Olivo Barbieri (Italy, 1954) began exhibiting his works in 1978.
Since 1989 he has travelled regularly in the Orient, especially China.
He participated in the Venice Biennial in 1993, 1995 and 1997.
In 1996 the first retrospective of his works was held at the Folkwang Museum in Essen.
In 2001 he published the volume Virtual Truths, Silvana Editoriale Milano.
In 2001 he produced the Notsofareast project in China for the Milan Triennial, on show in the exhibition “Effetti Collaterali”.
In 2002 he was invited to install the project Cityscapes/Landscapes in Siena’s Palazzo delle Papesse Contemporary Art Centre.
In 2003 his works were on display in Strangers, the first photography and video triennial held by ICP (International Centre of Photography) in New York.
In 2003 he also began working on the site specific_ project in various different cities: Rome, Torino, Montreal, Amman, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Shanghai, Seville, New York, etc.
He has made three films for the site specific_ series: site specific_ROMA 04, site specific_LAS VEGAS 05, site specific_SHANGHAI 04.
In 2005 the film site specific_ROMA 04 was presented in the Universal Experience exhibition at the Chicago Museum of Contemporary Art; Hayward Gallery, London; MART, Trento and Rovereto, curated by Francesco Bonami.
In 2005 he began work on two film series: Seascape # and Riverscape #.
In 2006 the site specific_ project was exhibited in London’s Bloomberg Space by Stephen Hepworth and at Bund 18 in Shanghai by Christopher Phillips.
In the same year Barbieri was invited to BIACS (the Seville Biennial, curated by Okwui Enwezor) to make his film Sevilla (∞) 06.
In 2006 and 2007 he produced The Waterfall Project.
In 2008 he produced the TWIY project for Capodimonte Museum in Naples.
In 2008 the film site specific_LAS VEGAS 05 was presented in the exhibition Double Down Two Visions of Vegas at SFMOMA (San Francisco Museum of Modern Art).
Barbieri’s works may be found in private collections and museums in Europe and the United States, including Museum Folkwang in Essen, Centro Andaluz de Arte Contemporaneo, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the International Center of Photography (ICP) in New York, Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo in Turin, GAM Galleria d’ Arte Moderna e Contemporanea in Turin, the Sondra Gilman Collection in New York, the Cisneros Fontanals Foundation in Miami, etc.
Numerous books and catalogues focus on the artist’s works, including: Paesaggi in Miniatura, Art& Udine 1991; Notte, Art&, Udine 1991; Olivo Barbieri seit 1978, Museum Folgwan, Essen 1996; Illuminazioni Artificiali, Federico Motta Editore Milano 1995, Smithsonian, Washington, D.C. 1998; Notsofareast, Donzelli, Rome 2002; site Specific_Roma 04, Zoneattive, Rome 2004; site Specific_Las Vegas 05, Wonder Inc., Toronto 2005; site specific_SHANGHAI 04, Editrice Quinlan, Bologna 2006; site specific_NYC 07, APM edizioni, 2007; TWIY, Electa Naples 2008.
Olivo Barbieri’s films have been presented in the most important Film Festivals and museums, including the Locarno Film Festival in 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007; the Rotterdam International Film Festival in 2004 and 2006; the Medien und architectktur Biennale Graz 2005-2007; the Toronto International Film Festival in 2005 and 2006; the Wexner Center for the Arts, Columbus, Ohio in 2006; the New York Film Festival in 2006; the Sundance Film Festival in 2006 and 2008; the San Francisco International Film Festival in 2006 and 2007; the Berkeley Art Museum & Pacific Film Archive in 2006 and 2007; the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis in 2007; the MOMA in New York in 2007; the Jeu De Paume in Paris in 2007; the Tate Modern in London in 2007 and the Berlin Film Festival in 2007.
