravures rupestres, les instincts, les religions et les rites magiques.
Leurs projets naissent d'histoires personnelles et de rencontres fortuites, devenant des objets et des images qui ont accumulé des couches de sens dans le monde à travers la transversalité de l'imaginaire et la proximité de ces moments gravés dans les souvenirs personnels et dans les événements allégoriques universels.
Un ex-voto dans une ancienne église rupestre, la mort prématurée d'un ami, les égratignures gravées sur la porte d'une prison abandonnée, un marché aux puces dans un village bosniaque, un dessin fait avec du charbon à l'intérieur d'une grotte, un rituel archaïque et lent, une mémoire disparue: tout ça est rempli de conduits de histoire et d'identité, et source d’inspiration et de réflexion pour leur recherche.
À travers leur travail, la représentation symbolique - le dualisme du sens - est manipulée pour atteindre un sens explicite, dans lequel l'ambiguïté du sens devient lui-même le sens: dans l'équilibre entre les deux parties, c'est là que se trouve précisément le point fort.
Expos:
Selected shows Robberto & Milena:
2020 - Prix des Arts, Woluwe St. Pierre BE, curated by Madelaine Pierloot
2020 - KULT, Galerie DYS, Brussels BE, curated by Justine Jacquemin
2020 - "Me, My self and I" Black Swan Gallery, Bruges BE, curated by Kristoff Tillieu
2020 - WE NEED YOU festival, Centre Culturel de Schaerbeek BE, curated by Céline Bataille
2020 - Prix Mediatine, Wolubilis, Brussels BE
2019 - AMEN, w-o-l-k-e, solo show, Brussels BE, curated by Robberto and Milena Atzori
2019 - "Entre le sommeil et le songe" Black Swan Gallery Bruges, BE, curated by Kristoff Tillieu
2019 - HORIZON - Qui dit Mieux - prix promo jeune, Brussellls BE
2017 - CHUNK, site-specific installation at Basilica of Carmine, Brescia IT, curated by Federica Scolari
Selected shows Robberto:
2017 - MATIERE NOIRE, group show Galerie Saint Laurent, Marseille FR, curated by Carmen Main
2017 - Oltre la soglia, group show Nube D.O., Rome IT curated by Heliah Hamedani
2017 - TO EVERY CANDLE THAT SWITCHED OFF, Performance for Gonzalo Borondo, Selci IT
2017 - Matteo Olivero Art Prize, Bertoni Foundation, Saluzzo IT
2016 - Far The Light, Urban Light installation, Fardella IT
2016 - LIGHT AS A GOLD FEATHER, performance with Despina Charitonidi, Rome IT
2015 - Anthropological aesthetic, solo project NOBODY, Amsterdam NDSM, NL
2014 - FAKE (SKIN), solo show, MADHOOD Temporary, Los Angeles CA
2013 - SE, group show, 291 EST Gallery, Rome IT, curated by Roberto D’Onorio
2013 - Tinte Fresche, group show, RISD, Palazzo Cenci, Rome IT, curated by Enzo Genovesi
2013 - ORTICA, group show, Factory La Pelanda, Rome IT, curated by ArtNoise
2012 - Broken Mirror, group show, Cappella Orsini, Rome IT curated by Valeria Arnaldi
2012 - Rectròspettive pre mortém- solo show, The Room Gallery, Rome IT curated by Kevin Pineda
2011 - Dans le milieu, group show, The Room Gallery, Rome IT curated by Kevin Pineda
2011 - How to prepare an exhibition in one day, solo show, The Room Gallery, Rome IT
2011 - Tra Cielo e Terra, Palazzo Barolo, group show, Torin IT, curated by Silvia Litardi
2011 - Tra Cielo e Terra, Carsibo, group show, Bologna IT, curated by Silvia Litardi
2011 - Tra Cielo e Terra, Marino Marini Museum, Florence IT, curated by Silvia Litardi
2011 - ònce performànce, The Room Gallery, Rome IT
2011 - Half/nniversary of The Room Gallery, Rome IT
2011 - pre-opening, group show, The Room Gallery, Rome IT
2011 - RETURN, group show, Royal Academy of Fine Arts, Antwerpen BE curated by Ilektra Kalaitzaki
2010 - Emergenze, Chiostro Ss Apostoli, Roma IT, curated by Paola Consorti
Biography
Robberto:
EN
Robberto Atzori was born in Cagliari, Sardinia in 1989 from a modest family, with a passion for travel and history.
During his childhood he spends long periods alone due to the work of his parents, filling his days researching and cataloging stones, branches, and animals in the garden of his house, which was just a few steps from the abandoned cemetery of his village.
This cemetery and all the others visited in various childhood trips with the family, created in him an aesthetic very linked to the cult of the dead, that human need to preserve the bodies as fetishes, that veneration linked to a memory that it can transfer to an object and the evocative power that this creates.
Since childhood, he paints and models with the help of a family friend, who teaches him the bases of perspective and chiaroscuro. He remained in Sardinia until the age of 18, where he attended art school. As soon as he reached the age he moved first to Bologna than to Belgium and then to Rome, where he graduated with honors from the Bruno Liberatore sculpture class.
During the last year of the Academy, in 2011 he funded with Kevin Pineda in Rome an artist-run space, called The Room Gallery. This was the first of other self-produced projects like Madhood Temporary in Los Angeles in 2014 and NOBODY in Amsterdam in 2015.
In 2017 he co-participate at the creation of Matiere Noire in Marseille, an artist-run exhibition inside the 4000 square meters spaces of the former flea market in the ghetto of the city, in collaboration with Gonzalo Borondo, Edoardo Tresoldi, Carmen Main and other artists...
In 2019 he produced and curated with Milena A M E N, their first main show in Brussels.
Since 2017 he lives and works in Brussels with Milena, where they started their collaborative project called NEPENTHE.
FR
Robberto Atzori est né à Cagliari en Sardaigne, en Italie, en 1989.
Il a étudié les beaux-arts à l'Académie de Bologne, Rome et Anvers.
Il est diplômé en sculpture à Rome en 2012.
Il a travaillé comme assistant de divers artistes, dont Ishamel Randall Weeks, Ulla Von Brandeburg, Brian Bress, Tony De Los Reyes, Francesca Grilli, Katinka Bock et d'autres, à Rome et Los Angeles.
Il a participé à la production et à l'organisation de divers projets, tels que The Room Gallery à Rome 2011, Madhood Temporary à Los Angeles 2014, NOBODY à Amsterdam en 2015, Matière noire en Marseilles en 2017 et A M E N à Bruxelles en 2019.
Avec Milena, il a fondé un projet appelé NEPENTHE en 2017, qui mélange différentes arts visuels dont la peinture, la sculpture et la broderie traditionnelle.
Depuis décembre 2017, il vit et travaille à Bruxelles avec Milena.
EN
Milena Caldararo Atzori was born in Basilicata, IT, in 1988.
Her land has been abandoned since the unification of Italy, and the territories are characterized by deserts and mountains, the wild nature mix brutally with the desolation and the abandoned villages are filled with superstitious old women. Her path in the sewing world started since she was three years old in her mountain village's narrow streets, where she used to spend the days with the old ladies sewing and chatting together. This is where the passion for sewing has settled in her soul, between laces and crochet, embroideries and tailoring.
At the age of 18, she attended the D.A.M.S. (Disciplines of Art, Music, and Entertainment) in Rome, following her other great passion for the study of images, video editing, and photography. These disciplines have developed her artistic and aesthetic sense.
During the years she has attended avant-garde courses of stylism and modeling that brought her to work at the Haute Couture Lab Valentino in Rome.
Her constant goal in recent years has been to devote herself to designing and studying traditional embroidery, creating her projects mixing this technique with a new medium, mixing contemporary art with textiles and sculptures.
She lives and works in Brussels with Robberto, that have married in 2019
FR
Milena Caldararo Atzori est née en Basilicate, en Italie, en 1988.
Elle a étudié les beaux-arts et les langues en Basilicate et les arts du spectacle et le cinéma à Rome.
Elle est diplômée en cinéma, art vidéo et photographie à Rome en 2012.
Elle a travaillé pour divers projets de couture traditionnels et de haute couture, y compris la Maison de Haute Couture de Valentino à Rome en 2015 et NATAN à Bruxelles en 2018.
Depuis 2017, elle vit et travaille à Bruxelles avec Robberto, qu'elle a épousé en 2019.