site.btaFernando De Filippi’s Metamorphosis Opens in Sofia

The exhibition Metamorphosis by Italian artist Fernando De Filippi will open on Thursday at the Italian Cultural Institute in Sofia, organizers said. The event is co-organized by the Institute in collaboration with Sofia Municipality and the Network Italia Bulgaria association.

The exhibition will be on public display in front of Cabana Cinema near the National Palace of Culture (NDK) until May 2.

De Filippi has been a regular at the Venice Biennale (1970, 1972, 1976, 1978), known as a leading figure in Italy’s Public Art movement and a strong supporter of ephemeral art. Since 1976, he has created contemporary art projects in cities across Italy and abroad, including Milan, New York, Paris, and Lisbon.

His career began with the 16mm film Sostituzione, produced by the Milan-based collective Metamorphosis, which featured at major experimental film festivals. He later founded Cooperativa di via Maroncelli, Milan’s first artist-run space, later renamed Il Laboratorio.

In 1980, he returned to the Venice Biennale with Cronografie, an installation curated by Gillo Dorfles. He went on to exhibit at Lines of Artistic Research in Italy from 1960 to 1970 in Rome and the XI National Art Quadrennial in 1986.

For the XIII Mediterranean Games, he created The Constellation of King Salt, Piazza del Mediterraneo, Bari — a habitable sculpture made of Trani stone, part of his Water Sculptures series. In 2013, the Brera Academy Library held a solo exhibition in his honour.

De Filippi’s international presence includes Konkrete Utopien in Kunst und Gestaltung at Kunsthalle Düsseldorf (1990), a solo show at Seul Art Center in Korea (2000), and an exhibition in China (2021). He was rector of the Brera Academy of Fine Arts in Milan from 1991 to 2009, organizers added.