Bio­gra­phy

“If pho­to­gra­phy were a reli­gion, Valen­tina Murabito’s work would be blas­phemy,” said Arte. In fact, the Ita­lian ana­log pho­to­gra­pher breaks the rules of her medium. She deve­lops her pic­tures of inter­me­diate pho­to­gra­phic beings on con­crete blocks, wood, steel, pro­ces­ses them with asphalt, grinds or remo­ves them. Jutta Cze­g­uhn in her arti­cle “Skin­ned Pic­tures” (SZ, 7.4.2019) for the solo exhi­bi­tion 2019 at the Ingo Seu­fert gal­lery: “She pre­pa­res the sur­faces so that part of the image begins to float like a film, thus being able — very gently — to pull, push and stretch the motif like a skin. A pain­terly, gra­phic, sculp­tu­ral gesture that gene­ra­tes some­thing like scars on the sur­face of the image, crea­ting a three-dimensional work. .”
Mura­b­ito is cur­rently dea­ling with medi­eval bes­tia­ries. These are hand­writ­ten codi­ces in which mythi­cal crea­tures such as dra­gons or uni­corns are at the cen­ter of a mora­li­zing poe­try that ascri­bes cha­rac­te­ristics such as good­ness or strength to them. The artist crea­tes a con­tem­porary ver­sion of this using ana­log pho­to­gra­phy and at the same time ques­ti­ons our rela­ti­onship with ani­mals and nature.
Valen­tina Murabito’s work is rep­re­sen­ted in inter­na­tio­nal exhi­bi­ti­ons and found its way into nume­rous pri­vate collec­tions, such as the Spall­Art collec­tion in Salz­burg. In 2014 she recei­ved the pres­ti­gious “LVIII° Natio­nal Prize for Con­tem­porary Art Basi­lio Cas­cella”. Nume­rous reviews of her pho­to­gra­phic work can be found not only in the Ger­man press, but also in Fin­nish, Korean and English-language maga­zi­nes. In 2009 she moved to Ber­lin for the sake of phi­lo­so­phy, where she lives today and deals with the wri­t­ings of Fried­rich Nietz­sche, Arthur Scho­pen­hauer and Lud­wig Feuerbach.

Cur­ri­cu­lum Vitae
1981 born in Giarre, Sicily, Italy
2004–2009 stu­dies at the Acca­de­mia di belle arti di Cata­nia in Catania/Italy
2008–2009 Moholy-Nagy Uni­ver­sity for Art and Design (MOME) in Budapest/Hungary
2009– free-lance artist in Berlin
Solo Shows (selection)
2019 „Valen­tina Mura­b­ito. A dream wit­hin a dream”, Ingo Seu­fert Gal­lery, Munich
2018 „ANALOG. Valen­tina Mura­b­ito | Susanna Kraus”, Ben­ja­min Eck Gal­lery II, Munich
2017 „Le sil­hou­ette — 100. Geburts­tag von Magda Szabó”, Acca­de­mia d’Ungheria, Rome, Italy
2016 „Against iden­tity”, Gale­rie Ben­ja­min Eck, Munich
2013 „Melan­kó­li­kus”, Ate­lier Giorgi, Turin, Italy
„Tech­ni­que stu­dies #2”, Stu­dio Ché­rie, Berlin
„I am not”, ACUD gale­rie, Month of Per­for­mance Art, Berlin
2012 „Con­tra. Punkt”, Fabrik Osloer Straße, Berlin
2011 „In mir”, GAD Gal­lery, Berlin
„Nicht hier”, Ter­ri­to­rium 91 Gal­lery, Berlin
2007 „Alte­rità”, Mer­cati Gene­rali, Cata­nia, Italy
„L’altro e Dio”, Avant­garde Art Club, Cata­nia, Italy
Group exhi­bi­ti­ons / Art fairs (selection)
2020 Upco­m­ing exhi­bi­tion, RedD Gal­lery, Cha­nia, Greece
„Uncu­ra­ted”, Stør­punkt Gal­lery, Munich
2019 „An Eso­te­ric Voyage Through Ecs­tasy”, RedD Gal­lery, Cha­nia, Greece
„Magie der Stille”, Johanna Breede PHOTOKUNST Gal­lery, Berlin
„Opening Party”, RedD Gal­lery, Cha­nia, Greece
„Half a pound of art”, Stør­punkt Gal­lery, Munich
„MEN­SCHENs­KIN­DER”, Städ­ti­sche Gale­rie Rosen­heim & Spall­Art Collec­tion, Rosenheim
2018 „Facets of Queer”, Stør­punkt Gal­lery, Munich
„Open Space #3 — Men­schen­bil­der”, Spall­Art Collec­tion, Salz­burg, Austria
„Pre­pa­ring For Dar­k­ness”, Kühl­haus am Gleis­drei­eck, Selec­ted Artists Gal­lery, Berlin
„Paper Posi­ti­ons Ber­lin”, rep­re­sen­ted by Ben­ja­min Eck Gal­lery (Munich), Berlin
„MIA Photo Fair”, rep­re­sen­ted by Magic Beans Gal­lery (Ber­lin), Milan, Italy
2017 „Lieb­lings­bil­der”, Johanna Breede PHOTOKUNST Gal­lery, Berlin
„Art­ge­schoss 2017”, Art­ge­schoss Gal­lery, Bad Salzgitter
2016 „Stroke Art Fair”, rep­re­sen­ted by Ben­ja­min Eck Gal­lery, Munich
„Pro­vo­ka­teure”, Stør­punkt Gal­lery, Munich
2015 „Who art you?”, Fab­brica del Vapore, EXPO 2015, Milan, Italiy
2014 „St. Leo­pold Frie­dens­preis 2014”, Stift Klos­ter­neu­burg, Austria
„LVIII° Natio­nal Prize for Con­tem­porary Art Basi­lio Cas­cella”, Museo Civico di Villa Cop­petti, Cas­tel­bel­lino, Italy
„3 Tage Kunst”, Kom­mu­nale Gale­rie Ber­lin, Berlin
„III° Natio­nal Prize Paola Occhi for pain­ting and pho­to­gra­phy”, Cen­tro Poli­fun­zio­nale, Miglia­rino, Italy
„Ver­a­miglia Con­test 2014”, Deli­zia Estense del Ver­gi­nese, Gam­bu­laga, Italy
„FORM – ART 2014”, Kunst­ver­ein Glinde e.V., Glinde
2013 „(CO)ESISTERE”, Acca­de­mia di belle arti Alber­tina di Torino, Turin, Italy
„(CO)ESISTERE”, Seren­di­pity Gal­lery, Berlin
„I am not”, Theatre De Verre, Place à l’Art Per­for­mance, Paris, France
„Flucht­punkt”, Seren­di­pity Gal­lery, Berlin
2012 „Ich wäre für eine Welt zu haben”, Seren­di­pity Gal­lery, Berlin
„Count to 20 — Zähl bis Zwan­zig”, ACUD Kunst­haus, Berlin
„Luogo visivo del silenzio”, Green Box, Turin, Italy
2011 „Ästhe­ti­sche Inter­ven­tion #3”, Kunst im öffent­li­chen Raum, Berlin
„0,5 mg Schön­heit”, Kunst im öffent­li­chen Raum, Fried­rich­straße, Berlin
„Ästhe­ti­sche Inter­ven­tion #1”, Kunst im öffent­li­chen Raum, Berlin
2007 „Astra­zioni dal quo­ti­diano”, Monas­tero dei Bene­det­tini, Cata­nia, Italy
Prizes/Lectures (selec­tion)
2020 Lec­ture at the Deut­sche Foto­gra­fi­sche Aka­de­mie, Darm­stadt, Germany
Lec­ture at DAAD, Uni­ver­sità degli studi di Firenze, Flo­rence, Italy
2014 „LVIII° Natio­nal Prize for Con­tem­porary Art Basi­lio Cas­cella”, Museo Civico di Villa Cop­petti, Cas­tel­bel­lino, Italy
„III° Natio­nal Prize Paola Occhi for pain­ting and pho­to­gra­phy”, Cen­tro Poli­fun­zio­nale, Miglia­rino, Italy
„Ver­a­miglia Con­test 2014”, Deli­zia Estense del Ver­gi­nese, Gam­bu­laga, Italy
2013 Lec­ture about Per­for­mance Art, Acca­de­mia di belle arti Alber­tina di Torino, Turin, Italy
2010 „Pre­mio Regione Sici­lia per artisti eccel­enti”, Scho­lar­ship, Moholy-Nagy-University of Art and Design, Buda­pest, Hungary
Publi­ka­tio­nen (Auswahl)
2020 Gior­gio Bonomi (ed.): „Il corpo soli­ta­rio. L’autoscatto nella foto­gra­fia“ – vol. III, Rub­bet­tino Edi­tore, Sove­ria Man­nelli 2020
2018 Johanna Breede PHOTOKUNST (ed.): cata­log „Magie der Stille“, Ber­lin 2018, p.32
Stadt Rosen­heim (ed.): cata­log „Men­schens­kin­der“, Rosen­heim 2018, p. 160
2017 Cesare Bia­sini Sel­vaggi | Exibart Edi­ti­ons (ed.): „222 Emer­ging Artists worth inves­ting in: Selec­ted by the most pres­ti­gious cura­tors, cri­tics, jour­na­lists and art gal­le­ries“, Rome 2017, p.244
Gale­rie Art­ge­schoss (ed.): cata­log „Art­ge­schoss 2017“, Ber­lin 2017, p. 93
2016 Suzan Kizi­lir­mak (ed.): cata­log „Die Aura ist zurück“, Ber­lin 2016, p. 78
2015 Who art you (ed.): cata­log „Who Art You?“, Mai­land 2015, p. 150
2014 Pre­mio Occhi per l’arte con­tem­pora­nea (ed.): cata­log „III° Natio­nal Prize for Pain­ting and Pho­to­gra­phy Paola Occhi“, Miglia­rino 2014, p. 130
Pre­mio Basi­lio Cas­cella (ed.): cata­log „LVIII° Natio­nal Prize for Con­tem­porary Art Basi­lio Cas­cella“, Cas­cella 2014, p. 88
Col­le­tivo TM15 (ed.): cata­log „Ver­a­miglia Con­test 2014“, Ver­a­miglia 2014, p. 60
Kunst­ver­ein Glinde e.V. (ed.): cata­log „FORM-ART“, Glinde 2014, p. 59
2007 Monas­tero dei Bene­det­tini (ed.): cata­log „Astra­zioni dal quo­ti­diano“, Cata­nia 2007, p. 25
Biblio­gra­phy from 2017 (selection)
2020 Schwarz­weiss. Das Maga­zin für Foto­gra­fie | Teck­len­borg Ver­lag (5/2020)
Cay Dob­berke: „Wie eine Foto­gra­fin ohne ihr Publi­kum aus­kommt“, leute.tagesspie-gel.de/charlottenburg-wilmersdorf/ (3/25/2020)
Ralf Han­selle: „Sind Foto­ga­le­rien ein Aus­lauf­mo­dell?“, in: foto­MA­GA­ZIN 4 (2020), p. 24
Mark Mal­lon: „Valo piir­tää hur­mok­sen”, in: Särö Maga­zine 38–39 (2020), pp. 26–47
2019 Ralf Han­selle: „An den Rän­dern des Rea­len“, in: foto­MA­GA­ZIN EDITION No. 9 (2019), pp. 45–51
Fleur Hel­luin: „An Eso­te­ric Voyage Through Ecs­tasy“, kaltblut-magazine.com (9/11/2019)
Suzan Kizi­lir­mak: „Valen­tina Mura­b­ito — In die Haut“, in: Brenn­punkt. Maga­zin für Foto­gra­fie 3 (2019), pp.74–81; brennpunkt-magazin.de (7/1/2019)
Jutta Cze­g­uhn: „Gehäu­tete Bil­der“, in: Süd­deut­sche Zei­tung No. 83 on 4/8/2019 (2019), p. R8; sueddeutsche.de/muenchen/ (4/7/2019)
Bar­bara Silbe: „Mostre – Valen­tina Mura­b­ito“, eyesopen.it/mostre/ (4/2019)
Angela Sinesi: „Eve­neti ita­liani in Ger­ma­nia“, radio fea­ture by COSMO Radio Colo­nia / WDR inter alia about the exhi­bi­tion „Men­schens­kin­der“ in Rosen­heim (2/14/2019)
„Grau-Zonen“, in: Missy Maga­zine 1 (2019), p. 8
„Cock­tails und Por­traits in der städ­ti­schen Gale­rie“, video report by Rfo — Regio­nal Fern­se­hen Ober­bay­ern, 2:34 min., rfo.de/mediathek/video/ (1/9/2019)
2018 „Die Kunst der Por­trait­fo­to­gra­fie in der städ­ti­schen Gale­rie Rosen­heim“, video report by Rfo — Regio­nal Fern­se­hen Ober­bay­ern, 3:18 min., rfo.de/mediathek/video/ (12/12/2018)
„Eröff­nung der Aus­stel­lung Men­schens­kin­der“, video report by Rfo — Regio­nal Fern­se­hen Ober­bay­ern, 1:02 min., rfo.de/mediathek/video/ (12/10/2018)
Jutta Cze­g­uhn: „Wer bin ich, wer darf ich sein?“, in: Süd­deut­sche Zei­tung No. 271 on 11/24/2018 (2018), p. 15; sueddeutsche.de/muenchen/ (11/23/2018)
„Jen­seits der Norm“, in: Schwarz­weiss. Das Maga­zin für Foto­gra­fie 127 (2018/2019), p. 16
Ser­gio Mata­lucci: „Queer e iden­tità in mos­tra a Monaco di Baviera“, artribune.com/dal-mondo/(11/30/2018)
Yihun Park: „Exhi­bi­tion Ana­log“, in: Monthly Pho­to­gra­phy Maga­zine March (2018), p. 80–81
„La pro­fa­na­zione della foto­gra­fia“, exibart.com/la-foto/ (2/28/2018)
„Diese Fotos zei­gen, wie will­kür­lich unsere Gren­zen sind“, brigitte.de/fmag/szene/ (1/13/2018)
„Eve­neti ita­liani in Ger­ma­nia. MOSTRE. Monaco: Ana­log — Valen­tina Mura­b­ito, Susanna Kraus“, Announ­ce­ment by COSMO Radio Colo­nia / WDR for the exhi­bi­tion „Ana­log“ (1/11/2018)
2017 „Im Zwi­schen­raum — Valen­tina Mura­b­ito“, in: Pho­to­Klas­sik. Das Maga­zin für aktu­elle ana­loge Foto­gra­fie 4 (2017), pp. 38–43
Suzan Kizi­lir­mak: „Iden­ti­tät und Meta­mor­phose“, in: Liber­tine Kol­lek­tiv Maga­zin 5 (2017), pp. 98–102
Suzan Kizi­lir­mak: „Zwi­schen den Gren­zen“, in: Schwarz­weiss. Das Maga­zin für Foto­gra­fie 118 (2017), pp. 50–53
„Unter Nach­barn. Die expe­ri­men­telle Foto­gra­fin Valen­tina Mura­b­ito“, tagesspiegel.de/kultur/ (5/9/2017)
Suzan Kizi­lir­mak: „Ent­grenzte Foto­gra­fie“, in: Brenn­punkt. Maga­zin für Foto­gra­fie 2 (2017), pp. 92–97
Luciana Caglioti / Cris­tina Gior­dano: „L’artista sici­liana Valen­tina Mura­b­ito“, radio inter­view by COSMO – Funk­haus Europa, 4:32 min. (2/7/2017)
Romy Sydow: „Valen­tina Mura­b­i­tos foto­gra­fi­sche Zwi­schen­we­sen“, video report on arte TV, 2 min., info.arte.tv/de/ (1/19/2017)

Valen­tina Murabito

Appa­r­ently through magic, the photo artist Valen­tina Mura­b­ito deve­lops gro­tes­que, absurd and sur­real motifs on con­crete blocks, wood, steel and walls. Using a new che­mi­cal pro­cess deve­l­o­ped in the dar­kroom, she crea­tes ana­lo­gue pho­to­graphs of fan­tas­tic beings, such as a half-girl-half-peacock or a goat with four horns, inter alia recor­ded in his­to­ri­cal pla­ces. The new tech­ni­que of being able to move and shape the sur­face of pho­to­gra­phy has a very irri­ta­ting effect on the viewer, because a pho­to­graph — just like the skin — does not actually sepa­rate from the sur­face. Accor­din­gly, all ana­log pho­to­graphs by Valen­tina Mura­b­ito are uni­que, which the artist her­self has hand-printed on the mate­ri­als men­tio­ned.
In her works Valen­tina Mura­b­ito com­bi­nes fic­tion and rea­lity, anci­ent myths and poli­ti­cal phi­lo­so­phy, art and bio-politics. It breaks with com­mon rep­re­sen­ta­ti­ons, blurs the boun­da­ries of pain­ting and sculp­ture, lite­r­ally pene­tra­tes pho­to­gra­phy. “It seems ghostly as if she had quickly cap­tu­red the cal­led decea­seds in spi­ri­tist ses­si­ons with the camera. Her ana­lo­gue images are crea­ted over months in an extre­mely com­plex pro­cess that is remi­nis­cent of pho­to­gra­phy pioneers such as Ead­ward Muy­bridge, ”says Jutta Cze­g­uhn in the Süd­deut­sche Zeitung.