Gian Paolo Minelli

After working with Gian Paolo Minelli on the collective exhibitions Buenos días Buenos Aires (Buenos Aires, 2003) and Buenos días Santiago (Santiago de Chile, 2005), we wanted to make a personal exhibition about him in our space in Geneva. Incidentally, this will also be his first personal exhibition in French-speaking Switzerland.

Gian Paolo Minelli, Zona_Sur, Barrio Piedra Buena_Buenos Aires
click on the image to enlarge

Gian Paolo Minelli shows great human commitment, enthusiasm and persevernce in his photographic projects, which he develops over periods of months or even years. We decided by mutual agreement that the exhibition should focus on his most accomplished project to date, namely Zona_Sur, Barrio Piedra Buena_Buenos Aires. In the southern suburb of Buenos Aires - where he has been living since 1999 - Gian Paolo Minelli managed not only to get accepted by the reputedly "difficult" inhabitants, but also to develop a long-term project with a teenage community. After gaining their trust, he lets the teenagers choose the context, time and pose of their portrait: they decide themselves when to trigger the camera's shutter. The bright, big-sized photographs of these young people show their pride and some aspects of their intimate personality. Gian Paolo Minnelli then combines these "common self-portraits" with representations of their urban environment. The project's success in the community has grown to the point that some of the "actors" of Zona_Sur reproduced the photographs on the walls of the suburb.
The exhibition, which includes a wide range of photographs made in the last 6 years, as well as some recent videos, is part of Geneva's festival 50 JPG (50 jours pour la photographie).

Gian Paolo Minelli, Zona_Sur, Barrio Piedra Buena_Buenos Aires
click on the image to enlarge

The Banca del Gottardo is the main contributor to the exhibition and to a special publication on Minelli's project that will be released in the summer.
The exhibition is also realised with the support of Pro Helvetia, Arts Council of Switzerland.

expositions personnelles
2006 Zona_Sur, Barrio Piedra Buena _ Buenos Aires, attitudes espace d’arts contemporains, Genève / 2005 Zona Sur, Museo cantonale d’arte, Ala Est, Lugano / Galpon Colon, Groeflin Maag Galerie, Basel / 2004 Carcel de Caseros, Galeria Fernando Pradilla, Madrid / Minelli & Repetto Distanza, Galeria Palladio, Lugano / Carcel de Caseros, Galeria Dabbah Torrejon, Buenos Aires / 2003 Carcel de Caseros, Museo de Arte Moderno, Buenos Aires / Carcel de Caseros, Galerie Bernhard Bischoff, Thun / 2002 Acqua, Centro de arte contemporanea del Ticino, Bellinzona / 2001 Foto Galería del Centro Cultural San Martin, Buenos Aires / 2000 Minelli & Repetto, Galeria Leonardi – V – idea, Genova

expositions collectives
2006 Concours fédéral des beaux-arts, Basel / Che c’è di nuovo? La scena artistica emergente in Ticino, Museo cantonale d'arte, Lugano / 2005 Buenos días Santiago - una exposición como expedición, curateur attitudes, Museo de arte contemporáneo, Santiago de Chile / PhotoSUISSE, Instituto Svizzero, Roma / Museo Arte y Memoria, La Plata, Buenos Aires / CASA FOA, Buenos Aires / La Casona de Oliveira, Buenos Aires / 2004 Fundacion Klemm, Buenos Aires / Museo de Arte Moderno, Buenos Aires / Urbanismo sintético, Visiones de la ciudad postmoderna, curateur Paco Barragán, Museo de Arte Moderno de Bogotà / Galeria El Museo, Bogota / La Fabbrica, Losone / Fundaciòn Proa, Buenos Aires / 2003 Buenos días Buenos Aires, curateur attitudes, Museo de Arte Moderno, Buenos Aires / Museo Cantonale d’Arte, Lugano / Fundación Proa, Buenos Aires / 2002 Museum für Gestaltung, Zürich / Arte BA, Buenos Aires / Jamaica Center for Arts and Learning, New York / Museo de Arte Moderno, Buenos Aires / Daba Torrejón Arte Contemporáneo, Chicago / Centre Pasqu'Art, Bienne / Galerie Martin Krebs, Berne / Galerie Bernhard Bischoff, Thun / 2001 Kornhausforum, Bern / 2000 Kulturhallen Dampfzentrale, Bern / Musée des Alpes, Bern / Galleria Gottardo, Lugano / Musée des beaux-arts de Tourcoing / 1999 Instituto svizzero, Roma / 1998 Ex Cartiera Latina, Roma / Castel Burio, Costigliole d'Asti / Kleines Helmhaus, Zürich / Musée des Beaux-Arts, Tourcoing / Field c/o Kunsthaus Zürich, Kunsthaus, Zürich

Publications monographiques
2006 Zona_Sur, Barrio Piedra Buena _ Buenos Aires, attitudes espace d’arts contemporains, Genève (à paraître) / 2003 Gian Paolo Minelli - Cárcel de Caseros 2000_2002 - Buenos Aires_Argentina, Museo de Arte Moderno, Buenos Aires