Franco Mazzucchelli
* 1939 in Milan, Italy
He lives and works in Milan, Italy.
Known for his pioneering experimentation with synthetic materials in the sixties, as well as his large-scale, public spatial installations that disrupted the quotidian conventions of local inhabitants, Franco Mazzucchelli has produced a decades-spanning, prolific body of work that extends to this day. His most well-known series A. to A. (Art to Abandon) consists of inflatable sculptures made of PVC that were at first abandoned in lakes and deserts before being left in public spaces across Italy such as squares, schools and factories. Of the majority of these “abandoned” objects, the only remains are photographs and videos that document interactions between the artworks and their ambiances.
Franco Mazzucchelli’s inflatable sculptures and spatial installations have been displayed in several locations in Italy and abroad, such as Camargue, France; Alfa Romeo Factory, Milan; the Fine Art Academy of Brera, Milan; Sforza Castle, Milan; Piazza dei Priori, Volterra; Bergamo; Varese; Lake Como, Como; and Munich. His works have been exhibited at MACRO – Museum of Contemporary Art of Rome, Rome; Centre Pompidou-Metz, Metz; Cité de l’Architecture, Paris; ArtScience Museum, Singapore; Kunsthalle Wien, Wien; Konsthall Lund, Lund; Center for Art and Media – ZKM, Karlsruhe; nGbK, Berlin; Museo del Novecento, Milan; Triennale di Milano, Milan; Villa Croce, Genova; among others. Franco Mazzucchelli won the Alfredo d’Andrade 2022 Lifetime Achievement Award.
