Video.it began in September 1999. Torino was one of the places where there was a clear perception of how important it would be to offer the public an opportunity to observe video artists’ recent work, within the framework of what was being done nationally and internationally. In fact, starting in the Sixties, there had been a lively art scene in Torino and genuine interest demonstrated in experimental films and artists’videos, seen and known thanks to the independent cinema cooperative, a unique experience together with what was being done in better known cities such as Rome.
The Artegiovane Association entrusted the task of organizing the new event to Francesco Poli, Mario Gorni and Elena Volpato and the festival began working togethervwith the Centro d’arte e documentazione Careof in Milan, directed by Gorni – the only authentic Italian archive where it is possible to find a wealth of documentation on over twenty years’ of artists’ videos and where the production of videos by artists, in Italy and elsewhere, is constantly monitored. It is essential to recall collaboration with GAM, Torino’s museum of modern and contemporary art, whose video library, curated by Elena Volpato, was inaugurated in the same days the first video.it festival was being held. GAM’s videoteque was Italy’s first museum-level collection of videos by artists and experimental films could be consulted by the general public.
Also particularly important were the participation not only of institutional partners but also of MosaicoDanza – particularly its director Natalia Casorati – involved from the very beginning, and more recently that of Caterina Fossati (for contemporary poetry), whose enthusiasm made possible real artistic interdisciplinarity in constructing programs and the evening events.
The early editions of video.it, held in the cloisters of the Church of San Pietro in Vincoli, screened a vast range of Italian and international videos, bringing together a conspicuous quantity of works and documentation in the first small publications issued. Despite economic difficulties, the annual appointment with video.it has always been respected and the validity of its selections has been reconfirmed from year to year in its ability to follow a large number of artists and its having presented many young artists who became figures of noteworthy interest on the contemporary scene. In the years that followed, the event was also held in Milan, for example in 2003 when it was held in the outstandingly beautiful Palazzina Liberty, where screenings alternated with readings of contemporary poetry by Giancarlo Majorino and Alda Merini. The 2004 edition was a noteworthy public success, thanks to assistance from Lottomatica/Gioco del Lotto, which made it possible to produce an ad hoc work by Marcello Maloberti, video.it, and to Paola Bianchi’s and Ambra Senatore’s dance performances.
Since the seventh edition, held in 2005, given the growing number of videos by artists being produced, it was decided to adopt selection criteria based both on quality and specific themes. For 2006/07 the theme chosen was that of an Olympics of Culture. A further important innovation was the collaboration which began in 2005 between GAI-Circuito Giovani Artisti Italiani (the Association of Young Italian Artists) and video.it.
When video.it was held for the eighth time in January 2007, Francesco Bernardelli was invited to join its curatorial and organizing team and it was decided to schedule screenings together with those of Share Festival presented at Academia Albertina, Torino’s academy of fine arts. The decision was connected to the 2007 Winter Universiade, which Torino hosted, and the joint presentation of events continued in 2007 and 2008. In recent years video.it, through its collaboration with GAI, has selected new works by young artists whose videos deal with the particular theme chosen,for example the designer object in the environment (2008). As an homage to and a reflection on its proximity to the events organized in 2008 when Torino was World Capital of Design, it was also decided that a small retrospective – Sconfinamenti - should be presented. It was devoted to the forward-looking, historic transdisciplinary work done in Italy by Radical and Post-design architects between the late Sixties / early Seventies and early Eighties. The project was developed in cooperation with the architects involved and the library/archives of the Luigi Pecci Centre of Contemporary Art in Prato. Within the annual awards, four works by young artists were given prizes, made possible by the financial contribution of UniCredit Private Banking, a valuable partner in recent years.
For the new edition being held on video.it’s tenth anniversary, new sections, open to artists from the Mediterranean area, have been created. Two critic-curators, Cristiana Perrella (Rome) and Paola Nicita (Palermo) have joined the art advisory committee. The up-coming edition of the festival has been sponsored by Regione Piemonte, the City of Torino, the Unicredit Private Banking Award, the Milan and Torino Chambers of Commerce, and by GAI-Associazione Circuito Giovani Artisti Italiani, with the collaboration of Careof/DOCVA in Milan, BJCEM – the Association for the Biennial of Young European and Mediterranean Artists, Italy’s Ministries of Culture and Foreign Affairs, France’s Ministry of Culture and Communications, and the European Commission. It will be held on the evenings of 25, 26 and 27 March in a new, prestigious venue in Torino – Fondazione Merz – and will then begin its journey to other cities and new venues in Italy.
The Artegiovane Association entrusted the task of organizing the new event to Francesco Poli, Mario Gorni and Elena Volpato and the festival began working togethervwith the Centro d’arte e documentazione Careof in Milan, directed by Gorni – the only authentic Italian archive where it is possible to find a wealth of documentation on over twenty years’ of artists’ videos and where the production of videos by artists, in Italy and elsewhere, is constantly monitored. It is essential to recall collaboration with GAM, Torino’s museum of modern and contemporary art, whose video library, curated by Elena Volpato, was inaugurated in the same days the first video.it festival was being held. GAM’s videoteque was Italy’s first museum-level collection of videos by artists and experimental films could be consulted by the general public.
Also particularly important were the participation not only of institutional partners but also of MosaicoDanza – particularly its director Natalia Casorati – involved from the very beginning, and more recently that of Caterina Fossati (for contemporary poetry), whose enthusiasm made possible real artistic interdisciplinarity in constructing programs and the evening events.
The early editions of video.it, held in the cloisters of the Church of San Pietro in Vincoli, screened a vast range of Italian and international videos, bringing together a conspicuous quantity of works and documentation in the first small publications issued. Despite economic difficulties, the annual appointment with video.it has always been respected and the validity of its selections has been reconfirmed from year to year in its ability to follow a large number of artists and its having presented many young artists who became figures of noteworthy interest on the contemporary scene. In the years that followed, the event was also held in Milan, for example in 2003 when it was held in the outstandingly beautiful Palazzina Liberty, where screenings alternated with readings of contemporary poetry by Giancarlo Majorino and Alda Merini. The 2004 edition was a noteworthy public success, thanks to assistance from Lottomatica/Gioco del Lotto, which made it possible to produce an ad hoc work by Marcello Maloberti, video.it, and to Paola Bianchi’s and Ambra Senatore’s dance performances.
Since the seventh edition, held in 2005, given the growing number of videos by artists being produced, it was decided to adopt selection criteria based both on quality and specific themes. For 2006/07 the theme chosen was that of an Olympics of Culture. A further important innovation was the collaboration which began in 2005 between GAI-Circuito Giovani Artisti Italiani (the Association of Young Italian Artists) and video.it.
When video.it was held for the eighth time in January 2007, Francesco Bernardelli was invited to join its curatorial and organizing team and it was decided to schedule screenings together with those of Share Festival presented at Academia Albertina, Torino’s academy of fine arts. The decision was connected to the 2007 Winter Universiade, which Torino hosted, and the joint presentation of events continued in 2007 and 2008. In recent years video.it, through its collaboration with GAI, has selected new works by young artists whose videos deal with the particular theme chosen,for example the designer object in the environment (2008). As an homage to and a reflection on its proximity to the events organized in 2008 when Torino was World Capital of Design, it was also decided that a small retrospective – Sconfinamenti - should be presented. It was devoted to the forward-looking, historic transdisciplinary work done in Italy by Radical and Post-design architects between the late Sixties / early Seventies and early Eighties. The project was developed in cooperation with the architects involved and the library/archives of the Luigi Pecci Centre of Contemporary Art in Prato. Within the annual awards, four works by young artists were given prizes, made possible by the financial contribution of UniCredit Private Banking, a valuable partner in recent years.
For the new edition being held on video.it’s tenth anniversary, new sections, open to artists from the Mediterranean area, have been created. Two critic-curators, Cristiana Perrella (Rome) and Paola Nicita (Palermo) have joined the art advisory committee. The up-coming edition of the festival has been sponsored by Regione Piemonte, the City of Torino, the Unicredit Private Banking Award, the Milan and Torino Chambers of Commerce, and by GAI-Associazione Circuito Giovani Artisti Italiani, with the collaboration of Careof/DOCVA in Milan, BJCEM – the Association for the Biennial of Young European and Mediterranean Artists, Italy’s Ministries of Culture and Foreign Affairs, France’s Ministry of Culture and Communications, and the European Commission. It will be held on the evenings of 25, 26 and 27 March in a new, prestigious venue in Torino – Fondazione Merz – and will then begin its journey to other cities and new venues in Italy.