Sissi

Sissi (Daniela Olivieri, Bologna, 1977) weaves together scientific research and ancestral knowledge to construct narratives about the human body and the natural world. The encyclopedic model is challenged by an intuitive process that manipulates the boundaries of the physical world, reinterpreted through an inquisitive and ever-changing perception of the flesh. Materiality is understood as something that can be shaped and to which one can constantly return. Through a diverse artistic practice—which includes sculpture (primarily ceramics, but also iron and other materials), textiles (weaving together various natural materials), performance, writing, and drawing—her works invite viewers to fearlessly navigate the nuances of personal growth and transformation. Over the years, her works have particularly celebrated the generative nature of the (female) body, representing it as a place of strength, power, and creation. Sissi Daniela Olivieri’s artistic vision exuberantly embraces the many forms that constitute the human anatomy, which is fundamentally never static and in constant metamorphosis. Her works explore freedom, expressed through the ability to reveal profound vulnerability—often including herself as the subject of world-building experiments. At the same time, her practice is grounded in a logical and methodical framework, in which discipline and rigor are necessary to access the joyful potential of self-rebirth.

In 2022, she won A Sculpture for Margherita Hack, the first monument dedicated to a woman in science, sponsored by the Municipality of Milan, Casa degli Artisti, the Deloitte Foundation, and the University of Milan. In 2021, she created a permanent installation in the Abruzzo, Lazio, and Molise National Park, which won the ArteParco Prize.

In 2002, she won the Furla Art Award, and in 2003, the GAM in Bologna awarded her the Alinovi Prize. In 2004, she was an artist-in-residence at the Neue Galerie am Landesmuseum Joanneum in Graz. In 2005, she was awarded the New York Prize by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In 2006, she received a fellowship from the American Academy in Rome, and in 2008, she participated in the residency program at Tokyo Wonder Site—Tokyo Metropolitan Foundation for History and Culture. In 2012, she won the Gotham Prize.

Sissi has exhibited in numerous solo shows in Italy and abroad, including: Trasguardi, Galleria d’Arte Maggiore g.a.m, Bologna (2022); Cene, ACP – Palazzo Franchetti, Venice (2020); Corpi e Processi – Storie di fili, CSAC Parma (2020); Vestimenti, Palazzo Bentivoglio, Bologna (2020); Motivi Ossei, Galleria d’Arte Maggiore g.a.m, Bologna (2016); Instinct-Extinct, Tiziana Di Caro Gallery, Naples (2016); Manifesto Anatomico, MAMbo and Musei Civici d’Arte Antica – Istituzione Bologna Musei, Bologna (2015); Lezioni d’italiano, The Old Operating Theater, London (2013); Aspiranti Aspiratori, Aike Dellarco Gallery, Shanghai (2013); Volume Interno, Fondazione VOLUME!, Rome (2012); Addosso, Fondazione Pomodoro, Milan (2010); Al di là dello sguardo la corda lega, Mizuma Gallery, Tokyo (2008); Nature, Chelsea Art Museum, New York (2006); Nidi, MACRO, Rome (2004); The Walk, W139, Amsterdam (2003); Aerea, MoCA, Miami (2001).

Group exhibitions include: Panorama Edition 4, IIC Delhi, Gwalior Fort, Gwalior (2024); (Un)Known Territories, Fondazione Oficine Saffi, Milan (2024); Camere con vista. Aby Warburg, Firenze e il laboratorio delle immagini, Uffizi Gallery, Florence (2023); Performative03, MAXXI L’Aquila, L’Aquila (2023); Memory Cloth, Studio Orta Les Moulin, Boissy-le-Châtel, Paris (2023); Crazy: la follia dell’arte contemporanea, Chiostro del Bramante, Rome (2022); Sublimi Anatomie, Palazzo delle Esposizioni, Rome (2019); Biennial Vallauris, Terre d’Italia, Musée de la Céramique, Vallauris (2020); Santarcangelo Festival, Santarcangelo (2018); Porto Marghera100, Palazzo Ducale, Venice (2017); Par tibi Roma Nihil, Musei dei Fori Imperiali, Rome (2016); Fondazione VOLUME!, Musée d’Art Moderne et Contemporain, Saint-Étienne Métropole; Growing Roots, Palazzo Reale, Milan (2015); Silenzi in cui le cose s’abbandonano, Museum of Contemporary Art, Zagreb (2012); Patterns of Mind, Turku Biennial, Turku (2011); No Soul for Sale: A Festival of Independents, Tate Modern, London (2011); Collaudi, Italian Pavilion, 53rd Venice Biennale (2009); Quadriennale, Rome (2008); Global Feminism, Brooklyn Museum, New York (2007); Italian Genius Now, Pecci Museum, Prato (2007); Phantom of Desire, Neue Galerie am Landesmuseum Joanneum, Graz (2003); Poëziezomer Watou, SMAK, Ghent (2001).