Alberto Garutti (Galbiate, Lecco, 1948 – Milan, 2023).
He has been one of the key figures on the Italian and international art scene over the past forty years. Always interested in exploring the spaces and dynamics of the relationship between artwork, viewer, and institution, starting in the 1990s Alberto Garutti radically redefined the processes behind the conception of public art. His public works are conceived as open systems of relationships—forms of encounter between citizens, art viewers, and the landscape—serving as subtle critical readings of our present.
An artist and teacher, from 1994 to 2013 he held the Chair of Painting at the Brera Academy in Milan. He also taught at IUAV in Venice and at the Politecnico di Milano. Through his long career as a professor, he made a significant contribution to the education of entire generations of artists. His pursuit of an open dialogue between contemporary art, the viewer, and public space earned him invitations to create works for cities and museums across the globe.
He participated in major international exhibitions such as the Venice Biennale, the Istanbul Biennale, Arte all’Arte, and the Memory Marathon at the Serpentine Gallery in London, and created works for museums and institutions including SMAK in Ghent, Museion in Bolzano, the 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art in Kanazawa, the Zegna Foundation in Trivero, the Generali agricultural estate at Ca’ Corniani in Caorle, and the MAXXI in Rome and L’Aquila.
In 2012, the PAC in Milan hosted a major solo exhibition of Alberto Garutti’s work titled Didascalia/Caption, curated by Paola Nicolin and Hans Ulrich Obrist.
Among his best-known works are Ai nati oggi (To those born today), created in Bergamo, Ghent, Istanbul, Moscow, Plovdiv, and Rome; Tutti i passi che ho fatto nella mia vita mi hanno portato qui, ora (Every step I have taken in my life has brought me here, now), installed in Siena, Antwerp, Milan, Florence, Lugano, Kaunas, Loreto Aprutino, Copenhagen, Tokyo, and Pescara; and the permanent installation located in Gae Aulenti Square in the Porta Nuova district of Milan.
On October 7, 2023, during the Giornata del Contemporaneo promoted by AMACI, the permanent installation Temporali (Thunderstorms) was inaugurated on the roof of the MAXXI Museum in Rome.
A major monograph on Alberto Garutti’s artistic practice—conceived by Germano Celant and supported by six major Italian and international museum institutions—won the 2023 Italian Council grant promoted by the Ministry of Culture and will be published in spring 2024.