Rossella Biscotti. Circulations

The installation shows steel pipes that spread out in space like the tentacles of a multi-limbed organism, combining elements of archaeology, industry and science fiction. The project reflects Biscotti’s interest in ecological, political and feminist themes and explores the intersections of history, memory and culture. Circulations is based on the artist’s research in the historical archive of Tenaris Dalmine in Bergamo – a company that holds various patents in steel production, in particular for seamless steel tubes used in the automotive and oil industries, in power plant and pipeline construction. The installation traces the company’s history in specific contexts. Following political and social changes in Italy, it also traces the various uses of the patented product – from wartime production to its integration into oxygen cylinders during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Circulations is a reflection across various disciplines: she talks about mining, landscape development or the cycle of resources and also picks up on eco-feminist ideas from thinkers such as Donna Haraway and Octavia Butler. Rossella Biscotti weaves the various traces – of people, objects and ideas – into a new visual narrative. By examining the relevance of the material from a contemporary perspective, Biscotti creates connections and networks to the present.

Rossella Biscotti expands and composes Circulations in a site-specific way: after the presentation in her solo exhibition at Castello di Rivoli (2024) and the Sharjah Biennial 16 in spring 2025, the work will grow into an immersive and expansive installation at Kunsthaus Graz in winter 2025. Rossella Biscotti works across different media, primarily with film, performance and sculpture. In her practice, she explores and reconstructs social and political moments through the subjective experiences of individuals. She uses associative montages to examine socio-political themes such as power structures, memory and identity. She uses montage as a gesture to uncover individual narratives and their relationship to society, while at the same time revealing the often institutionalised systems that create collective narratives. Through her work, she gives marginalised and overheard narratives and experiences an updated and discursive platform.

Rossella Biscotti graduated from the Accademia di Belle Arti in Naples (2002) and later from the Rijksakademie van beeldende kunsten in Amsterdam (2010/2011). Her work has been shown in major international institutions and at prestigious exhibitions, including: Biennale di Venezia (2013), documenta 13 in Kassel, Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam (2018/2019), Gropius Bau, Berlin (2023) and Castello di Rivoli, Turin (2024). She lives and works in Brussels and Rotterdam.