BIOGRAPHY

ENGLISH

Gigi Cifali (1975, Torre del Greco, Naples) lives and works in Milan, Italy. He studied photography at the University of Westminster in London. The artist photographs using a large format camera and explores, above all, environmental and collective memory issues. His works have been exhibited at the Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea in Rome, Stadtmuseum Baden-Baden (project by the Staatliche Kunsthalle Baden-Baden and Mucem), Museu do Dinheiro in Lisbon, Fondation François Schneider in Wattwiller, and the Odessa Biennale of Contemporary Art, among others.

ITALIANO

Gigi Cifali (1975, Torre del Greco, Napoli) vive e lavora a Milano. Ha studiato fotografia all’University of Westminster a Londra. L’artista fotografa in grande formato e principalmente esplora temi dell’ambiente e della memoria collettiva. Ha esposto alla Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea a Roma, Stadtmuseum Baden-Baden (progetto della Staatliche Kunsthalle Baden-Baden e Mucem), Museu do Dinheiro a Lisbona, Fondation François Schneider a Wattwiller e Odessa Biennale of Contemporary Art.

SELECTED EXHIBITIONS

> 2025 “Confluences”, Fondation François Schneider, works from the Collections of the Fondation François Schneider, FRAC Alsace, FRAC Champagne-Ardenne, and 49 Nord 6 Est - FRAC Lorraine, Wattwiller, France (group show, curated by Sarah Guilain)
> 2020 “Körper. Blicke. Macht. Eine Kulturgeschichte des Bades” (Body. Gaze. Power. A Cultural History of the Bath), Stadtmuseum Baden-Baden, project by Staatliche Kunsthalle Baden-Baden and Mucem, Baden-Baden, Germany (group show)
> 2018 “ilmondoinfine: vivere tra le rovine”, Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea, Rome, Italy (group show, project by Ilaria Bussoni)
> 2018 “Escutar as águas”, Museu do Dinheiro - Torreão Nascente da Cordoaria Nacional, Lisbon, Portugal (group show, curated by Paulo Pires Do Vale)
> 2017 “Turbulence Area”, 5th Odessa Biennale of Contemporary Art, Odessa, Ukraine (group show)
> 2016 Contemporary Photography Award, 5th Edition, Fondazione Francesco Fabbri, Treviso, Italy (Finalists group show)
> 2016 “Absence of Water”, Indian Photography Festival, Hyderabad, India
> 2015 FAR. Political Terrorism as news from a distant star: “Images and Signs: Italy, 1969-89”, Toolbox, Turin, Italy (solo show, curated by Gianluigi Ricuperati)
> 2015 “la Collection”, Fondation François Schneider, Wattwiller, France (group show, curated by Auguste Vonville; critical text by Viktoria von der Brüggen)
> 2014 “Contemporary Talents 2012”, Fondation François Schneider, Wattwiller, France (group show, curated by Viktoria von der Brüggen)
> 2012 “Contemporary Visions III”, Beers.Lambert Gallery, London, UK (group show)
> 2010 “Della Natura”, Galleria Spazio Farini 6, Milan, Italy (group show)
> 2009 “Affluenza”, Clerkenwell, London, UK (group show)
> 2009 AOP Association of Photographers Awards, AOP Gallery, London, UK (group show)
> 2009 IPA Lucie Foundation, International Photography Awards Show, New York, USA (group show)
> 2009 Calumet Assistants Photo Award, London, UK (group show)
> 2008 “Foto8 SummerShow”, HOST Gallery, London, UK (group show)

TALK

> 2024 La Millemiglia delle idee, Museo Nazionale dell’Automobile, Turin, Italy (curated by Gianluigi Ricuperati)

“la Collection", Fondation François Schneider, Wattwiller, 2015

introduction_GalleriaNazionale_gigi cifali

“ilmondoinfine: vivere tra le rovine”, Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea, Rome, 2018

SELECTED AWARDS

> Contemporary Photography Award 2016 - Fondazione Francesco Fabbri: Finalist
> Contemporary Talents 2012 - Fondation François Schneider: Finalist
> IPA International Photography Awards - Lucie Foundation 2009 Professional: 1st place Architecture, Historic
> Calumet Assistant Photo Awards 2009
> AOP Photographers Awards 2009
> Let’s Face It 3 Portraiture Competition - London Photographic Association 2007: Highly Recommended Mention
> Fujifilm Professional Awards 2007: Merit Award

BOOKS

> Arte, ecologia e attivismo. L’opera estesa, Mariasole Garacci, postmedia books, 2025, Research for “Panorama of 21st-Century Italian Art” project of La Quadriennale Foundation in Rome (“New Vesuvian Landscapes #03” on cover)

> C’era una volta in Italia. Gli anni Settanta, Enrico Deaglio, with Ivan Carozzi, Feltrinelli, 2024 (photographs from the series “Images and Signs: Italy, 1969-89. Practices of Memory” on cover and inside)

> The Swimming Pool in Photography, texts by Francis Hodgson, Hatje Cantz, 2018 (with “Absence of Water”)

> un’apparizione di superfici, Luca Panaro, Apm Edizioni, 2017 (with “Images and Signs: Italy, 1969-89. Practices of Memory”)

SELECTED COLLECTIONS

> Fondation François Schneider, Wattwiller, France
> Collection Vanmoerkerke, Oostende, Belgium
> Collection Filippo Chia, Italy

BIBLIOGRAPHY

> “Arte, ecologia e attivismo. L’opera estesa” by Mariasole Garacci, La Quadriennale Foundation in Rome, postmedia books, February 2025. The book brings together the research on the relationship between art and ecology for the “Panorama of 21st-Century Italian Art” project (2022) of the national institution. A chapter is dedicated to each of the eleven artists considered, respectively: Giorgio Andreotta Calò, Adelita Husni-Bey, Gian Maria Tosatti, Rosa Barba, Pier Alfeo, Paolo Cirio, Andreco, Gigi Cifali, Domenico Antonio Mancini, Luana Perilli, Eugenio Tibaldi. On cover: Gigi Cifali, New Vesuvian Landscapes #03, 2011-13.
> la Lettura, Corriere della Sera, p. 23, 29.12.2024: “Di piombo e di battaglie civili. Il decennio che ancora divide” by Alessandro Trocino
> Rai 3, Il cavallo e la torre, 12.12.2024: Marco Damilano interviews Enrico Deaglio with “C’era una volta in Italia. Gli anni Settanta” remembering the Piazza Fontana Bombing in Milan
> Rai 3, Quante Storie, 02.12.2024: program dedicated to “C’era una volta in Italia. Gli anni Settanta”, Giorgio Zanchini interviews Enrico Deaglio
> la Repubblica, www.repubblica.it, 30.11.2024: “La camicia insanguinata di Moro e altri misteri italiani” by Concetto Vecchio, interview with Enrico Deaglio
> il venerdì di Repubblica, pp. 48-49, 29.11.2024: “La nostra Sindone è la camicia di Aldo Moro” by Concetto Vecchio, interview with Enrico Deaglio
> “C’era una volta in Italia. Gli anni Settanta”, Enrico Deaglio, with Ivan Carozzi, Feltrinelli, November 2024. The cover features a detail of “Shirt A.M. - Murder of Aldo Moro (Rome, 09.05.1978)” by Gigi Cifali, included inside the book entirely with other photographs of the “Images and Signs: Italy, 1969-89. Practices of Memory” series.
> Panorama, La Quadriennale, www.quadriennalediroma.org/gigi-cifali/, 26.04.2023: Studio visit by Nicolas Martino
> Esquire Italia, www.esquire.com/it/, 24.05.2022: “Caso Moro, i corpi del reato. Il rapimento del presidente della Dc raccontato nella serie Esterno Notte di Marco Bellocchio presentata a Cannes visto attraverso il progetto del fotografo Gigi Cifali.” by Germano D’Acquisto
> domus, p. XVIII, Luglio - Agosto 2020: “Una foto alla volta” by Raffaele Vertaldi
> ATP DIARY, www.atpdiary.com, 28.07.2020: “New Photography | Gigi Cifali” by Mauro Zanchi and Sara Benaglia
> Exibart, www.exibart.com, 05.06.2020: “Giornata dell’ambiente: le immagini di Gigi Cifali, dalla Terra dei Fuochi”
> Mattatoio, Seminario di Ilaria Bussoni, “Make the Nature. Toxic Wild, ecologie della perturbazione”, 03.06.2020, Master annuale di II livello, Arti Performative e Spazi Comunitari (PACS), Dipartimento di Architettura di Roma TRE, Azienda Speciale Palaexpo
> Antinomie, www.antinomie.it, 26.05.2020: “Fare ponte. Le Scomposizioni di Gigi Cifali” by Riccardo Venturi
> Instagram, MACRO - Museo d’Arte Contemporanea Roma, #MuseoImmaginazionePreventiva, #MuseumPreventiveImagination, #laculturaincasa, 09.05.2020: “Shirt A.M. - Murder of Aldo Moro (Rome, 09.05.1978)” by Gigi Cifali
> ATP DIARY, www.atpdiary.com, 01.04.2020: “- VISIONI - Conversazione con Luca Panaro” by Mauro Zanchi
> Antinomie, www.antinomie.it, 16.03.2020: “La camicia di Aldo Moro. Il corpo dell’aura” by Federico Ferrari
> Antinomie, www.antinomie.it, 16.03.2020: “L’odore del piombo” by Riccardo Venturi
> Antinomie, www.antinomie.it, 16.03.2020: “Immagini e Segni: Italia, 1969-89. Pratiche di Memoria” by Gigi Cifali
> Antinomie, www.antinomie.it, 16.03.2020: “Test di contatto” by Andrea Cortellessa
> Fotograf Magazine #34 “Archeology of Euforie”, pp. 90-93, October 2019: “Gigi Cifali. Images and Signs: Italy, 1969-89. Practices of Memory”
> OperaViva Magazine, www.operavivamagazine.org, 18.01.2019: “Infine: ovvero ricominciare dal mezzo. Foglio di navigazione nella contingenza di una mostra (ilmondoinfine: vivere tra le rovine)” by Ilaria Bussoni
> Artribune, www.artribune.com, 17.01.2019: “Tutto il fascino delle rovine. Da Venezia a Roma” by Ludovico Pratesi
> ALIAS, il manifesto, p.10, 06.01.2019: “Nuove relazioni tra le cose per non soffocare” by Andrea Cortellessa
> Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Moderna e Contemporanea, BLOG, www.lagallerianazionale.com: “New Vesuvian Landscapes - La parola a Gigi Cifali”, interview, “ilmondoinfine: vivere tra le rovine”, 13.12.2018 - 23.01.2019, Rome (group show, project by Ilaria Bussoni)
> “The Swimming Pool in Photography”, texts by Francis Hodgson, Hatje Cantz, April 2018. The volume features works by Henri Cartier-Bresson, Gigi Cifali (“Absence of Water”), Stuart Franklin, Harry Gruyaert, Emma Hartvig, Jacques Henri Lartigue, Joel Meyerowitz, Martin Parr, Paolo Pellegrin, Mack Sennett, Alec Soth, Larry Sultan, Alex Webb, and others.
> Exibart, www.exibart.com, 16.03.2018: “Il rapimento Moro, 16 marzo 1978”
> Internazionale, www.internazionale.it, 15.03.2018: “La morte di Aldo Moro e la possibilità di un nuovo compromesso storico” by David Broder, a historian; with photographs from “Images and Signs: Italy, 1969-89. Practices of Memory”
> “un’apparizione di superfici”, Luca Panaro, Apm Edizioni, May 2017 (with “Images and Signs: Italy, 1969-89. Practices of Memory”)
> PLAIN magazine, www.plainmagazine.com, 10.10.2016: “Absence of Water” by Gigi Cifali
> aint-bad, www.aint-bad.com, 23.07.2016: “Absence of Water” by Gigi Cifali
> domus, www.domusweb.it, 29.06.2016: “New Vesuvian Landscapes” by Gigi Cifali
> WALLPAPER, www.wallpaper.com, 20.06.2016:"Absence of Water - Gigi Cifali" by Daniel Scheffler
> pagina99, n. 19, pp. 22-23, 07.05.2016: “Anni di piombo. I corpi del reato”
> Esquire Spain, n.93, pp. 106-117, February 2016: “Absence of Water” by Gigi Cifali
> ANSA, www.ansa.it, 06.11.2015: “Foto Anni Piombo in mostra a Torino. Di Gigi Cifali con la curatela di Gianluigi Ricuperati”
> Deutsche Presse Agentur, 05.05.2015: “Terrorist years of lead continue to haunt Italy”
> doppiozero, www. doppiozero.com, 16.04.2015: “Gigi Cifali. A pochi centimetri dalla storia” by Luca Panaro
> Die Nacht Magazine, www.dienacht-magazine.com, 06.03.2014: "Absence of Water" by Gigi Cifali
> AnOther Magazine, www.anothermag.com, 19.02.2014: "Absence of Water" by Gigi Cifali
> domus, www.domusweb.it, 18.02.2014: "Absence of Water" by Gigi Cifali
> The Times, p.33, 26.10.2013: "Absence of Water" by Gigi Cifali
> Phaidon, News, www.phaidon.com, 23.10.2013: "End of Dream (Costa Concordia wreck)” by Gigi Cifali
> ARCHIVIO, n.2, Autumn 2012: “New Vesuvian Landscapes” by Gigi Cifali
> FAD magazine, www.fadmagazine.com, 16.08.2012: “Contemporary Visions group show at Beers Lambert”