Simone Menegoi (1970) is a critic and curator based in Milan. He’s the coordinator of Per4m, the performing arts section of Artissima, the Turin Art Fair, and he contributes regularly to Artforum.
Since 2005, he has curated exhibitions in private and public spaces in Italy and abroad. Recent exhibitions include The Camera’s Blind Spot, Extra City Kunshal, Antwerp, 2015; The Warm Stat- ues. Sculpture – Body – Action, 1945-2013, Museo Marino Marini (Florence), 2014; Michael E. Smith, Triennale di Milano, 2014; LE SILENCE Une fiction, Nouveau Musée National de Monaco, 2012; Bouvard and Pecuchet’s Compendious Quest for Beauty, David Roberts Art Foundation (London), 2012 (curated with Chris Sharp).
He has written critical texts on a variety of artists that have appeared in the publications of a number of international institutions, among which Ludwig Museum (Budapest), New Museum (New York), Kunstforum Aachen, Camden Arts Centre (London), Fondazione Prada (Milan and Venice).
Selected exhibitions
2015
- Le fragole del Baltico. Contemporary art from Latvia, Careof, Milan (curated with Zane Onckule)
- The Camera’s Blind Spot II. Sculpture / Photography: Further Recent Examples, ExtraCity, Antwerp
- Francisco Tropa. Prototypes, Quadrado Azul, Lisbon
- A Model of the World, Galerie Jocelyn Wolff, Paris
2014
- Tacita Dean. Craneway Event, former church of San Francesco, Como (IT). Part of the XX CSAV – Advanced Course in Visual Arts at Fondazione Ratti, Como (see below, “Selected lectures and teaching”)
- Michael E. Smith, Triennale di Milano (curated with Alexis Vaillant)
- Le statue calde. Scultura - Corpo – Azione, 1945-2013 [The Warm Statues. Sculpture – Body – Action, 1945-2013], Mu-seo Marino Marini, Florence
2013
- Francisco Tropa. Terra Platonica, Galleria Caterina Tognon, Venice
- Matt Mullican. The Meaning of Things, former church of San Francesco, Como (IT.) Part of the XIX CSAV – Advanced Course in Visual Arts at Fondazione Ratti, Como (see below, “Selected lectures and teaching”)
- Lumpenfotografie. Towards a photography without vainglory, P420 gallery, Bologna (with catalogue)
- The Camera’s Blind Spot. Sculpture / Photography: Recent Examples, MAN – Museo d’Arte della Provincia di Nuoro (IT) (with catalogue)
- Reena Kallat. Untitled (Cobweb/Crossings), curated with C. Canziani. Public art commission at, and in collaboration with, Dr. Bhau Daji Lad Museum, Mumbai, as a part of ZegnArt Public project (see below, “Advice”.) (With catalogue)
2012
- Francisco Tropa. MUSEU, Galeria Quadrado Azul, Porto (Portugal) (with catalogue)
- Bouvard & Pécuchet’s Compendious Quest for Beauty, curated with Chris Sharp, David Roberts Art Foundation, London
- LE SILENCE Une fiction, NMNM – Nouveau Musée National de Monaco (with catalogue)
2011
- Václav Cigler. Works 1956-1967, Galleria Caterina Tognon, Venezia
- Pleut qui veut, rit qui veut, curated with Lorenzo Bruni, Cecilia Canziani, Alfredo Cramerotti, Vincenzo De Bellis, show of the shortlisted artists of VIII Furla Prize, Palazzo Pepoli, Bologna (with catalogue)
2010
- The Trial of Harmony and Invention, or The Drawing Machines, Galerie Gregor Podnar, Berlin
- A as stone, galleria Spazio A, Pistoia (IT) (curated with Marianne Lanavère)
- Scavi, Centre Culturel Français de Milan (with catalogue)
2009
- Emanuele Becheri. Après coup (solo show), Museo Marino Marini, Florence (with catalogue)
- It rests by changing, galleria Raffaella Cortese, Milan
- Present Future, curated with with Jimena Acosta Romero, Adam Carr, Aurélie Voltz, Artissima – International contempora-ry art fair, Turin (with catalogue)
2008
- Fables du doute, Centre d’art La Galerie, Noisy-Le-Sec, Paris (with catalogue). Final exhibition of a three-months residen-cy at La Galerie (see below, “Residencies” section)
2007
- This is the time (And this is the record of the time), curated with Carlo Fossati, e/static > blank non-profit space, Turin
2006
- Open/Close. John Duncan, Giovanni Morbin, O’ non-profit space, Milan (with booklet)
2005
- Light Sculpture – Scultura leggera, 503 Mulino non-profit space, Vicenza (with catalogue)
Residencies
2008
Curator in residence at La Galerie, Noisy-Le-Sec, Paris (April-July). Selected in an international competition on the basis of an exhibition project to be realized at the gallery. (For the exhibition, see above, “Selected exhibitions”, 2008.)
Advices
2012-2014
- Advisor for ZegnArt. a platform that brings together the activities in the field of contemporary art of fashion brand Ermene-gildo Zegna. Together with Cecilia Canziani I devised Public, a program of commissions of public artworks in emerging countries and residencies in Italy, and I curated the first commission in the series (Reena Kallat, Mumbai, 2013; see abo-ve, “Selected exhibitions”) and the first residency (Sahej Rahal, MACRO museum, Rome, 2013.)
2010-11
- Scientific advisor for the section “Back to the Future” (lesser known and marginal artists of the ’60 and the ’70) at the con-temporary art Fair Artissima, Turin
2010
- Member of the jury of the “BES Revelação” prize 2010 (Museu Serralves, Porto)
- Selector for the Premio Selezione of Italian Cultural Institute of New York
- Selector for the FURLA prize 2011 (in collaboration with Querini Stampalia Foundation, Venice; MAMbo, Bologna; Artefie-ra, Bologna)
2008
- Advisor for Diogene (Turin), artist-run residency for artists
2007
- Advisor for the public art prize “Milano e Torino incontrano… l’arte”, sponsored by the Chambers of Commerce of Milan and Turin
Selected journalism
2009-2012
- Contributing editor of bi-monthly magazine “Kaleidoscope”, Milan
2006-2008
- Contributing editor of bi-monthly magazine “Mousse”, Milan
2003
Contemporary art news editor of “Il Giornale dell’Arte”, Turin (part of the network including the French “Le Journal des Arts” and the English “Art Newspaper”) 2000-2002
- Contributor to the daily newspaper “Corriere della Sera”, Milan (reviews of contemporary art exhibitions)
1998-1999
- News editor of the bi-monthly contemporary art magazine “Tema Celeste”, Milan
Selected lectures and teaching
2015
- Guest lecturer at Scuola Cònia - Summer School of Techniques of Representation, hosted by theatre company Socìetas Raffaello Sanzio, Cesena (IT)
2014
- Guest visual arts curator / lecturer at Mantica Festival of Performing Arts, hosted by theatre company Socìetas Raffaello Sanzio, Cesena (IT)
- Teaching Fellow of History of Contemporary Art at Università Bocconi, Milan
- Guest curator, assistant to the visiting professor and tutor at CSAV - Advanced Course in Visual Arts, Fondazione Ratti, Como (IT). Visiting professor: Tacita Dean
- “Les commencements”, lecture at ISELP - Institut Supérieur pour l'Etude du Langage Plastique, Bruxelles
2013
- Guest curator, assistant to the visiting professor and tutor at CSAV - Advanced Course in Visual Arts, Fondazione Ratti, Como (IT). Visiting professor: Matt Mullican
- “Décadence”, talk with Claudia Castellucci. Mantica Festival of Performing Arts, hosted by theatre company Socìetas Raffaello Sanzio, Cesena (IT)
2012
- “LE SILENCE Une fiction”, presentation, Yale School of Art, New Haven (USA)
2011
- “Art of Inexperience. Art and Historical Past: Recent Examples from Italy,” seminar, kim? Contemporary Art Centre, Riga (Latvia)
2009
- Una certa idea dell’Italia II, series of screenings and talks with Italian artists. Interzona Cultural Association, Verona (IT)
2008
- Les films de João Maria Gusmão et Pedro Paiva, screening of 16mm films at La Maison Rouge – Fondation Antoine de Galbert, Paris. Collateral event of the exhibition Fables du doute (see above, “Selected exhibitions”, 2008)
- Una certa idea dell’Italia I, series of screenings and talks with Italian artists. Interzona Cultural Association, Verona (IT)
Selected publications (not including catalogues of curated exhibitions)
2015
- Upcoming: text (as yet untitled) on the work of Alessandro Pessoli, in Ennesima, exhibition catalogue, Triennale di Milano
- Upcoming: text (as yet untitled) on the work of Lydia Gifford, monograph on the artist, Laura Bartlett Gallery, London
- Upcoming: text (as yet untitled) on the difference between the idea of “primitive” in the time of Gauguin and in contempora-ry art, in Gauguin. Racconti dal Paradiso, exhibition catalogue, Museo delle Culture, Milan and Ny Carlsberg Glyptoteket, Copenhagen
- Upcoming: “Idea del teatro, teatro di idee. On Vettor Pisani’s R.C. Theatrum” in Vettor Pisani, Electa, Milan and MADRE Museum, Naples
- “Manon De Boer Capturing the Time On a Clear Day”, in The Bottom Line, exhibition catalogue, S.M.A.K. Museum, Gent
2014
- “The Evil Demiurge. Cosmologies and cosmogonies of Francesco Gennari”, in Francesco Gennari, Mousse Publishing, Milan
- “Caroline Achaintre. People Today”, in Caroline Achaintre, exhibition booklet, Camden Arts Centre, London
- “«Sound Art?» Visual arts and sound at the turn of the 1970s-1980s”, in Art or Sound, exhibition catalogue, Fondazione Prada, Milan-Venice
2013
- “Blackout in the White Cube. The Work of Michael E. Smith, with and within the Exhibition Space”, in Michael E. Smith, Kunstforum Aachen (D)
2012
- “Attualità dell’opera di Joachim Schmid”, in Joachim Schmid e le fotografie degli altri, exhibition catalogue, Museo della Fotografia, Cinisello Balsamo (IT)
- Untitled text, in Libelle 14 - Ulla Von Brandenburg, Rosascape, Paris
2011
- String of texts in Roman Ondák. Guide, exhibition catalogue, Fondazione Galleria Civica di Trento, Villa Arson (Nice), Salzburger Kunstverein
- “Crystal Formed in the Mind”, in Hubert Duprat. Massive Centrale, exhibition catalogue, Centre International d’Art et du Paysage Île de Vassivière (F)
- “Imagination in Black and White. On Sculpture, Photography and a Page by Proust”, in V. Latronico (edited by), Remedies to the Absence of Reiner Ruthenbek, Villa Romana, Florence
- “Samuel Richardot”, introductory text for Samuel Richardot’s solo exhibition, FRAC Languedoc-Roussillon
2010
- “Luciano Fabro. Floor Tautology”, in “The Last Evening Sun”, free press printed on the occasion of the exhibition The Last Newspaper, New Museum, New York
- “Two By Two”, in La scultura italiana del XXI secolo, exhibition catalogue, Fondazione Pomodoro, Milano
- “Attila Csörgő: a Work of Many Dimensions”, in Attila Csörgő: Archimedean Point, exhibition catalogue, Ludwig Museum, Budapest; MUDAM, Luxembourg; Hamburger Kunsthalle
- “Engineering Uncertainty”, introductory text for Robert Breer’s retrospective at CAPC- Musée d’Art contemporain de Bor-deaux
- “A Matter of Abstraction”, in Gyan Panchal, Editions B42, Paris
- “The Glance of the Viewfinder”, in Mark Lewis. Space Change, exhibition catalogue, Forte di Bard (IT)
2009
- “Before and after Feld”, in Sound&Vision, exhibition catalogue, Tel Aviv Museum of Art
- “Dear Becky,”, in Becky Beasley. Thomas Bernard Malamud, Laura Bartlett Gallery, London - Office Baroque, Antwerp
2008
- “Burial chamber (Marshall McLuhan). First study”, in Rehearsing Realities, FormContent, London
- “A few things that have something to do with the work of Luca Trevisani”, in Luca Trevisani. The effort took its tools, Argobooks, Berlin
- “Stanze private e sale pubbliche”in Archeologia del presente. Paola De Pietri, Flavio Favelli, Davide Rivalta, exhibition catalogue, Museo delle Arti, Catanzaro (I)
- Six interviews to Italian collectors, in Collecting Contemporary Art, JRP – Ringier, Zurich
2006
- “Horizontal reality”, in Andrea Gabutti, exhibition catalogue, Museo Cantonale d’Arte, Lugano
1999
- “Around Wolfgang Laib”, in Wolfgang Laib, exhibition catalogue, 1000eVENTI gallery, Milan
Translations
I translated essays on modern and contemporary art from English to Italian for the publishing companies Electa and Johan & Levi, the magazine Kaleidoscope and others.
Together with Cristina Travaglini, I translated the Italian edition of Alexander Alberro’s Conceptual Art and the Politics of Publicity (Johan & Levi, 2011).