Marco Mendeni
1979 born in Brescia (IT). He lives and works in Milan (IT)
He explores new realities and situations engendered by technology. Specifically, he uses video games as an expressive medium to investigate the relation between the real and the digital, simulation and dissimulation. Mendeni’s work is informed by such binaries as virtuality vs. materiality, presence vs. absence, tradition vs. innovation. Videogame worlds, in their virtual reality, lose their artificial character as playable simulations to become a space for exploration and experimentation. Mendeni approaches video games as unsubstantial constructions and turns them into material objects. This apparent paradox creates new meanings and situations.
selected solo exhibitions:
2017, DE ORACULIS NOVIS, curated by Arianna Grava, Area35 Gallery, Milano (IT), Hype, curated By Matteo Bittanti, AmyD Gallery, Milano, (IT), “My Time Machine Is Burning. (Is There A Life After Capitalism?)”, curated by Elena Giulia Abbiaticci, Label 201, Roma, (IT). 2016, Digital Concrete, bank AZIMUT, curated by Arianna Grava, Via Filippo Turati 10, Brescia, (IT). 2015, NO NAME [that’s the way the cookie crumbles], curated by Roberto Borghi, Theca Gallery, Milano, Italy. 2014, Deceptive Perceptions | Museo Civico, Campione d’Italia, curator Matteo Bittanti, Switzerland, EXTRA/ORDINARY WORLD | SpazioBarnum, curated by Federica Patti, Bologna, (IT)
selected group exhibitions:
2018, RINASCIMENTO 4.0, curated by Danila Ipri, Palazzo Strozzi, Firenze, Italy#LAYERS. Contemporary Art in the Digital Era, Art Brussels debate “Ways beyond the post-Internet, curated by Fabio Paris, Brussels, A Room with Views, curated by Tiziana Gemin, IED, Milano, Italy, DUST, Marco Mendeni / Simone Dulcis, curate by Andrea Carlo Alpini, Theca Gallery, Milano, Italy, No Middle, No End, Curated by Federica Pattti, Centre for Contemporary Art,Gdansk Dolne Miasto, Poland. 2017, Off Biennale Cairo, curated by Elena Giulia Abbiatici, Cairo, Egypt, Aspetti di superficie,Theca Gallery, curate by Andrea Carlo Alpini, Milano, (IT),DIGRA 2017, IULM space, curated by Matteo Bittanti, Milano, (IT),Reale è virtuale, Spaghettiparty, a cura di Chiara Moro e Stefano Monti, SetUp 2017, Bologna, Italy, Art City: Cinema per l’Arte, CUBO, a cura di Federica Patti e Vanina Saracino, Bologna, Italy. 2016, Digital frame, curated by Chiara Canali, Uncommon, Milano, (IT), DIGITAL HUMANITIES, curated by Chiara Canali, BETA 80 Group, Milano, (IT), REFRESH 01 – #LAYERS, Spazio Contemporanea, curated by Fabio Paris, Brescia, (IT), GAME VIDEO/ART. A SURVEY, XX1T Triennale International Exhibition, IULM space, curated by Vincenzo Trione and Matteo Bittanti, Milan, (IT), BNL Media Art Festival, MAXXI Museo nazionale delle arti del XXI secolo, Roma, (IT), The Wrong/New Digital Art Biennale,Galerie Charlot, curated by Filippo Lorenzin and Kamilia kard, Paris, France,12th Athens Digital Arts Festival, | Historic center of Athens, Greece. 2015, 0M / no place to hide, Museo Civico Monfalcone, curated by Martina Cavallerin/Stefano Monti, Monfalcone, (IT), Off Biennale Cairo, curated by Elena Giulia Abbiatici, Cairo, Egypt, AuRevoir, curated by Kevin McManus, Theca Gallery, Milano, (IT), 6PM Local Time, WeMake, curated by Domenico Quaranta and Fabio Paris, Milano, Italy, The Wrong Digital Art Biennale, Curated by Filippo Lorenzin, Kamilia kard, International Contemporary art fair, Art Vilnius, curated by Diana Stomienė, Vilnius, Lithuania, Dancity Festival, curated by Carla Capodimonti, Foligno, Perugia, (IT), U.V.2 PATRICIA, Fabbrica del Vapore, Milano, (IT), Live Cinema Festival, Roma, IT).
