Damiano Bertoli

Prato project 2018

Damiano undertook two projects, each one relating to cultural movements in Northern Italy.

The first continued a series of works exploring the relationships between design and radical politics in Italy, with specific reference to influential 1980s Milan design group ‘Memphis’ and material on student and worker movements curated at the Centro Documentazione Pistoia.

Damiano’s second project was conducted in collaboration with Monash Art Design & Architecture lecturer Warren Taylor, curating an exhibition and catalogue of the work of Fluxus designer Gianni Sassi.

Background

Through his multi-disciplinary practice, Damiano Bertoli (d. 2021) challenged ideas of authorship, influence, and the inscribed flow of art-historical time, often bringing together artworks, historical events and cultural material to examine their form and language by means of recontextualisation. His methodology explored the principles of assemblage and montage across sculpture, installation, photography, drawing, video and performance. Articulating an ongoing investigation into how artists negotiate the past, present and future through their ideas and objects, Damiano’s work interrogated the narrative of time, critically positioning his own and other artists’ work in a continuum in order to question the nature of art-making itself.

Damiano received a PhD in Fine Art from Monash University in 2014. He was a lecturer at Monash University and the Victorian College of the Arts, Melbourne. His work is the subject of the monograph Continuous Moment - Damiano Bertoli, published by Surpllus.

Three of Damiano’s works are held in the Monash University Collection.

Find out more about Damiano's work on Milani Gallery’s website.