Bruna Esposito

Bruna Esposito (1960, Rome, Italy. She lives and works in Rome) is focusing her ongoing research at the Museo delle Civiltà on the interconnected concepts of gigantism and miniature, understood as opposite poles of the conceptual, historical and architectural spectrum that the Museo delle Civiltà articulates both inside and outside its dual institutional premises. Esposito initially focused her attentions on the Collections of Italian Popular Arts and Traditions, intervening on the methodological Entrance of the Palazzo that houses them and choosing to exhibit here one of the smallest objects kept in the repositories of the collections: a scacciapensieri (Jew’s harp) from the 18th century. This is what the artist’s says about her choice: “The scacciapensieri is really tiny, but when you put it between your lips, move the blade… and breathe out… the sound it emits is vast. It reverberates a lot, both inside and outside. When you are up high on the podium in a monumental temple, you say thanks for the power of small things. Esposito is now focusing her attention on all the collections and their possible, though not yet codified, shared directions.

After Esposito graduated from the IV Liceo Artistico in Rome, where she studied with Carmengloria Morales, she attended the Faculty of Architecture at La Sapienza University in Rome. She lived in New York from 1980 to 1986, where she came into contact with the language of contemporary dance. In 1987, she moved to West Berlin. Here, drawing on the training she received when she was young, she focused on the design of environmentally sustainable public toilets. This was the first evidence of Esposito’s interest in the environment which would characterise her later production, together with her background in anthropology and the study of ephemeral or minority forms of knowledge and expression. Among the international exhibitions she has participated in: the Quadriennale of Rome (1996, 2008, 2021); Documenta X, Kassel (1997); the Venice Biennale (1999, 2005); and the Istanbul Biennale (2003). Among the prizes she has been awarded are: the Termoli Prize, 62nd edition held at MACTE in 2021; the National Prize for Young Italian Art, MAXXI, Rome and Castel Sant’Elmo, Naples in 2001; the P.S.1 Italian Program in New York in 1999 and the Golden Lion at the 48th Venice Biennale in 1999, with the collective pavilion Dapertutto. She is currently a Professor of Sculpture Techniques at the Academy of Fine Arts in Rome, having also taught at the Academies of L’Aquila, Frosinone and Brera.