Edson Luli, It Begins with You and Me, 2021, installation view, Prometeo Gallery Ida Pisani, Milan. Courtesy Prometeo Gallery Ida Pisani. Photo: Erjola Zhuka
Locations
Prometeo Gallery Ida Pisani
Via Giovanni Ventura, 6
20134 Milan
Ex Chiesa di San Matteo
Piazza San Matteo, 3
55100 Lucca
Prometeo Gallery was born on the initiative of Ida Pisani, after a long history as a Cultural Association, in 2005 based in Milan and Lucca. The program has always stood out as a catalyst for the social and political demands of multimedia visual artists.
The space opens with the “Perra” project by the Guatemalan artist Regina Josè Galindo, who – still in 2005 – won the Golden Lion at the Venice Biennale as “Best Artist Under 35”. The first exhibition by the Spanish master Santiago Sierra dates back to 2007 when he presented his action “Los Anarquistas” in Milan.
Zehra Doğan, Prigione N°5, 2021, installation view, Prometeo Gallery Ida Pisani, Milan. Courtesy Prometeo Gallery Ida Pisani. Photo: Filippo Ferrarese
Among the gallery’s artists invited over the years to the Venice Biennale: Ivan Moudov, Giuseppe Stampone, Maria Josè Galindo, Mary Zygouri, Stefano Tsivopoulos, Hiwa K. At the XIV edition of Documenta there were 4 artists represented by the gallery: Tsivopoulos, Galindo, Zygouri, Hiwa K.
In 2019 the gallery begins to represent the work of the Kurdish artist Zehra Doğan. She was included in the “Power 100” by Art Review in 2020 and 2021
“Art brings with it the potential to create micro-systems of free expression that are crucial to addressing politically and socially complex issues that are often silenced.”
Ida Pisani. Courtesy of Prometeo Gallery Ida Pisani
In conversation with Ida Pisani, Prometeo Gallery Ida Pisani
What do you predict for the future of the art system in the sector in which you work? What is the biggest challenge you’ll be facing?
I find it a bit hard to make predictions. Obviously, there are things I want for the future: to grow again as a gallery, to gradually, slowly bring my young artists to the most important fairs so that they can constantly gain greater visibility. I realize that this calls for a great commitment, but I approach my projects with a lightness because I really believe in my work.
When and how did you open your gallery?
My husband Claudio Poleschi and I embarked on an artistic journey that focused on socio-political issues, power and counter-power. In 2005, I founded Prometeo Gallery Ida Pisani and right from the outset, I exhibited artists of the caliber of Regina José Galindo and Teresa Margolles: I was possibly the first to bring artists from Latin America to Europe.
Iva Lulashi, Passione Cola Passione Scorre, installation view Prometeo Gallery Ida Pisani, Milan, 2021. Courtesy Prometeo Gallery Ida Pisani. Photo: Ludovica Mangini
Your programme: what kind of art do you focus on?
Art brings with it the potential to create micro-systems of free expression that are crucial to addressing politically and socially complex issues that are often silenced. The art that I aspire to, through the exhibitions and artists closest to my way of thinking, must open eyes and shake people out of their slumbers: it must be ethics combined with aesthetics.
How do you build your relationships with young collectors? And how do you keep the ones with regular clients fresh?
By personally placing my artists on the market, I attempt to reach the collectors’ hearts by making them fall in love with their work and their poetics. There are some collectors I’ve been dealing with for years who I’d now prefer to call supporters of the gallery because they’ve supported me from the beginning, recognizing the passion that I tried to put into my project.
The first exhibition in your gallery? Would you do it the same way again? What would you change?
I wouldn’t change a thing about the first exhibition which I held at the gallery because it was the exhibition I mounted with Regina José Galindo after she’d taken part in the Venice Biennale and won the Leone d’Oro. In 2005, I presented the exhibition “Perra” with her, with a new performance, and the same title. It was an immediate hit: a beautiful start to a wonderful and lasting relationship.
