Marinella Senatore
Marinella Senatore was born in 1977 in Cava dei Tirreni, Italy and is a key figure in Italian contemporary art. At a young age she attended the Conservatorio Domenico Cimarosa in Avellino, specializing in violin. From 1994 to 1998 she studied fine arts at the Accademia delle Belle Arti in Naples. From 1999 to 2002 she studied cinematography at the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia in Rome. Since 2006 she has been teaching at the University of Castilla-La Mancha, the Complutense University in Madrid, the NABA Nuova Accademia di Belle Arti in Milan, and online at The Alternative Art School (TAAS), among others.
Senatore's works and projects have been presented in numerous exhibitions and public spaces. Selection: BAK, Utrecht; Berlinische Galerie, Berlin; Bozar, Brussels; Castello di Rivoli; CCA, Tel Aviv; Centre Pompidou, Paris; Faena Art Forum, Miami; High Line, New York; ICA, Richmond; Kestner Gesellschaft, Hanover; Kunst Halle Sankt Gallen; Kunsthaus Zurich; MAXXI, Rome; Moderna Museet, Stockholm; Musée d'art contemporain, Montréal; Museo Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam; Museo del Novecento, Milan; Museo Madre, Naples; Museum der Moderne Salzburg; Museum of Art, Petach Tikva; Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago; Museum VILLA STUCK, Munich; Palais de Tokyo, Paris; Palazzo Grassi, Venice; Palazzo Strozzi, Florence; Pearl Art Museum, Shanghai; Queens Museum, New York; Serpentine Gallery, London; Steirischer Herbst, Graz; Schirn Kunsthalle, Frankfurt; Villa Medici, Rome; Museum der Moderne Salzburg, AT.
She has participated in the following art biennials: São Paulo Biennale, 2021; Bangkok Biennale, 2020; Gherdëina Biennale, 2020; Manifesta 12, Palermo, 2018; Pune Biennale, 2017; Lyon Biennale, 2015; Thessaloniki Biennale, 2015; Venice Biennale, 2015 and 2011; Cuenca Biennale, 2014; Liverpool Biennale, 2014; Athens Biennale, 2013; Gothenburg Biennale 2013; Havana Biennale, 2012.
Senatore has received numerous prizes and awards including: ACACIA Prize 2021; Cantica21 Italian Contemporary Art Everywhere Prize; Cinello Unlimited Prize; Italian Council Award (4th and 7th edition); Evelyn Award; York Museum; Art Grant – The Foundation of Arts and Music for Dresden, 2017; MAXXI and AMACI Prize, 2014; Castello di Rivoli Fellowship, 2013; American Academy in Rome Fellowship; Gotham Prize and 23rd M. Bellisario Prize, 2012; The New York Prize und Premio Terna, 2010; Dena Foundation Fellowship, 2009.
Marinella Senatore lives and works in Rome, Italy.
In all her works and projects, Senatore addresses the public in an open and accessible manner. She addresses it as an emotional, social, and political entity. In order to create a framework that ensures openness and diversity, she brings together different artistic languages, media, and disciplines. Her projects include collective cultural practices such as parades, as well as strategies and practices from activism and social movements. The artist is activist, and teacher, and one of the most important protagonists in a young global movement committed to art that is based on social participation and collaboration. In 2012, Senatore founded “The School of Narrative Dance” as a long-term project. She continues to develop the possibilities of participatory art with this hierarchy-free, traveling and free school built on an alternative educational model. Hitherto more than eight million people in twenty-four countries have taken part in her projects. Over the years, the school has been invited by numerous institutions, including: Palais de Tokyo, Paris, FR, 2022; Taak, Amsterdam, NE, 2021; Magazzino Italian Art, New York, USA, 2019; Manifesta 12, Palermo, IT, 2018; Centre Pompidou, Paris, FR, 2017; Faena Forum, Miami, USA, 2016; Venice Biennale, IT, 2015; Festival of Regions, Ebensee, AT, 2015; MAXXI, Rome, IT, 2014. Museum der Moderne Salzburg, AT in cooperation with Museum VILLA STUCK in Munich, DE, 2023. As a high point both in Salzburg and Munich, a large parade was developed with local people in the framework of “The School of Narrative Dance”, and celebrated as a poetic festival of community, with dance, music, singing, and other performances.
Marinella Senatore is represented in the Generali Foundation Collection with a number of representative works from the group of works entitled “The School of Narrative Dance”. (Jürgen Tabor)
