Silvio Wolf

Silvio Wolf (Milano, 1952) lives and works between Milan and New York.
He studied Philosophy and Psychology in Italy and Photography and Visual Arts in London, where he received the Higher Diploma in Advanced Photography from the London College of Printing. Until the mid-1980s, he worked exclusively with photography, exploring its forms, language, and the two-dimensionality of the image. His work took directions different from those of the tradition, which at the time tended to emphasize the testimonial and narrative value of the photographic image; instead, he sought a subjective and metaphorical vision of reality. He created polyptychs and large-format works to explore the limits of photographic representation, challenging the indexical nature of the medium through an interest in abstraction and the relationship between the visible and the invisible. Notable exhibitions from this period include: Nuova Immagine (1980), Palazzo della Triennale, Milan; Linee della Ricerca Artistica in Italia 1960/80 (1981), Palazzo delle Esposizioni, Rome; Aktuell ‘83, Lenbachhaus, Munich; L’Italie Aujourd’hui (1985), Centre National d’Art Contemporain, Nice; and Documenta VIII (1987), Kassel. From the late 1980s to the present, he has incorporated a broad spectrum of new media into his work, using moving images, projections, light, and sound. His works thus move beyond the two-dimensionality of photography, creating multimedia projects and sound installations that engage with architectural and social space, and with the specific characteristics of the places in which he works. The artist responds to the history and personality that spaces express, establishing a symbolic and experiential relationship with them, of which the public becomes an active and aware participant.
In his site-specific projects, as in his photographic work overall, the issues of Limit, Elsewhere, and Threshold remain central. He has exhibited in galleries and created temporary and permanent installations in museums, public spaces, and unconventional sites in Belgium, Canada, China, Korea, France, Germany, England, Italy, Luxembourg, Spain, Switzerland, and the United States. In 2009, he was invited to the 53rd Venice Biennale.
Books and monographs: Silvio Wolf, Staatliche Kunsthalle, Baden-Baden, 1992; Light Specific, ed. Nuovi Strumenti, Brescia, 1995; The Elsewhere, ed. Royal Festival Hall, London, 1999; Paradiso, ed. Galleria Gottardo and Contrasto, Milan, 2006; On The Threshold, ed. Silvana Editoriale, Milan, 2011; Origini, ed. Postmedia, Milan, 2016; Being and Becoming, BDC, Parma, 2024.
He teaches at the Istituto Europeo di Design in Milan and at the School of Visual Arts in New York.