Rome



e x t r a s p a z i o gallery
via San Francesco di Sales 16/a
I - 00165 Rome
tel / fax +39 06 68210655
info@extraspazio.it
www.extraspazio.it
opening hours: monday-friday 3.30-7.30 pm or by appointment

e x t r a s p a z i o gallery presents Paolo Pennuti’s solo exhibition "Going to sleep is something absolutely certain in life".

In the video of the same name (with the collaboration of Lorenzo Pazzi and Gianluca Stazi), a nocturnal sequence shot with camera-car depicts a spectral and desolate cityscape.
Against this visual background we hear two voices alternating fragments of speech: the first is a man who speaks in a calm and composed tone about his life, his work and his social position which he feels to be compromised. The second is a voice that mechanically imparts instructions to elicit relaxation and sleep. The overall effect is hypnotic and alienating.
In this work the narrative fragments (images and voices) are deprived of the conventionality of linear succession and recombined to create a new space-time horizon and reconstruct an original poetic syntax, with links and suggestions to be fully explored.
In his artistic procedure, then, Pennuti puts into relation and superimposes different real elements in such a way as to form – through their encounter and synthesis – a new level of representation, as in the case of the photographic and graphic work on show together with the video.

Paolo Pennuti, born 1974 in Forlì, lives and works between Rome and Venice. He is one of the most promising Italian videoartists of his generation.
Apart from his personal production, Paolo Pennuti is also involved in the “Shoggoth” project with Daniele Pezzi.
In 2007 he was awarded first prize by the Bevilacqua La Masa Foundation of Venice, a BLM study grant (for the video Going to sleep is something absolutely certain in life).
In 2004, as Shoggoth, he won the “Progetto video” prize at the Pesaro International Film Festival (with the video Travelgum).

Solo exhibitions: Shoggoth, L’espal - scène conventionnée, Le Mans, 2007 (as Shoggoth); Shoggoth, Villa Serena, Bologna, 2004 (as Shoggoth).

Selected group exhibitions: Vernacular Terrain (tour: Australia, Japan, China), 2008-09 (as Shoggoth); Introduction to Bevilacqua La Masa Foundation archives, CareOf, Milan, 2008; Project Series-Boots Substation, Contemporary Art Museum, St. Louis, Missouri, 2008 (as Shoggoth); I borsisti. 90ma Collettiva Giovani Artisti, Palazzetto Tito, Bevilacqua La Masa Foundation, Venice, 2007; Laws of Relativity, Re Rebaudengo Foundation, Guarene, 2007; Mipdoc, The international showcase for documentary screenings, Cannes, 2007; Invisible miracles, Viafarini, Milan, 2007 (as Shoggoth); Catodica 2, Lipanjepuntin Gallery, Trieste, 2006 (as Shoggoth); Videoreport Italia 04_05, Galleria Comunale d’Arte Contemporanea, Monfalcone, 2006 (as Shoggoth); Media.06, L’arte della città digitale, Villa Serena, Bologna, 2006 (as Shoggoth); Domus circular, Stadio Meazza, Milan (as Shoggoth), 2005; Lastminute.Bo. Ricerche artistiche a Bologna, Museo Laboratorio Arte Contemporanea, La Sapienza University, Rome, 2005 (as Shoggoth); Premio Furla, Querini Stampalia Foundation, Venice, 2004 (as Shoggoth); Effetto farfalla, Museo Laboratorio ex manifattura tabacchi, Castel Sant’Angelo, 2004 (as Shoggoth); Keep n’touch, GAM, Bologna, 2004 (as Shoggoth); Pesaro International Film Festival, 2004 (as Shoggoth); Gemine muse, Pinacoteca comunale, Forlì, 2003; Openairvit_03, Randomhaiku, Berlin, 2003.

Education: XIII Advanced Course in Visual Arts, Antonio Ratti Foundation, Como, 2007 (as Shoggoth); Degree in Visual Art Production, IUAV, Venice, 2007; Grant at New York University, 2006; Degree in Philosophy, Bologna University, 2001.