Pavilion of Italy, Gian Maria Tosatti – 59th Venice Art Biennale 2022

History of Night and Destiny of Comets, Italian Pavilion, 59th Venice Art Biennale, installation view; photo © Riccardo Bianchini / Inexhibit.

The Pavilion of Italy at the 59th Venice Art Biennale

Title: History of Night and Destiny of Comets
Commissioner: Onofrio Cutaia
Curator: Eugenio Viola
Artist: Gian Maria Tosatti

At the 59th Venice Art Biennale, Italy presents an installation curated by Eugenio Viola and entitled ‘History of Night and Destiny of Comets’.
For the first time, the Italian Pavilion presents the work of a single artist: Gian Maria Tosatti.

History of Night and Destiny of Comets is a large site-specific installation and a reflection on the destiny of humanity poised between a past of dreams and mistakes and a future yet to be.
The installation – whose core subject is the challenging balance between development and sustainability and between ethics and profit – takes us across the rise and fall of Italian industrialization, from the 1960s to the present. The public meanders through workshops and warehouses connected by metal stairs and anodizes aluminum doors; a gloomy apartment overlooks and opens onto a textile factory with dozens of sewing machines, in what is possibly the most visually striking part of the installation and a symbol of the unplanned Italian economic growth of the past.
The final part of the installation is both poetic and staggering; it features a water mirror placed amidst a large space, darkened and only dimly lighted by fireflies. Inspired by an article by Pier Paolo Pasolini, this part is a symbol of hope and represents the chance to learn from past mistakes to better face the challenge of the future.

Gian Maria Tosatti (Naples, 1980), since 2005, creates site-specific installations between architecture and visual arts. His works, installed in buildings and urban spaces, investigate the concept of spiritual and political identity. Tosatti frequently collaborates with the local communities in the places where he works.

History of Night and Destiny of Comets, Italian Pavilion, 59th Venice Art Biennale, installation views; photos © Riccardo Bianchini / Inexhibit.