Paola Pivi
Paola Pivi (born 1971 in Milan, Italy) is an Italian multimedia artist, based in Anchorage, Alaska in the United States. In her work, she uses a wide range of artistic techniques, including photography, sculpture, installation, drawing, video and performance. Some of her works contain performance elements, at times involving live animals and people. In 1999, she received the "Golden Lion Award" at the Venice Biennale. Her art is featured in public collections including the Centre Pompidou in Paris, and the MAXXI museum in Rome. Education. Pivi attended Politecnico di Milano, Milan, Italy, during 1990–1995, and the Brera Academy  of Fine Arts, also in Milan, during 1995–1998. She has participated in residencies at the International Studio Program, Italian studio at MoMA PS1, New York from 1999 – 2000, and was a Fellow at the American Academy in Rome, Italy in 2011. Selected works. "Untitled (project for Echigo Tsumari)", 2015 "Untitled (project for Echigo Tsumari)," 2015 was commissioned by Echigo-Tsumari for their 2015 Triennale in Japan. The project was then displayed at the Palazzo Strozzi in Florence Italy. As described by Fondazione Palazzo Strozzi, 48 Venice Biennale Pivi’s "Untitled (airplane)" was part of the Italian pavilion at the 48  Venice Biennale in 1999, alongside Monica Bonvicini, Bruna Esposito, Luisa Lambri, and Grazia Toderi. Her inverted Fiat G-91 airplane helped to earn Italy the Golden Lion for best national participation. Kunsthalle Basel – "One cup of cappuccino" In January 2007, the Kunsthalle Basel exhibited several works by Pivi, including three works specifically created for the Kunsthalle, in her first solo exhibition in Switzerland entitled, "It Just Keeps Getting Better". Paramount among them, Feathered Wheel series In a video about Pivi’s exhibition ‘Paola Pivi. World Record’ at the MAXXI Museum, Rome, Italy, curator Anne Palopoli said, Feathered Bear Sculptures Pivi is  best known for her series of whimsical, feather-covered bears. World Record Pivi says of the work: It’s a cocktail party The Protikus in Frankfurt, Germany exhibited Pivi’s site specific artwork "It’s a Cocktail Party" in 2008. Pivi seeks to magnify her works as a means to “highlight absurd aspects of our everyday world, confronting the viewer with unanticipated and spectacular situations. Her works place well-known objects in unusual contexts, imparting to them a modified meaning and function, thus exhibiting cultural and social conventions.” Public installations. Grrr Jamming Squeak When first opened in April 2010, "Grr  Jamming Squeak" was described as an artwork that was A public artwork commissioned by Sculpture International Rotterdam, the studio became an interactive and educational experience as well as a monthly concert venue for the city of Rotterdam from April 2010 to June 2011. How I roll "How I roll" was commissioned in 2012 by the Public Art Fund in New York, to be displayed at Doris C. Freedman Plaza in Central Park. Inspired by the story of Constantine Brancusi, Marcel Duchamp, and Fernand Leger marveling at a propeller at the 1912 Paris Air Show, Untitled (zebras) Exhibitions and awards. Pivi  has presented public installations at High Line New York, USA; and Public Art Fund, Doris C. Freedman Plaza, Freedman Plaza, Central Park, New York, USA. Her solo exhibitions include major museums such as MAXXI, Museo nazionale delle arti del XXI secolo, Rome, Italy; The Bass Museum of Art, Miami Beach, USA; DeFine Art Programme, SCAD, Savannah, USA; Dallas Contemporary, Dallas, Texas, USA; National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Australia; Castello di Rivoli, Turin, Italy; Rockbund Art Museum, Shanghai, China; Fondazione Nicola Trussardi, Milan, Italy; FRAC Bourgogne, Bains du Nord, Dijon, France; Witte de With, Netherlands; Kunsthalle Basel, Switzerland; and Tate Modern , London, UK. She has also been featured in galleries including Perrotin, New York, USA; Perrotin Tokyo, Japan; Galleria Massimo de Carlo, London, UK; Perrotin, Paris, France; Carlson Gallery, London, UK; and Galleria Massimo De Carlo, Milan, Italy. She has participated in group shows including at R & Company, New York, USA (forthcoming); Anchorage Museum, AK, USA; Fondazione Prada, Milan, Italy; Whitechapel Gallery, London, UK; Bass Museum of Art, Miami, USA; Museum für Gegenwart, Berlin, Germany; Hara Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo; Palais de Tokyo, Paris, France; MCA – Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, USA; and La Biennale di Venezia, Venice, Italy. Personal  life. From 2013 until 2016, Pivi was based in India – together with her husband, the composer Karma Culture Brothers – because the adoption of their adoptive son from the Tibetan Children's Villages was obtained through a long legal dispute, which ended with the landmark judgment by the Delhi High Court CM(M) 579/2015, which ratified the possibility for Tibetan children in India to be adopted as any other Indian child.