{{short description|Italian art critic and curator (born 1975)}} [[File:Portrait of Eugenio Viola by CAMO (Camilo Delgado Aguilera) in 2022.jpg|alt=Eugenio Viola|thumb|Portrait of Eugenio Viola by CAMO (Camilo Delgado Aguilera) in 2022]] '''Eugenio Viola''' (Naples, 1975) is an Italian art critic and curator based in Bogotá.
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Viola is the current Chief Curator of the Bogota Museum of Modern Art (MAMBO),<ref>{{Cite web |title=El MAMBO da la bienvenida a su nuevo Curador Jefe |url=https://www.mambogota.com/actividad/nuevo-curador-jefe/ |access-date=2022-11-02 |website=MAMBO |language=es-ES}}</ref> Colombia. He is a prolific contributor of Artforum. Previously, he was curator of the Italian Pavilion at the 59th Biennale.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Biennale Arte 2022 - National Participations > Italia |url=https://www.labiennale.org/en/art/2022/italy |access-date=2022-11-02 |website=La Biennale di Venezia |language=en}}</ref> He is also part of the jury and decision committee of the Julius Baer Prize for Latin American women artists.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Artishock |date=2022-05-24 |title=II Premio Julius Baer a Las Artistas Latinoamericanas Ya Tiene Finalistas |url=https://artishockrevista.com/2022/05/24/ii-premio-julius-baer-a-las-artistas-latinoamericanas-ya-tiene-finalistas/ |access-date=2022-11-02 |website=Artishock Revista |language=es}}</ref>
As a thinker, Eugenio Viola is one "of the most talented and inspirational young people who are driving forward the art world today”<ref>{{Cite web |date=2014-08-27 |title=Eugenio Viola {{!}} Apollo 40 Under 40 Europe {{!}} The Thinkers |url=https://www.apollo-magazine.com/eugenio-viola/ |access-date=2022-11-02 |website=Apollo Magazine |language=en-US}}</ref> as stated by the British art magazine ''Apollo'' in 2014. He was voted the best Italian curator in 2016<ref>{{Cite web |last=Redazione |date=2017-01-08 |title=La "classifica" del Best Of 2016 di Artribune |website=Artribune |url=https://www.artribune.com/arti-visive/2017/01/best-2016-artribune/ |access-date=2022-11-02 |language=it-IT}}</ref> and 2019<ref>{{Cite web |last=Redazione |date=2019-12-27 |title=Best of 2019: il meglio secondo Artribune |website=Artribune |url=https://www.artribune.com/professioni-e-professionisti/2019/12/best-of-2019-tutto-il-meglio-dellanno-che-si-sta-concludendo-secondo-artribune/ |access-date=2022-11-02 |language=it-IT}}</ref> by the Italian art magazine ''Artribune''.
== Life and work == Born in Italy, Viola received his BA in “Cultural Heritage Conservation” from the University Suor Orsola Benincasa in Naples (2001), his MA in “Organization and Communication of the Visual Arts” from the Academy of Fine Arts of Brera, Milan (2002), and his Ph.D. in “Methods and Methodologies of Archaeological and Historical-Artistic Research” from the University of Salerno (2010).<ref>{{Cite web |title=CV |url=https://www.eugenioviola.com/pagecv |access-date=2022-11-02 |website=Eugenio Viola |language=en-US}}</ref>
Viola is the current Chief Curator of The Bogota Museum of Modern Art (MAMBO), a leading Colombian institution. His inaugural project there was the first institutional solo exhibition of work by Teresa Margolles ''(Estorbo, 2020)''<ref>{{Cite web |title=Estorbo |url=https://www.mambogota.com/exposicion/estorbo/ |access-date=2022-11-02 |website=MAMBO |language=es-ES}}</ref> in Colombia, which opened in March 2019. During his tenure, he has commissioned major projects by Dor Guez (''Catástrofe'', 2021),<ref>{{Cite web |title=Dor Guez |url=https://www.eugenioviola.com/dor-guez |access-date=2022-11-02 |website=Eugenio Viola |language=en-US}}</ref> Luz Lizarazo (''Cicatrices'', 2021–2022),<ref>{{Cite web |title=Luz Lizarazo |url=https://www.eugenioviola.com/luzlizarazo |access-date=2022-11-02 |website=Eugenio Viola |language=en-US}}</ref> Voluspa Jarpa (''Sindemia'', 2021–2022)<ref>{{Cite web |title=Voluspa Jarpa |url=https://www.eugenioviola.com/voluspajarpa |access-date=2022-11-02 |website=Eugenio Viola |language=en-US}}</ref> and Miguel Angel Rojas (''Regreso a la Maloca'', 2021)<ref>{{Cite web |title=Miguel Ángel Rojas |url=https://www.eugenioviola.com/miguelangelrojas |access-date=2022-11-02 |website=Eugenio Viola |language=en-US}}</ref> among other artists.
He curates at the MAMBO ‘The Julius Baer Art Prize for Latin American Female Artists’, a biennial award initiated by Julius Baer and the Bogotá Museum of Modern Art – MAMBO, the first prize of its kind held in Latin America.
The award winner of the inaugural edition of the prize, Chilean artist Voluspa Jarpa (Rancagua, 1971), portrayed a necessary memory of the social unrest that occurred in both Chile and Colombia in late 2019. Her project ''Sindemia'' provided a multifaceted approach to the urgency for documentation and visibility of human rights violations during the protests. ''Sindemia'' will tour at the Gabriela Mistral Center (GAM) in Santiago, in March 2023, and at the MUNTREF, Center of Contemporary Art (Hotel of Immigrants), Buenos Aires, in July 2023.
From 2017 to 2019, Viola was the Senior Curator at the Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts (PICA), in Western Australia,<ref>{{Cite web |title=Artforum.com |url=https://www.artforum.com/news/eugenio-viola-named-senior-curator-at-perth-institute-of-contemporary-arts-65399 |access-date=2022-11-02 |website=www.artforum.com |language=en-US}}</ref> where his curatorial practice was focused on cultivating and strengthening the institution's relationship with the Asia-Pacific region. He presented the first Australian solo exhibition of Kimsooja (''Zone of Nowhere'', 2018), in which the work extended beyond the walls of PICA and into the streets of Perth, where iterations of ''To Breathe – The Flags'' (2012-2018) materialized as site specific installations around the city. Viola has also been instrumental in a promising partnership between PICA and the Taipei Fine Arts Museum as part of the City of Perth and Taipei Residency Exchange Program.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Annual Report 2018 by Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts - Issuu |url=https://issuu.com/pica_perth/docs/annualreport2018-pica-web2 |access-date=2022-11-02 |website=issuu.com |date=December 2018 |language=en}}</ref>
From 2009 to 2016, he held a curatorial position at MADRE, the Contemporary Art Museum of Naples, Italy. From 2013 to 2016, as Curator at Large, he was responsible for the research and development of MADRE Museum's collection (''Performing a collection'' project). He also co-curated the first Italian large-scale exhibitions of Boris Mikhailov and Francis Alÿs, retrospective exhibitions devoted to Vettor Pisani and Giulia Piscitelli, and a complex Daniel Buren’s site-specific project.<ref>{{Cite web |title=New Senior Curator Eugenio Viola - Announcements - e-flux |url=https://www.e-flux.com/announcements/95451/new-senior-curator-eugenio-viola/ |access-date=2022-11-02 |website=www.e-flux.com |language=en}}</ref>
From 2009 to 2012, he was the Curator of the Project Room, a space dedicated to young and experimental artists organizing a network residence and exhibition program in partnership with institutions and art organizations from the Middle East (''Transit'' project), and an annual performance festival named ''Corpus. Art in Action'' (2009-2012),<ref>{{Cite web |last=Tolve |first=Antonello |date=2016-12-21 |title=Intervista a Eugenio Viola |website=Artribune |url=https://www.artribune.com/arti-visive/arte-contemporanea/2016/12/intervista-eugenio-viola-mostra-gian-maria-tosatti-madre-napoli/ |access-date=2022-11-02 |language=it-IT}}</ref> where he presented site-specific performances of Ron Athey, Angela Barretta, Tobias Bernstrup, Andrea Cusumano, Kira O’Reilly, Jamie Shovlin and Lustfaust, Milica Tomic, Maria José Arjona, Tania Bruguera, Regina José Galindo, Teresa Margolles, among the others.
He curated the Italian Pavilion at the 59th Venice Biennial, ''Storia della Note e Destino delle Comete'' [History of Night and Destiny of Comets],<ref>{{cite news|access-date=2023-09-20|author=Roberto Brunelli|date=2022-04-26|language=it-IT|title=Biennale: un percorso nel Padiglione Italia|url=https://collezionedatiffany.com/biennale-di-venezia-padiglione-italia-2022/}}<!-- auto-translated by Module:CS1 translator --></ref> where for the first time in the history of the Italian Pavilion, was presented the work of a single artist,<ref>{{Cite web |title=Notte e comete {{!}} Progetto |url=https://www.notteecomete.it/progetto/ |access-date=2022-11-02 |language=it-IT}}</ref> in response to his appointment he declares “A decisive proposal, equating national participation alike other countries. It will be a visionary, courageous project, as is in Tosatti's chords and also in mine. Gian Maria Tosatti has an eccentric background. He has created powerful installations that combine many media, a bit like the synthesis of the arts. ''History of Night and Destiny of Comets'' is, for both of us, to date, the most important chapter in this tale, in which our stories once again intertwine and confront each other. This project also cannot fail to take into account our uncertain, metapandemic present”.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Campolonghi |first=Cristina |date=2022-03-20 |title=Intervista a Eugenio Viola, dal Mambo di Bogotà al Padiglione Italia della Biennale |url=https://www.italiani.it/intervista-a-eugenio-viola-dal-mambo-di-bogota-al-padiglione-italia-della-biennale/ |access-date=2022-11-02 |website=italiani.it |language=it-IT}}</ref>
As a guest curator, Viola has worked extensively. He curated the Estonian Pavilion at the 56th Venice Biennial (Jaanus Samma, ''Not Suitable for Work. A Chairman’s Tale'', 2015),<ref>{{Cite web |title=Not Suitable for Work |url=https://www.sternberg-press.com/product/not-suitable-for-work-a-chairmans-tale/ |access-date=2022-11-02 |website=Sternberg Press |language=en}}</ref> whose iteration at the Museum of the Occupations in Tallinn was listed by the American Hyperallergic amongst the top 15 exhibitions around the world in 2016.<ref>{{Cite web |last1=Hyperallergic |last2=Hyperallergic |date=2016-12-30 |title=Best of 2016: Our Top 15 Exhibitions Around the World |url=http://hyperallergic.com/348469/best-of-2016-our-top-15-exhibitions-around-the-world/ |access-date=2022-11-02 |website=Hyperallergic |language=en-US}}</ref> Other major projects include: Regina José Galindo, ''Mechanisms of Power'' (Frankfurter Kunstverein, Frankfurt, Germany, 2016); ''The Prince and Queens'' by Karol Radziszewski (CoCA. Center of Contemporary Art, Torun, Poland,2014); Mark Raidpere's ''The Damage'' (EKKM- Contemporary Art Museum of Estonia, Tallinn, 2013); the first iteration of the pioneering Marina Abramović’s ''The Abramović Method'' (PAC - Contemporary Art Pavilion, Milan, Italy, 2012); and the most comprehensive retrospective of Orlan to date, ''Le Récit'' (Musée d’art moderne and contemporain de Saint Etienne Métropole, France, 2007).<ref>{{Cite web |title=Eugenio Viola |url=https://www.eugenioviola.com/ |access-date=2022-11-02 |website=Eugenio Viola |language=en-US}}</ref>
He has curated over 70 exhibitions internationally.
== Writings and criticism == He has edited over 50 catalogues and books and contributed to numerous international publications. He is a scholar in theories and practices related to performance and Body Art. On this subject, he has extensively lectured in Italy and abroad. He has published several essays, and he has edited the monographs on Regina José Galindo (Ed. Skira, Milan, 2014), Hermann Nitsch (Ed. Morra, Naples, 2013),<ref>{{Cite book |title=Hermann Nitsch : 135. Aktion la Habana Cuba |date=2012 |first1=Hermann |last1=Nitsch |first2=Eugenio |last2=Viola |first3=Antonello |last3=Tolve |isbn=978-88-7852-029-5 |location=[Naples] |oclc=1287026835}}</ref> Marina Abramović (Ed. 24 Ore Cultura, Milan, 2012),<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Abramović |first1=Marina |title=Marina Abramović |date=2012 |publisher=24 ore cultura |first2=Eugenio |last2=Viola |first3=Diego Sileo |last3=Viola |isbn=978-88-6648-090-7 |edition=1st |location=Pero (Mi) |oclc=808770653}}</ref> and Orlan (Ed. Charta, Milan, 2007).<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Orlan |title=Orlan: le récit = the narrative |date=2007 |publisher=Charta |first2=Lóránd |last2=Hegyi |first3=Eugenio |last3=Viola |isbn=978-88-8158-652-3 |location=Milano |oclc=145723628}}</ref> He collaborates on a regular basis with ''Artforum'' (USA) and ''Arte'' (Italy). His writings also appeared in several Italian art magazines such as Flash Art, Segno, Arte e Critica, and the Spanish Exit Express. He is among the contributors of ''Quaderni d'arte italiana'', the institutional magazine of Quadriennale di Roma.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Quaderni d'arte italiana n.7 #strada/#street |publisher=Treccani |year=2023 |isbn=978-88-12-01116-2 |location=Rome |language=it, en}}</ref>
He is a member of IKT<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Joodaki |first1=Mehdi |last2=Ghadiri |first2=Nasser |last3=Atashkar |first3=Amir Hossein |title=2017 9th International Conference on Information and Knowledge Technology (IKT) |chapter=Protein complex detection from PPI networks on Apache Spark |date=October 2017 |chapter-url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1109/ikt.2017.8258627 |pages=111–115 |publisher=IEEE |doi=10.1109/ikt.2017.8258627|isbn=978-1-5386-2547-7 |s2cid=34468690 }}</ref> (“International Association of Curators of Contemporary Art”);<ref>{{Citation |title=List of Active Members |date=1995 |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-13540-0_1 |work=The ISVA Directory of Members and Member Firms 1994/95 |pages=A1–A165 |place=London |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan UK |doi=10.1007/978-1-349-13540-0_1 |isbn=978-1-349-13542-4 |access-date=2022-11-02 |url-access=subscription }}</ref> and he is on several awards international committees and panels.
=== Selected edited books and monographs ===
* Storia della Note e Destino delle Comete, Padiglione Italia, Padiglione Arte 2022. G.M. Tosatti, E. Viola (edited by), 2022, ed. Treccani, Roma, Italia. {{ISBN|8812-01008-3}} * Unhallowed Arts, L. Wilson, O. Catts, E. Viola (edited by), 2018, Perth, Australia. {{ISBN|978-1-76080-016-1}} * Jacobus Capone, Forgiving Night For Day. S. Pereira, A. Varano, E.Viola (edited by). “Jacobus Capone. Forgiving Night For Day”. 2017, PICA Press, Perth, Australia. {{ISBN|978-0-9923292-9-7}} * Gian Maria Tosatti. Sette Stagioni dello Spirito. E. Viola (edited by). 2017, Mondadori Electa. {{ISBN|9788891812872}} * Vettor Pisani. Eroica/antieroica. Una monografia * L. Cherubini, A. Viliani, E. Viola, “Vettor Pisani. Eroica/antieroica. Una monografia” 2016, Mondadori Electa. {{ISBN|978-8891808332}} * Intrigantes Incertitudes, L. Hegyi, E. Viola (edited by) “Intrigantes incertitudes”, 2016, Fage editions, Lyon, France. {{ISBN|978-2849754085}} * Jaanus Samma. Not Suitable for Work, A Chairman's Tale, M. Arusoo, K. Moss, M. Kangro, S. Mogutin, R. Põldsam, R. Taavetti, E. Viola (edited by). 2015, Sternberg Press, Berlin, Germany. {{ISBN|9783956791451}} * Sven Marquardt: Götterdämmerung. The Twilight of the Gods, E. Debandi, E. Viola (edited by), 2015, Skira, Italy. {{ISBN|978-8857226651}} * Regina José Galindo. Estoy viva, D. Sileo, E. Viola (edited by), Skira Editore, Milan, 2014. * Hermann Nitsch, 135. Aktion, A. Tolve, E. Viola (edited by), Ed. Morra, Naples, 2013. {{ISBN|88-7852-029-2}} * DAMAGE: Mark Raidpere, A. Härm, E. Viola (edited by), 2013, Lugemik, Tallinn. {{ISBN|978-9949-9391-8-3}} * Marina Abramović. The Italian Works, M. Abramović, R. Barilli, A. Bonito Oliva, G. Celant, G.Dorfles, A. Tolve, A.Vettese, D. Sileo, E. Viola (edited by), 2012, 24 Ore Cultura, Milan. {{ISBN|978-88-6648-100-3}} * Marina Abramović. The Abramović Method, M. Abramović, C. Bertola, L.Cherubini, A. Rispoli, D. Sileo, E. Viola (edited by), 2012, 24 Ore Cultura, Milan. {{ISBN|978-886-648-090-7}} * {{cite book | author=Orlan | last2=Hegyi | first2=Lóránd | last3=Viola | first3=Eugenio | title=Orlan : le récit = the narrative | publisher=Charta | publication-place=Milano | date=2007 | isbn=978-88-8158-652-3 | oclc=145723628}}
== References == {{reflist}}
== External links == * http://www.madrenapoli.it/en/ * about 'Per_forming a collection' project: http://www.madrenapoli.it/en/exhibitions/per_forming-a-collection-1/; http://www.madrenapoli.it/en/exhibitions/per_forming-a-collection-2/; http://www.madrenapoli.it/en/exhibitions/per_forming-a-collection-intermezzo/; http://www.madrenapoli.it/en/exhibitions/per_forming-a-collection-3/; http://www.madrenapoli.it/en/exhibitions/per_formare-una-collezione-4/ * about Daniel Buren at Madre museum: http://www.madrenapoli.it/en/exhibitions/daniel-buren-come-un-gioco-da-bambini/; http://www.madrenapoli.it/en/exhibitions/daniel-buren-axer-desaxer-lavoro-in-situ-2015-madre-napoli-2/ * http://www.eugenioviola.com source for a list of all the artists curated by E.Viola * http://www.orlan.eu/exhibitions/ * http://www.tentrotterdam.nl/en/show/tent-academy-awards-2015/ * http://www.pacmilano.it/en/ source for information about the exhibition * https://web.archive.org/web/20150909213455/http://www.apollo-magazine.com/40-under-40-europe-thinkers/ * http://www.fondazionemorra.org about Gian Maria Tosatti's project curated by E.Viola "Le sette stagioni dello spirito" * http://www.artribune.com/2014/12/lavanzata-della-nuova-scena-polacca-eugenio-viola-cura-la-personale-di-karol-radziszewski-al-coca-di-torun-nuovo-step-per-il-focus-poland-project/ About Karol Radziszewski's exhibition curated by E. Viola in Torun * Eugenio Viola interviewed by Francesca Pietropaolo in "Brooklyn Rail" (April 2022): https://brooklynrail.org/2022/04/art/Eugenio-Viola-with-Francesca-Pietropaolo {{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Viola, Eugenio}} Category:1975 births Category:Living people Category:Italian art critics Category:University of Salerno alumni Category:Male actors from Naples Category:Italian art curators