Anita Sieff - Biographical notes
After graduating in German language and literature with a thesis in contemporary aesthetics, from 1980 onwards Anita Sieff devotes herself to the arts. In 1990 her path becomes more clearly defined when she begins to study cinematography and starts to use video. Between 1989 and 1990, Anita Sieff works side by side with Michelangelo Antonioni, during such collaboration Sieff edits a collection of aphorisms and drawings of Antonioni, which will soon become a book published in 1992 titled A volte si fissa un punto. At the same time, she works on cataloguing unpublished writings and notes for a show about his work in Paris which is shortly to form the screenplay for the film Al di là delle nuvole directed by Wim Wenders.
Right after she moves to New York to study cinema sharing her stay six months in Venice and six in NY for more than ten years . This mutable and transcultural approach leads her to view the work of art not isolated from environment, perception, and communication, but rather deeply rooted in what we call language, the shared system of signs and meanings.
In 1996 she launches the public art work “Public” (1996-2001): a convivial gathering by authors, scientists, and artists aiming to investigate via dialogue, the proper process to adopt in the coming new globalized world in respect to an inclusive approach of thinking, and communicating. It takes the form of a series of weekly meetings at the Guggenheim Museum in Venice; over time these dialogues lead to various ways and means for a further development of the idea of larger global communities culminating in the creation of EthTV (1998-2005), www.ethicstv.com an experimental and innovative project of social network.
In her way of working, Anita Sieff, while identifying with the concept of "social sculpture" derived from Joseph Beuys, later widens her view to include the ethics of Baruch Spinoza, and this is visible in two important events: her solo show in 1999 at the Kitchen, New York, where she projetcs 12 video interviews on love as vital energy and as principle of integration (Social Sculpture n1); and a performance - happening , which takes place at the same time in both Venice and New York, based on the idea of community as process of part taking (Social Sculpture n2).
2000 is the year of the net-meeting Planetwork between San Francisco and the Querini Stampalia foundation in Venice. This important event is concerned with global ecology and information technology. The net-conference brings together experts from a wide range of disciplines questioning about the inherent possibilities of internet - as a widespread system for information and interaction - to find solutions for the planet's ecological crisis.
2000 is also the year of the Symposium on Love a series of meetings held in important Venetian cultural institutions (the school of fine arts; Querini Stampalia foundation; Peggy Guggenheim Collection; and the Fondamente Nuove theatre). This approach is designed to stimulate "Museums" as public cultural venues to produce culture generating it, while, at the same time, maintaining the meaning of space welcoming public interaction.
From 2002 to 2004 Public becomes an independent project, hosted by the Fortuny Museum in Venice, and moves to a more performing and collaborative work format. In such perspective the idea of the film Public is born : a docu-fiction on the possibility to enter the interstitial space of duality, and get freed from contradiction.
From 2005 on Sieff rethinks the meaning of public interaction. The enormous success of Facebook defined by the new generation of creative marketing, invades the cultural landscape, Art included. Art, for here, has now to be transformed in the art of living with purpose.
Exhibitions
2019 she wins the fifth edition of the Italian Council’s prize with the project Symposium on Love.
2017 - Embracing the moment, Beatrice Burati Anderson Art Space & Gallery, Venice, Italy.
2017 - Et in terra, Beatrice Burati Anderson Art Space & Gallery, Venice, Italy.
2016 - Human Condition, curated by Victor Misiano, Mmoma - Moscow Museum of Modern Art, Moscow, Russia.
2015 - Au Rendez-Vous des Amis, Conference, Portable interiors, installation, curated by di Bruno Corà, Fondazione Burri, Italy.
2011 - Psyche, video installation, Ca’ Pesaro - Museo Internazionale d’Arte Moderna, 54th International Art Exhibition, La Biennale di Venezia, Italy.
2011 - Arcani Contemporanei, installation, happening, Art Night, Ca' Foscari, Venice, Italy.
2010 - Ordine di Senso, curated by Chiara Bertola, Fondazione Querini Stampalia, Venice, Italy.
2010 - Soul Beats, 4:45, sound Installation, Schema Project, Brooklyn, NY.
2008 - Live Cinema | Anita Sieff: Films, curated by Carlos Basualdo, Philadelphia Museum of Art, USA.
2007 - Public, 11 settembre 1996 - 11 settembre 2007, Il Luogo della Natura, curated by Lucrezia De Domizio, 52nd International Art Exhibition, La Biennale di Venezia, Italy.
2005 - The Tarot Bar, performance, The Project Room, New York City, USA.
2004 | 2005 - The Art Table, 5 social sculptures Museum Fortuny and Hotel Metropole, Venice, Italy.
2002 | 2004 - Public, weekly meetings at the Fortuny Museum in Venice, Italy.
2003 - Public Love, video installation, curated by Silvio Fuso, Fortuny Museum, Venice, Italy.
2002 - The Aesthetic of Connectiveness, performance, curated by Riccardo Caldura, Cà Dolfin, Venice, Italy.
2002 - Public Yes, mixed media, happening, Fortuny Museum, Venice, Italy.
2001 - Moda è Modo, mixed media, happening, City Theatre, Vipiteno, Italy.
2000 - Simposio sull’Amore, performance, Social sculpture n.2, Teatro Fondamenta Nuove, Venice, Italy.
2000 - Se stasera sono qui, video at The Norrtalije Konsthall, Norrtalije Sweden.
2000 - Social Sculpture n.2, performance, Tonic, New York City, USA.
2000 - Symposium on Love, 3 days of happenings and performances at the Fondamente Nuove Theatre, at the Guggenheim Museum, at the Accademia and at the Fondazione Querini Stampalia, Venice, Italy.
2000 - Planetwork, Global Ecology & Information Technology, Net-meeting San Francisco - Venice, at the Fondazione - Querini Stampalia, Venice, Italy.
1999 - Social Sculpture n°1, curated by Renata Petroni, Video Installation, and three days of Happenings , The Kitchen New York City, NY, USA.
1999 “Domesticated”, mixed media installation at Refusalon Gallery, San Francisco, USA.
1999 - Immaginando Tutto, curated by Chiara Bertola, installation, Contemporary Art Museum, Maribor, Slovenia.
1998 - Pressure, 16mm short, Arcipelago 6, International Film Festival, Rome, Italy.
1997 - Tarantella, Photographs, curated by Elizabeth Thompson, PS1 22 New York City, USA.
1997 - Anita Sieff, Grand Salon Gallery Photographs and Film, New York City, USA.
1997 - Missed 2, 16 mm short Arcipelago 5, International Film Festival, Rome, Italy.
1996 - Missed 1, 16 mm short film, Short Film Festival Bra (CN), Italy.
1996 - “Innocence” Film, Photographs and Words, Sterzing City Gallery.
1995 - People never change, 16mm short film, 48 International Film Festival, Locarno, Switzerland.
1995 - Jazz on the Water, film 16mm, Villa Celimontana, Rome, Italy.
1995 - People never change, 16mm short film, Arcipelago 3, International Film Festival, Rome, Italy.
1995 - Anita Sieff, Films and Photographs, curated by Giuliana Carbi, Franco Jesurum, Museo Revoltella, Trieste, Italy.
1995 - Thoughts beyond Film, a cura di Vittorio Urbani, Photographs, Films and Words, Nuova Icona Gallery, Venice, Italy.
1995 - Understanding Desire, multi media Performance, Theater for the New City, New York City.
1995 - Jazz Noir, mixed media Performance Tribute to Billie Holiday, by Marco Tosolini, Cinema Atlantic, Udine, Italy.
1994 - The step, 16 mm short film, The Independent Feature Project, NY, USA.
1994 - The step, 16 mm short film, Film festival, Venice, Italy.
1994 - I luoghi della Vita, Photographs, Contemporary Art Luigi Pecci, Prato, Italy.
1994 - Missed, 16mm short film, Arcipelago 2, International Film Festival, Rome, Italy.
1992 - Interview, video, Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego, California, USA.
1992 - Overtakings, 16mm short film, Tommaseo Gallery, Trieste, Italy.
1992 - Interview, video, Festival Internazionale del Cinema Giovani, Torino, Italy.
1992 - A volte si fissa un punto, book, Michelangelo Antonioni, Maison des Escrivains, Paris. 