PIERO GILARDI

Torino, 1942 – Torino, 2023

Piero Gilardi was born in Turin in 1942, where he lives and works. In 1963 he held his first one-man show, entitled Machines for the future. In 1965 he created his first pieces in polyurethane foam and exhibited them in Paris, Brussels, Cologne, Hamburg, Amsterdam and New York. As from 1968 he stopped producing regular art works to engage in the new artistic trends of the late ’60s. Arte Povera, Land Art and Antiform Art. He took part in setting up the first two international exhibitions of the new trends at the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam and at the Bern Kunsthalle.
In 1969 he started a long trans-cultural experience to conceptually analyse and practise the “Art/Life” combination. As political activist and animator of youth culture, he organised several experiences of collective creativity on urban and “world” fringes, such as Nicaragua, Indian Reserves in the USA and Africa.
In 1981 he resumed his activity in the art world an exhibited installations, accompanied by creative public workshops. In 1985 he started and artistic research project with new technologies with the elaboration of the IXIANA project (which was presented at the Parc de la Villette in Paris). This work consisted of a technological park in which the public could artistically experiment with digital technologies.