Cecilia Alemani

Cecilia Alemani
Name	Cecilia Alemani
Birth date	1977
Birth place	Milan, Italy
Occupation	Curator, Critic, Director
Years active	2000s–present
Notable works	"The Milk of Dreams" (Venice Biennale 2022), "Xiyadie" exhibitions
Awards	Golden Lion (2022)

Cecilia Alemani is an Italian curator, critic, and museum director known for leading large-scale contemporary art exhibitions and biennials. She has directed major international projects that engage with contemporary art practitioners, institutions, and publics across Europe, North America, and Asia. Alemani’s work intersects with artists, museums, galleries, foundations, collectors, and public art initiatives.

Early life and education

Born in Milan, Alemani studied in Italy and the United States, attending institutions connected with Università degli Studi di Milano, Columbia University, and cultural centers such as MAXXI and Pirelli HangarBicocca. Her formative years involved engagement with Italian cultural organizations including Triennale Milano and collaborations with curators at Fondazione Prada and Castello di Rivoli. Early mentorships and internships connected her with figures from Peggy Guggenheim Collection, GAM Turin, and editorial offices of Flash Art and Artforum.

Curatorial career

Alemani began curatorial practice in the 2000s in curatorial offices at institutions like New Museum, Museum of Modern Art, and European venues including Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, Palazzo Grassi, and La Biennale di Venezia platforms. She curated exhibitions involving artists represented by Gagosian, Pace Gallery, David Zwirner, and collaborated with institutions such as Whitney Museum of American Art, Tate Modern, Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, and The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Her curatorial networks span collaborations with directors and curators from Hans Ulrich Obrist, Okwui Enwezor, Massimiliano Gioni, Christine Macel, and institutions like Documenta, Venice Biennale, and Manifesta projects.

She has held leadership and advisory roles at organizations including Fondazione Prada, Park Avenue Armory, and municipal public art programs such as Public Art Fund and city departments in New York City and Milan. Alemani’s curatorial practice engages collectors and foundations such as Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, Fondazione Nicola Trussardi, Carnegie Corporation, and private patrons who fund exhibitions at venues like MoMA PS1 and Queens Museum.

Major exhibitions and projects

Alemani curated major exhibitions and public projects crossing institutional boundaries: large-scale national pavilions at La Biennale di Venezia; site-specific commissions for High Line, Battery Park City, and urban interventions in Times Square contexts; museum shows at Palazzo delle Esposizioni, MAXXI, and Park Avenue Armory. Her most internationally visible project was directing the central exhibition of the 59th Venice Biennale titled "The Milk of Dreams", produced in collaboration with the Giardini, Arsenale, and independent venues across Venice. She organized thematic group shows featuring artists from networks that include Marina Abramović, Isa Genzken, Yayoi Kusama, Kara Walker, Ghada Amer, and younger practitioners from programs such as Performa and Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture.

Alemani has curated retrospectives and survey exhibitions of artists affiliated with Berlinische Galerie, Fondation Cartier, and Centre Pompidou, and participated in curated sections of events like Frieze Art Fair, Art Basel, and regional biennials in Istanbul Biennial and Sharjah Biennial. She has overseen commissions for public sculpture projects in cooperation with municipal authorities in Rome and Milan.

Artistic themes and curatorial approach

Her exhibitions often examine relationships among bodies, technologies, gender, identity, and speculative imaginaries, dialoguing with artists, critics, and theorists from traditions linked to Feminist art movement, Surrealism, and Postmodern practices. Alemani foregrounds practices emerging from networks of artists associated with Performance art, Video art, Conceptual art, and intermedia collaborations originating in institutions like Whitney Independent Study Program and Documenta. She assembles works by artists connected to histories of Minimalism and Abstract Expressionism while pairing them with contemporary multimedia practitioners engaged with networked platforms such as Instagram and digital archives like Tate Online.

Her curatorial methodology emphasizes site-specificity, archival research, and cross-disciplinary commissions, coordinating with conservation departments at The Museum of Modern Art, pedagogical programs at Columbia University School of the Arts, and curatorial teams from Serpentine Galleries and Rijksmuseum. Alemani frequently commissions new work that negotiates institutional frameworks and public space, coordinating with engineering teams from venues like Serpentine Pavilion collaborators and urban planners from municipal cultural offices.

Awards and recognition

Alemani received major awards and honors including a Golden Lion associated with La Biennale di Venezia for curatorial achievement, and recognition from cultural bodies such as ICOM, Association of Art Museum Curators, and foundation awards connected to Prince Claus Fund and other philanthropic institutions. She has been a juror and advisor for prizes including Turner Prize panels, grants administered by Pollock-Krasner Foundation, and advisory boards for museums such as Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago and Fondation Beyeler.

Publications and writings

Alemani contributes essays and catalogues for publications produced by Phaidon Press, Milan: Skira, Tate Publishing, and exhibition catalogs distributed by Marsilio Editori. Her critical writing appears in periodicals and journals including Artforum, Flash Art, Frieze, and edited volumes from academic presses such as Routledge and MIT Press. She has lectured at universities and academies including Yale University, Columbia University, University of Oxford, and participated in symposia at Centre for Contemporary Art Kitakyushu and Harvard University programs.

Category:Italian curators Category:Contemporary art curators