Michelangelo Consani was born in Livorno (1971), lives and works in Castell’Anselmo.
He studied at the I.S.A in Pisa obtaining the artistic High School Diploma. From 1990 to 2000 he collaborated as lighting designer with prestigious companies including Reggiani, Flos, Nemo and Artemide. With Artemide he worked on the design of public lighting in collaboration with the studio of Italo Rota; performed lighting calculations for the RA system conceived by Sir. Norman Foster. In 2024 he opened in the heart of San Gimignano in a historic building, ieedificio57, a non-profit research centre for the visual arts that aims to host domestic and international events.
The work that Michelangelo Consani has been pursuing for many years now appears to fit into the genealogy of individual histories that look towards possible orientations rather than conceiving of themselves as being part of a narrative already written and tried out by others. This applies both to his view of himself as an artist and to the positioning of his work on the contemporary art scene.
Michelangelo Consani has exhibited in numerous private and public institutions in Italy and abroad from 1999 to-date. Some of these are:
ArtKliazma (Moscow); Undeaf Dutch Elettronic Art Festival (Rotterdam); Center for Contemporary Art Celje (Celje); MACRO (Rome); MAC VAL (Paris); Schunck (Heerlen); Cittadellarte Fondazione Pistoletto (Biella); Kunstraum München (Munich); Casino Luxembourg – Forum d’Art Contemporain (Luxembourg); Isola Art Center (Milan); Luigi Pecci Center for Contemporary Art (Prato); Assabe One (Milan); Kapetan Misino Zdanje Palace (Belgrade); Villa Romana (Florence); Nelson Mandela Square (Johannesburg); Darb 1718 Contemporary Art & Culture (Cairo); Frigoriferi Milanesi (Milan); Fondation Donwahi (Ivory Coast); Kunstenfestival Watou (Watou); PAV (Turin); Italian Cultural Institute (Tokyo); Kyoto Imperial Palace (Kyoto).
Consani also participated in the 11th Architecture Biennale (Venice); the 1st Aichi Triennial (Nagoya); the 15th Dakar Biennial (Dakar); the 2nd Valencia Biennale (Spain); the16th Rome Quadriennale (Rome).
He took part to following collateral events: 14th Carrara Biennial (Carrara); 12th Manifesta (Palermo); 14th Berlin Biennale.
The KunstvereinMilan / Amsterdam / New York has published a monograph on the artist’s work, curated by Matteo Lucchetti, entitled “Caspian Depression and a One Straw Revolution”. It has been presented at PS1 in New York and at the Independent Publishing Festival in Berlin.
Selected catalogues
2025
The Milky Way, texts by Damiana Leoni; Ed. Bandecchi & Vivaldi.
Between the artists involved:
Ai Weiwei, Massimo Bartolini, Loris Cecchini, Jonathas De Andrade, Matt Dillon, Carlos Garaicoa, Shilpa Gupta, Sabrina Mezzaqui, Seboo Migone, Rudi Ninov, Hans Op De Beeck, Ornaghi & Prestinari, Giovanni Ozzola, Tobias Rehberger, Arcangelo Sassolino, Serse, Nina Silverberg, Marta Spagnoli, Pascale Marthine Tayou, Eugenio Tibaldi.
2024
Vis-à-vis, texts by Elsa Barbieri, Massimo Francucci, Giuliana Pascucci; Ed. Dario Cimorelli Editore.
Between the artists involved:
Evgeny Antufiev, Eduardo Arroyo, Matthew Attard, Joseph Beuys, Fabrizio Cotognini, Enzo Cucchi, Antony Gormley, Maggi Hambling, Diango Hernández, Leiko Ikemura, Jiri Kolar, Mark Manders, Annette Messager, Roman Opalka, Laura Paoletti, Vettor Pisani, David Reimondo, Klaus Rinke, Kiki Smith.
2020
Arcadia e Apocalisse: Paesaggi italiani in 150 anni di arte, texts by Paolo Emilio Antognoli, Maria Francesca Bonetti, Daniela Fonti, Alessandro Romanini; Ed. Bandecchi & Vivaldi.
Between the artists involved:
Wilhem Von Gloeden, Giacomo Caneva, Giovanni Fattori, Francesco Paolo Michetti, Luigi Gioli, Llewelynlloyd, Giacomo Balla, Mario Sironi, Umberto Boccioni, Plinio Nomellini, Gaetano Previati, Leonardo Dudreville, Fortunato Depero, Duilio Cambellotti, Felice Casorati, Ardengo Soffici, Osvaldo Licini, Antonio Donghi, Giorgio Morandi, Carlo Carrà, Lorenzo Viani, Alberto Savinio, Giorgio De Chirico, Afro, Galileo Chini, Luca Maria Patella, Nino Migliori, Mimmo Jodice, Mario Cresci, Luigi Ghirri, Pier Paolo Calzolari, Piero Gilardi, Gabriele Basilico, Ketty La Rocca, Olivio Barbieri, Giuseppe Bartolini, Luigi Ontani, Paolo Scirpa, Gianni Pettena, Superstudio, 9999, Ugo La Pietra, Ettore Sottsass Jr, Michelangelo Pistoletto.
2019
Resistenza/ Resilienza, texts by Enrico Bonanate, Orietta Brombin, Gaia Bindi,
Piero Gilardi; Ed. Prinp Editore.
Between the artists involved:
Marco Bailone, Gea Casolaro, Leone Contini, Piero Gilardi, Michele Guido, Ugo La Pietra e Gruppo Wurmkos.
2016
16a Quadriennale di Roma: Altri tempi altri miti; section De Rerum Rurale, text by Matteo Lucchetti; Ed. Nero.
Between the artists involved:
Mario Airò, Alterazioni Video, Yuri Ancarani, Calò Giorgio Andreotta, Rosa Barba, Massimo Bartolini, Gianfranco Baruchello, Emanuele Becheri, Rossella Biscotti, Beatrice Catanzaro, Leone Contini, Luigi Coppola, Danilo Correale, Roberto Cuoghi, Curandi Katz on Masako Matsushita, Rä Di Martino, Matteo Fato, Lara Favaretto, Chiara Fumai, Martino Gamper, Alberto Garutti, Massimiliano Grimaldi, Adelita Husni-Bey, Invernomuto, Renato Leotta, Armin Linke, Christiane Löhr, Marcello Maloberti, Marzia Migliora, Margherita Moscardini, Cesare Pietroiusti, Carol Rama, Moira Ricci, Nicola Samorì, Marinella Senatore, Luca Trevisani, Patrick Tuttofuoco, Francesco Vezzoli, Luca Vitone, Italo Zuffi.
2017
Il passo sospeso. Esplorazione del limite, texts by Gilberto Bedini, Paolo Bolpagni, Alessandro Romanini; Ed. Fondazione Ragghianti.
Between the artists involved:
Marina Abramović, Bas Jan Ader, Alighiero Boetti, Marcel Broodthaers, Leone Contini, Gino De Dominicis, Lucio Fontana, William Kentridge, Joseph Kosuth, Piero Manzoni, Marisa Merz, Jonathan Monk, ORLAN, Marc Quinn Wael Shawky, Santiago Sierra, Giuseppe Uncini, Guido van der Werve, Kan Yasuda.
2015
Something Else – OFF Biennale, texts by Simon Njami, Pilar Tompkins Rivas,
Power Enroth, JeanF Jans, Aura Seikkula, Olaf FekiOrlando, Britto-Jinorio.
Ed. Darb 1718 Contemporary Art & Culture.
Between the artists involved:
Adel Abidin, Hela Ammar, Joël Andrianomearisoa, Iván Argote, Nabil Boutros, Robert Cahen, Tania Candiani, Carolina Caycedo, Lilibeth Cuenca Rasmussen, Klas Eriksson, Jellel Gasteli, Khaled Hafez, Hsia-Fei Chang, Pascale Marthine Tayou, Rä di Martino, Ari Benjamin Meyers, Marco Montiel- Soto, Carlos Motta, Mwangi Hutter, Moataz Nasr, Eamon Ore-Giron, Georgy Ostretsov, Yazid Oulab, Naufus Ramirez Figueroa, Faisal Samra, Johan, Zetterquist, Zimmerfrei, Amina Zoubir.
2013
Dissentire, text by Alba Braza Boils; Ed. Settore8.
Between the artists involved:
Cabello/Carceller, Yaima Carrazana, Fernando Sàncez Castillo, Cristina Lucas.
2010
Aichi Triennale: Art and Cities, texts by Masahiko Haito, Emmanuelle de Montgazon, Jochen Volz, Pier Luigi Tazzi. Ed. Aichi Triennale.
Between the artists involved:
Adel Abdessemed, Juan Araujo, Jerom Bel, Chiharu Shiota, Cai Guo-Qiang, Cerith Wyn Evans, Jan Fabre, Tom Friedman, Cyprien Gaillard, Gelitin, Ryoji Ikeda, Amar Kanwar, Sonia Khurana, Jacob Kirkegaard, Lucia Koch, Takehito Koganezawa, Yayoi Kusama, La Ribot, Hans Op de Beeck, Amalia Pica, Navin Rawanchaikul, Shimabuku, Santiago Sierra, Kamen Stoyanov, Sun Yuan + Peng Yu, Tatzu Nishi, Tatiana Trouvé, Franz West, Yang Fudong, Héctor Zamora, Zhang Huan.
2009
Rites de passage, texts by Richard Jacobs and Pier Luigi Tazzi; Ed. Shunck.
Between the artists involved:
Adel Abdessemed, Pawel Althamer, Rineke Dijkstra, Mu Chen & Shao Yinong, Yoshitomo Nara, Giovanni Ozzola, Wael Shawky, Shih Chieh Huang, Société Réaliste, Italo Zuffi.
2007
Suitcase Illuminated Parallel Economies, texts by Katia Anguelova, Alessandra Poggianti; Ed. Lobinski Saloon. Between the artists involved:
Meschac Gaba, Cao Guimarães, Gülsün Karamustafa, Surasi Kusolwong, Tadej Pogacar, Oliver Ressler, Kamen Stoyanov, Superflex.
2004
On Air: Video in onda dall’Italia, texts by Ilaria Bonaccossa, Barbara Casavecchia, Cristiana Collu, Milovan Farronato, Andrea Lissoni, Teresa Macrì, Marco Scotini, Andrea Viliani and other. Ed. Silvana Editoriale.
Between the artists involved:
Davide Bertocchi, Alex Cecchetti, Paolo Chiasera, Lara Favaretto, Massimo Grimaldi, Deborah Ligorio, Armin Linke, Marcello Maloberti, Eva Marisaldi, Rä di Martino, Fabio Mauri, Marzia Migliora, Adrian Paci, Cesare Pietroiusti, Klaus Pobitzer, Marinella Senatore, Alessandra Spranzi, Nico Vascellari, Sisley Xhafa, Italo Zuffi.
Monographs
2025
Momonaku, text by Pier Luigi Tazzi, Matteo Lucchetti, Alessandra Alliata Nobili; Ed. ieedificio57.
2021
Attraversò il campo di patate senza farsi alcun male, text by Pier Luigi Tazzi; Ed. ME Vannucci.
2018
Sculpture, potatoes, lemons, pigs, numbers and white pages…, texts by
Michelangelo Consani, Matteo Lucchetti, Pier Luigi Tazzi; self-produced.
2016
Milankyo, text by Matteo Lucchetti; Ed. Prometeo Gallery.
2012
The Caspian Depression. And a one straw revolution, texts by Paolo Emilio
Antognoli, Serge Latouche, Matteo Lucchetti, Kunstverein Milano, Pier Luigi Tazzi; Ed. Kunstverein (Milan, Amsterdam, New York).
2010
Barter Book, texts by Paolo Emilio Antognoli, Michelangelo Consani, Serge
Latouche, Lorenzo Giusti, Marko Stamencovic, Pier Luigi Tazzi; Ed. Piano B.
2008
Skip intro: Michelangelo Consani, texts by Paolo Emilio Antognoli, Anguelova & Poggianti, Marko Stamenkovic, Pier Luigi Tazzi; Ed. Shin Milano.
selected text
How long can a second last?, alessandra poggianti & Katia AnguelovaFor a creativity of de-growth, by paolo emilio antognoliAn album to exorcise the spirit of catastrophe, by Paolo Emilio AntognoliDecolonizing the imaginary, by Matteo LucchettiBiella, Italy, June 2008; by Marko StamenkovicNeverending, by Pier Luigi TazziOkinawa, by Pier Luigi Tazzi
Selected participations, lectures and workshops
2022
Dal grado zero della critica alla crisi della curatela, lecture, Palazzo Strozzi, Firenze, Italy
2016
Fibrillazioni tra arte e politica: Michelangelo Consani and Alberto Garutti, lecture , Accademia di Belle Arti, Firenze, Italy
2015
Forum dell’arte contemporanea italiana, lecture, Centro per l’Arte Contemporanea Luigi Pecci, Prato, Italy
Miss Read 2015, presentation The Caspian Depression book, Berlino, Germany
2012
Printed Matter Inc., presentation of the book The Caspian Depression, MoMA PS1, New York, U.S.A
Talk of presentation The Caspian Depression book, Centro per l’Arte Contemporanea Luigi Pecci, Milano, Italy
2011
Solar Cooking, Kunstraum München, München, Germany
The Solar Project, PAV Parco Arte Vivente, Torino, Italy
2009
Solar Cooking Project, lecture in the context of the group show Green Platform, CCC
Strozzina, Centro Cultura Contemporanea Palazzo Strozzi, Firenze, Italy
Beat on the brat, lecture, Museo Marino Marini, Firenze, Italy
2007
Barter Project, workshop, The Hangar Space, Rotterdam, Netherlands
selected press online
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