Biography

Cloti Ricciardi

Rome 1939

Lives in Rome

 

Cloti Ricciardi, an activist of the Roman feminist movement of the ‘70s, reclaims women artists’ lateral perspective as a tool of awareness through which the symbolic structure of art can be modified. In her practice, the performative dimension goes together with an analysis of space, which is created and explored by merging sculpture, architecture, painting and installation.

Respiro (Breath, 1968) has been set up at Palazzo delle Esposizioni after being exhibited in 1968 in the theatre of Circolo La Fede, Rome and at the Modern Art Agency in Naples the following year. The work, which is one of the first examples of interactive environments in Italy, is a room completely covered with a white fabric, which the visitors activate by means of strings connected to an invisible system of pulleys; the ropes move the fabric, making the entire room ‘breathe’. Respiro triggers a reflection on the central role of the (individual and collective) body in the exhibition space, which is transformed by the actions of the visitors on the strings. To the conforming space of the ‘white cube’, with its silent and white walls where museums display works of contemporary art, Ricciardi juxtaposes a liquifying space-body free from the constraints of patriarchy, creating a new ground for interaction.

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Cloti Ricciardi, installation view, 2020 Art Quadriennale FUORI

Photo DSL Studio

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Cloti Ricciardi, installation view, 2020 Art Quadriennale FUORI

Photo DSL Studio