UGO SCHIAVI

Ugo Schiavi’s installations of sculptural fragments contain dramatic tensions between fiction and history, strength and frailty. Often derived from notions of sampling and archaeology, they incorporate elements from public statuary and shared memory. To these monumental and petrified forms, the artist integrates contemporary, industrial, and digital components, creating dynamic articulations that intertwine varying scales, speculative archives, and collective memory. 

Schiavi’s research-driven practice reflects a deep and enduring engagement with the themes of collection and conservation. Each body of work carefully preserves and layers meanings drawn from sites and ancient artifacts, uncovering contemporary and futuristic resonances. His hybrid compositions and chimerical environments combine diverse objects and materials, often revealing the infrastructural frameworks—such as metal grids or fiber structures—that support his fractured depictions, revealing both the resilience and vulnerabilities of postindustrial culture.

The artist’s sculptural language delves into the contemporary crisis of representation, examining how these systems engage with bodies—both human and non-human. His works alternate between forms that invite direct interaction and those left open to speculative interpretation, often through the lens of enduring mythologies and archetypes. While Schiavi’s early practice embrace traditional techniques such as molding, imprinting, and subtracting, his more recent works explore themes of hybridization and contamination in the Anthropocene. By adopting technologies like 3D scanning and photogrammetry, he achieves a syncretic fusion of materials and images, pushing the boundaries of his medium and its engagement with contemporary technologies.

Ugo Schiavi (b. 1987, Neuilly-sur-Seine) holds an MFA from Villa Arson, Ecole Nationale Supérieure d’Art de Nice (2011). Upon graduating, he received the Prix Bernar Venet for Contemporary Art. His recent solo exhibitions include Midnight Zone at MAMAC, Nice (France, 2025); The Forgotten Ceremony, Villa Hegra, Alula (Saudi Arabia, 2024); Leviathan, Centre d’Art Bastille, Grenoble (France, 2022); Gargaron, Musée Réattu, Arles (France, 2021); Et in Arcadia, Musée des Beaux Arts d’Orléans (France, 2019). Some of his public space installations and commissions are Euphoria, Athletes Village, Paris Olympic Games, Saint-Denis (France, 2024); Le Naufrage de Neptune, Place Royale, Nantes, Le Voyage a Nantes (France, 2021) and Soulevement, Parvis de l’Hotel de Ville, Paris, Nuit Blanche Paris (France, 2018). His works have been shown in institutional group exhibitions such as Manifesta 15, Barcelona (Spain, 2024); BIENALSUR, Riyadh (Saudi Arabia, 2023); Manifesto of Fragility - 16th Lyon Biennale, Lyon (France, 2022); Afterparty, Fondation du Doute, Blois (France, 2020); Une inconnue d’avance, Villa Emerige, Paris (France, 2016) and Gestalt, MAMAC, Nice (2015, France). Ugo Schiavi was shortlisted for the Revelation Emerige Prize (2016), Audi Talent Award (2020) and SAM Contemporary Art Prize (2020). In 2023 he was the recipient of Fondation Schneider Prize for Contemporary Art. His works are part of several public collections including FRAC Sud; Fonds Communal d’Art Contemporain, Marseille; FRAC Bretagne; Musée Réattu, Arles.