PALINSESTO
GIAN PAOLO MINELLI
Apr 21, — Jul 15, 2024
Curated by Elio Schenini
Dot Fiftyone is pleased to present Gian Paolo Minelli's “Palinsesto,” his second show at the gallery. The exhibition title emerged from discussions with the exhibition curator, Elio Schenini, who is familiar with Minelli’s work and with whom he has collaborated in the past. In this exhibition, Minelli presents photographs captured in geographically diverse locations, spanning from Kazakhstan and Buenos Aires to Rome, Paris, and Chiasso, where his studio is located in Switzerland. Additionally, the photographs range across different years, including those taken in the late 2000s, before 2000, and more recently in 2023.
Gian Paolo Minelli, born in Geneva, Switzerland, is an artist who thrives at the intersection of photography, social inquiry, and urban exploration.
Elio Schenini describes Minelli as an artist who has always focused his photographic research on the architectural dimension of urban spaces. In his work, where the aesthetic dimension and social commitment are closely linked, architecture is not solely investigated in its aesthetic-functional dimension or spatial articulation. What interests Minelli, in fact, above all, is the ability of architectural space to serve as a support and gather traces of human inhabitation. His photographs, rigorously produced through an analog process, appear as palimpsests wherein the historicity of our existence in the world takes shape through an incessant process of rewriting, wherein the hand of man and that of nature continually overlap.
Notably, Minelli's series "Notturni 1994/96," captured in Chiasso, earned him the prestigious Federal Prize for Applied Arts in 1996, leading to an artist residency at the Swiss Institute of Culture in Rome (1998/99). His accolades continued with additional Federal Prize wins in 1999 and 2002, along with recognition from the Jubilee UBS Foundation with an artist grant in 2002.
Minelli's artistic footprint extends globally, with solo exhibitions in museums, contemporary art centers, and galleries across diverse cities such as Zurich, Berlin, New York, Almaty, Krakow, Madrid, Buenos Aires, Rotterdam, Los Angeles, and more. His work has also been featured in over 80 collective exhibitions worldwide, showcasing his ability to resonate with audiences across cultures and geographies.
Minelli was honored with the Swiss Art Awards in Basel in 2008 and was granted residencies in prestigious art institutions like the Cité des Arts in Paris (2009/2010) and Berlin through the Zuger Kulturstiftung Landis & Gyr Foundation in 2012.
Minelli's work has found its place in esteemed collections such as The Patricia & Phillip Frost Art Museum in Miami, the Museo de Arte Moderno in Buenos Aires, the Museo d’Arte Cantonale in Lugano, Musee des Beaux Arts - Tourcoing-Lille, France, Collection Friedrich Ebert Stiftung Berlin - Germany, Collection UBS - Switzerland, the Art Museum Princeton in the USA, and numerous others spanning continents.
Click here download the exhibion dossier with all the works
Click here to watch the video of the artists at his studio
Click here for a walkthrough of Palinsesto