Tommaso is an Italian artist and researcher with an interdisciplinary approach to the Visual Arts. His interests mainly revolve around topics of image agency and psychology of perception, which he explores through a variety of means, in particular drawing. He accompanies his artistic practice with theoretical research and curatorial activities that include talks, publications and exhibitions.
He is founder and chief editor of the visual culture journal Anima Loci, as well as founding member and curator for El Cocuy Projects, an itinerant curatorial project focused on contemporary music and sound art. He holds a PhD in Anthropology from the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, Paris, and currently teaches Visual Anthropology at Accademia Santa Giulia, Brescia, and Critical and Contextual Studies at London Metropolitan University.
EDUCATION
2019 PhD in Visual Anthropology, EHESS, Paris, France
2011 MA in Visual Arts; IUAV University, Venice, Italy
2007 BA in Visual Arts; Bologna Academy of Fine Arts, Italy
SOLO AND JOINT EXHIBITIONS
2017 Everything Was Quiet, Centre For Recent Drawing, London, United Kingdom
2015 30 Clouds, Narrenkastl, Frohnleiten (Graz), Austria
2014 Paesaggio Incompleto, Galleria Patricia Armocida, Milan, Italy
2011 Tommaso Gorla, Studio D’Arte Cannaviello, Milan, Italy
2007 Tommaso Gorla, Sesto Senso, Bologna, Italy
RESIDENCIES
2020 AIR- Artist in Residence, Kunstmeile, Krems an der Donau, Austria
2019 Default 19, LaStation, Gagliano Del Capo, Italy
2018 Threads, Sidney Cooper Gallery, Canterbury, United Kingdom
2017 Artist in Residence, Centre for Recent Drawing, London, United Kingdom
SELECTED ARTISTIC RESEARCH PROJECTS
2015 De Earde. In “Helicotrema”, Punta della Dogana, Venice, Italy
2013 Tenebra È la Notte. In “Milano e Oltre”. Milan Triennale, Milan, Italy
2013 Here Ain’t Bodies. In “This is the End”. Errant Bodies, Berlin, Germany
PARTICIPATION IN GROUP SHOWS AND OTHER CURATORIAL PROJECTS
2018 Museo D’Inverno: Collezione di Luigi Presicce, Museo D’Inverno, Siena
2016 Sixty, Lubomirov-Angus Hughes, London, United Kingdom
2016 Previsouly, Patricia Armocida Gallery, Milan, Italy
2015 The Indipendent Artist Fair 2015, Rag Factory, London, United Kingdom
2015 15/h24, Ex Mobilificio Galleria Bertoni, Cervignano del Friuli, Italy
2015 A5, Art Athina / Lubomirov Easton Gallery, Athens, Greece
2014 Surviving the Savage Sea, Centre For Recent Drawing, London, United Kingdom
2012 Anni ’10 (Studio d’Arte Cannaviello), Interno 18, Cremona, Italy
2011 Anni ’10, State Institute of Culture (Studio d’Arte Cannaviello), Sophia, Bulgaria
2011 La Pittura e Il Segno, Ex Ospedale Soave, Codogno, Italy
2010 Anni ’10, Studio d’Arte Cannaviello, Milan, Italy
2010 MiArt, Studio d’Arte Cannaviello, Milan, Italy
2010 Sweet Sheets, Zelle Arte Contemporanea, Palermo, Italy
2010 Le Ragioni della Leggerezza, EffeArte, Milan, Italy
2009 L’immagine Sottile 03, G.C.A.C., Monfalcone, Italy
2009 We Can Be Heroes, Galleria 1000Eventi, Milan, Italy
2009 Illustrators Exhibition, Chosun Ilbo Museum, Seoul, South Korea
2009 Carboni, Ferretti, Gorla. Stazione Rogers, Trieste, Italy
2009 Un Oscuro Scrutare Galleria Patricia Armocida, Milan, Italy
2009 Stile Libero Italiano, Studio d’Arte Cannaviello, Milan, Italy
2008 92ma Collettiva Giovani Artisti, Galleria Bevilacqua La Masa, Venice, Italy
2008 Working 4, Galleria Vastagamma, Pordenone, Italy
2008 Illustrators Exhibition, Municipal Art Museum. Tokyo, Japan
2008 The Mix Up Spazio Limited, Milan, Italy
CURATORIAL WORK
2011-2016 Founder and curator for El Cocuy
2014 Traveling Light (Group Show with K. Nakahara, F. Richardson, E. McNally, T. Müller, C. Heath ) C4RD, London, United Kingdom
2014 Window. Drawing for the Silent Room and Station Noise (Solo Performance by G. Wlodarczak) C4RD, London, United Kingdom
ARTISTIC AWARDS
2015 (Finalist) INDA 10 – International Drawing Annual, Manifest Gallery, Cincinnati, Ohio, USA
2009 (Selected) 92ma Collettiva Giovani Artisti, Bevilacqua La Masa Foundation, Venice, Italy
ACADEMIC AWARDS
2019 Warburg Library Travel Grant, Warburg Institute, London, United Kingdom
2012 Settimana di Alti Studi, ISR, Ferrara, Italy
EDITORIAL WORK
2018-Present Founder and chief editor of Anima Loci
SEMINARS AND LECTURES
2019 Drawing and memory. A space for a minimal battlefield.
Faculdade de Belas Artes, Porto, Portugal
2016 Living without architecture. Italy’s alternative models for life on earth.
In “Artists’ Critical Interventions into Architecture and Urbanism”.
Warwick University, Coventry, United Kingdom
2016 The reappropriation of the city. Bibliothèque Kandinsky.
In “Bricolage et contre-cultures à l’ère de la reproductibilité technique 1950-1970”.
Bibliothèque Kandinsky’s Université d’été, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, France
2016 Printed mnemotechniques of the New World.
In “Placing Prints. New developments in the study of print”.
Courtauld Institute of Art, London, United Kingdom
2015 From text to pictography through the arts of memory.
In “Traduire les mondes. Enjeux anthropologiques de la traduction.” Journée d’études “Traduction, image, action rituelle”
Musee du Quay Branly, Salle 3, Paris, France
2013 (Artist Talkand workshop) Nuovi bestiari.
ARVIMA, Arti Visive Marabelli; Pavia, Italy
2012 Pictography, iconography and arts of memory in Diego Valades.
In “The Many Renaissances of Any Warburg”.
Palazzo Schifanoia, Ferrara, Italy
2011 Messico coloniale: Una mnemotecnica per immagini
In “Linguaggi e politica: Il potere delle espressioni e le espressioni del potere nelle epoche di passaggio”
Ca’ Foscari University, Venice, Italy
CONFERENCE CHAIR
2015 (Panel chair) Sonic warfare: In Conversation with Steve Goodman
Bevilacqua La Masa Foundation, Venice, Italy
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CONTACT
tommasogorla@gmail.com
