Cristiano Berti (Turin, 1967) began to work as a painter and sculptor in 1987, shortly after obtaining his diploma at the Primo Liceo Artistico and enrolling with the Faculty of Architecture at Turin University, where he graduated several years later. His son Samuel was born in 1992. His first exhibition, in 1993, was a personal exhibition at the Premio Salvi in Sassoferrato (Italy). Alongside his artistic activity, he studied history of technology, publishing various specialist papers. From the mid-1990s he worked on a mobile unit for health risk reduction among migrant sex workers, an experience which, years later, was to form the basis of various visual art works. At the end of the 1990s he stopped working as an outreach worker, though continuing to work professionally in the sphere of social inclusion and gender empowerment. He also moved away from traditional artistic techniques, trying out new technologies and in particular working with laminated plastic. His first exhibition at the Galleria Carbone in Turin in 2000 grew out of his work in plastic laminates. Shortly afterwards he definitively abandoned painting and developed his interest in photography, video and the installation of re-contextualised objects. In comparison with the past, he also placed greater emphasis upon collaborative work, interactions and artistic acts. In these last works he often uses different kinds of language and media in order to construct systems of signs and meanings in which formal appearance becomes more complex, contradictory, or ambiguous.
He is married and lives and works between Jesi and Turin.

 

recent bibliography (selected)

2010
Maja Megla, Transformacije v nove zgodbe, Delo (07/04/2010), Lubiana

2009
Interview: 10 questions, VideoChannel Interview Project, online ● Filippo Maggia, Da Guarene all’Etna 1999-2009. Dieci anni di fotografia italiana, Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, Guarene ● Prigionieri e Fughe, festival publication, IX Festival Pergolesi Spontini, Jesi

2008
Dejan Ðorić, Siromašna umetnost, Pečat, 33 (10/10/2008), Belgrade ● Bojana Pejić et al., Artist-Citizen: Contextual Art Practices, 49th October Salon, exhibition catalogue, The Belgrade Cultural Centre, Belgrade (ISBN 978-86-7996-013-9) ● Yiannis Colakides, The Mirror Stage, exhibition catalogue, NeMe, Limassol (ISBN 978-9963-8932-2-5) ● Orsola Caligiuri, Cristiano Berti. Sala 1 di Roma, Teknemedia Artkey Magazine ● Virginia Vicario, Vedere la Normalità, Diario, XIII, 8, Milan ● Maria Rita Parsi, Il martirio delle lucciole. Una “via crucis” in mostra, La Nazione/Il Resto del Carlino/Il Giorno (09/05/2008), Florence/Bologna/Milan ● Questo mondo è fantastico. Vent’anni con Guido Carbone, Electa (ISBN 978-88-370-6244-6), Milan ● Zuzana Masarykovà, Asertívny umelec sa stàva nudným, Stanica (03/2008), Žilina ● Katarina Marčeková, Zláski Štefánika a Giuliany sa stala legenda, Žilinský Večerník (11/03/2008), Žilina ● Milenka ho volala malý Slovák, Nový Čas (29/02/2008), Bratislava ● Marek Adamov, Cristiano Berti: Dedičstvo, Stanica (02/2008), Žilina ● Speaking Volumes. Transforming Hate, Holter Museum of Art (ISBN 1-891695-11-8), Helena, MT

2007
Cristina Petrelli, Cristiano Berti, Niente è troppo strano per essere vero, exhibition leaflet, Fuorizona Artecontemporanea, Macerata ● Cristiano Berti, Memorial, 2001-2002, Mister Motley 13, Amsterdam ● Svenja Moor, Sexwork II:„Selbstverständnis und Respekt“ in der NGBK, BlaueAugen.net ● Michael Nungesser, Sexwork, Kunst Mythos Realität, Kunstforum International 184 (02/2007), Ruppichteroth ● Jenny Künke, Um Klischees von Mystifizierung zu vermeiden, Scheinschlag (02/2007), Berlin ● Jennifer Allen, Sexwork: Art Myth Reality, Artforum.com (critics’ picks)

2006
Tim Ackermann, Mehr als ein F-Wort, Die Tageszeitung (21/12/2006), Berlin ● Susanne Maier, Die Kunst der Prostitution, BZ (16/12/2006), Berlin ● Sexwork. Kunst Mythos Realität, exhibition catalogue, Kehrer Verlag, Heidelberg (ISBN 978-3-939583-17-2) ● Le Marche e il XX secolo. Atlante degli artisti, curated by Armando Ginesi, Federico Motta Editore,  Milan ● Simona Santoni, Roma capitale della FotoGrafia, Panorama.it ● Virginia Vicario, Orbi et Urbi, Diario, XI, 17, Milan ● Gabriele Tinti, Universal Embassy, exhibition leaflet, AOCF 58, Rome ● Angiola Maria Gili, Pellerina, la Piccola Africa, Torino Sette/La Stampa 872 (17/03/2006), Turin ● Rocco Moliterni, Berti e la Pellerina, TuttoLibri/La Stampa 1502 (25/02/2006), Turin ● Gabriele Tinti, Cristiano Berti - Alternate takes, Exibart.com ● Cristiano Berti’s photo exhibition “Alternate Takes”, BlackBookmag.com ● Kama, Sex and death in Turin, Gridskipper.com ● Cristiano Berti in Alternate takes, Arte 390, Milan ● Luigi Fassi, Alternate takes, exhibition leaflet, Carbone.to, Turin ● Paola Sereno, Cristiano Berti - Alternate takes, interview, Kultgallery.com / Teknemedia.com

2005
ManifesTO. Opere d’arte per lo spazio pubblico, curated by Riccardo Passoni, Umberto Allemandi Editore, Turin (ISBN 88-422-1388-8) ● Mediterranea, exhibition catalogue, curated by Clara Gelao, Federico Motta Editore,  Milan ● “Corpi di reato” di Cristiano Berti, Corriere Adriatico (21/10/2005), Macerata ● Laura Garbarino, Corpi di reato, exhibition leaflet, Fuorizona Artecontemporanea, Macerata ● Francesco Poli, In Sede – 25 artisti per luoghi non comuni, exhibition leaflet, Città di Torino, Turin

2004
Focus Torino. Dizionario degli artisti emergenti, Flash Art 248, Milan ● Massimo Sterpi, Proprietà privata, ovvero l’estetica dello smarrimento, in Prestige, exhibition leaflet, AOCF 58, Rome ● Arianna Di Genova, “Memorial”, l’impossibile fedeltà alla storia, Il Manifesto (23/06/2004), Rome ● Il fotomemoriale delle prostitute uccise, ll Giornale dell’Arte/Il Giornale delle Gallerie 232, Turin ● Ugo Castagnotto, Constructing new evidence, and Paulo Barone, Retaining a state of fidelity, in Memorial, exhibition catalogue, Centro Studi Piero Calamandrei, Jesi ● Federica Martini, Cristiano Berti, Segno 194, Pescara

2003
Angiola Maria Gili, Berti uno e due, Torino Sette/La Stampa 764 (12/12/2003), Turin ● Andrea Jacchia, Cristiano Berti, Diario, a. VIII n.48-49, Milan ● Francesca Pasini, If my name is the same as yours …, in Cristiano Berti, exhibition catalogue, Carbone.to, Turin ● Cristiano Berti e Daniele De Lonti, Radio.Rai.it (Radio3) ● Rocco Moliterni, Nel salotto come in cella, La Stampa (26/05/2003), Turin ● Filippo Maggia, Cristiano Berti: Sweet Home, in GE/03. Da Guarene all’Etna - 03, exhibition catalogue, Nepente,  Milan (ISBN 88-88900-01-2)

2002
Cristiano Berti, NYArtsmagazine.com ● Eva Clausen, Spielbälle der Kunst, Handelsblatt (30/04/2002), Dusseldorf ● Irene Cabiati, Nei panni delle ragazze nigeriane, La Stampa/Torino (21/04/2002), Turin ● Cristiano Berti, Ivana Mulatero, Memorial, in TooBig, vol.I: The Come In Issue, vol. II: The Come Back Issue, exhibition catalogue, BIG Torino 2002, Turin (ISBN 88-900196-1-1) ● Ivana Mulatero, Silent Nights, Juliet 106, Trieste

2001
Paulo Barone, Il nuovo ascetismo, in Silent Nights, exhibition leaflet, AOCF 58, Rome ● Vittorio Marchis, Un’arte rinnovata nella materia, in Un sistema periodico, da Amedeo Avogadro a Primo Levi. Immagini di materia ordinaria,cd-rom, Centro Museo e Documentazione Storica del Politecnico di Torino, Turin ● Dario Salani, Cristiano Berti, Arte e Critica 25, Rome ● Andrea Jacchia, Cristiano Berti. “Modo”, Diario, VI, 1, Milan ● Franco Fanelli, Cristiano Berti. Modo, ll Giornale dell’Arte/Il Giornale delle Mostre 195, Turin

2000
Olga Gambari, La vostra fantasia nei lavori di Berti, La Repubblica/Torino (30/12/2000), Turin ● Ugo Castagnotto, Modo, text for the exhibition, Carbone.to, Turin