Write with a black felt-tip pen with a round tip not too big in the middle of the white sheet of paper size A4 horizontal one sentence, one line or two lines maximum. The sentence should come from the emotional side of one’s brain, it can be in a neutral impersonal or personal form (in first, or second
person singular or plural). One sentence per sheet, you can write more sentences, so more sheets of paper, for the whole time you want, night or day. Then after producing a certain number of manuscript sheets, you have to place them on the floor, simply next to each other on several regular rows, to form a large square or a rectangle or a long strip. And you have to photograph the sheets from above, or from a chair or a ladder, in a bird’s eye view (a little domestic bird, more like a bird escaped from its cage).
Bio
(Turin, 1964), has been exhibiting in Italy and abroad since the late 1980s in private galleries, museums and foundations. In 1991 he graduated in Modern Literature, at the University of Genoa, with a thesis on Asger Jorn and Situationism. He lives and works in Genoa, where he teaches at the Accademia Ligustica di Belle Arti. His artistic work, of conceptual and performative attitude, is focused on the issues of subjectivity, relationship and gender identity, and on the relationship between the language of communication, literature and images. His expressive practice moves between performance and installation. He uses various expressive media such as sound, voice, writing, photography, video, drawing. During the nineties he participated in important group exhibitions including: Molteplici Culture, curated by Carolyn Christov Bakargiev and Ludovico Pratesi, Convento Sant’Egidio/ Museo del Folklore, Rome, 1992; Soggetto/Soggetto, curated by Francesca Pasini and Giorgio Verzotti, Museo d’Arte Contemporanea, Castello di Rivoli, Turin, 1994; Ultime generazioni, XII Quadriennale d’Arte, Palazzo delle Esposizioni, Rome, 1996; Officina Italia, curated by Renato Barilli, GAM, Bologna and other venues; 1997; Subway, curated by Roberto Pinto, Metropolitana Milanese, Milan, 1998; La Ville, le Jardin, la Mémoire, curated by Carolyn Christov Bakargiev and Hans Ulbrich Obrist, Villa Medici, Rome, 1998; Disidentico, male feminine and beyond, curated by Achille Bonito Oliva, Palazzo Branciforte, Palermo, 1998. In 1998 he won the Francesca Alinovi prize in Bologna. In the same year he was among the organizers of the conference How to explain to my mother that what I do is useful for something, at the Link in Bologna. In 1999 she participated, with Cesare Pietroiusti, Luca Vitone, Eva Marisaldi, Salvatore Falci and others, in the Oreste project at the Biennale, on the occasion of the 48th edition of the Venice Art Biennale, curated by Harald Szeemann.
In 2008 a monograph on his performance activity was published: Cesare Viel. Azioni 1996-2007, curated by Carla Subrizi, Silvana Editoriale and Fondazione Baruchello, Milan-Rome. Also in 2008 the Museo d’Arte Contemporanea-Villa Croce, Genoa, dedicates a first retrospective to him, Mi gioco fino in fondo. Performances and installations.
In 2019 the PAC, Padiglione d’Arte Contemporanea in Milan hosts a large solo show: Più nessuno da nessuna nessuna parte, curated by Diego Sileo, with catalogue published by Silvana Editoriale. One of his works becomes part of the permanent collection of the Museo del Novecento in Milan. In February 2020 he inaugurated his fourth solo show at the Pinksummer Gallery, Genoa, entitled Scrivere il giardino. Other recent solo exhibitions include: 2017 Dar conto di sé. Figure, bodies, words in the work of Cesare Viel, curated by Francesca Pasini, Fondazione Pier Luigi e Natalina Remotti, Camogli (GE); 2015 Infinita ricomposizione, Galleria Pinksummer, Genoa; 2013 Tales and Things, curated by Martina Adami and Maura Favero, MLAC, Museo Laboratorio d’Arte Contemporanea-La Sapienza, Rome; 2011 Facciamo fluire via le nostre frasi, curated by Francesca Guerisoli, Fondazione Pietro e Alberto Rossini, Briosco (MB); 2010 Solo ciò che accade, curated by atitolo, CeSAC-Il Filatoio di Caraglio, Caraglio (CN); 2008 Cesare Viel. Approaching from a distance, Galleria Pinksummer, Genoa; 2004 Tu che mi che mi abbia disegnato, Fondazione Palazzo Bricherasio, Turin; 2001 VIM Very Italian Macho (with Luca Vitone), Galleria Emi Fontana, Milan.
