Fabrizio Plessi

Fabrizio Plessi (1940 – Italy) 

Fabrizio Plessi is internationally recognized as a visionary in video art and installation. Since 1968, his artistic practice has centred on the poetic dialogue between natural elements like water and fire and cutting-edge digital technologies. Through monumental video installations that merge physical materials with electronic media, Plessi explores the relationship between the organic and the technological, creating immersive environments where flowing imagery becomes a metaphor for memory and transformation. From 1990 to 2000 he was Professor of the Humanisation of Technology at the Academy of Media Arts Cologne, where in 1994 he also held the Chair in Electronic Scenography. In his recent collaboration with Galleria Barovier&Toso, Plessi continues to expand his artistic language by creating his first major project in Murano glass, transforming archetypal functional forms – bottles and drinking glasses – into non-functional sculptures where water's movement becomes permanent form. 

Major Exhibitions 

Centre Pompidou, Paris (complete video works, 1982); 42nd Venice Biennale (representing Italy, 'Bronx', 1986); Documenta VIII, Kassel (monumental installation 'Roma', 1987); Guggenheim Museum, New York (1998); Guggenheim Museum, Bilbao (2001); Scuderie del Quirinale, Rome (2002); Martin-Gropius-Bau, Berlin (2004); Venice Biennale, Venice Pavilion ('Mari Verticali', 2011); Plessi Museum, Brenner Pass (permanent, opened 2013); Milan Expo, Belarusian Pavilion (2015); Pushkin Museum, Moscow (2018); ‘Plessi sposa Brixia’, Santa Giulia Museum, Brescia (2023); ’Plessi. Mariverticali’, Palazzo Reale, Milan (2023); ‘Plessi. Nero Oro’, Fondazione Peruzzo, Padua (2024); ‘Perdersi in un bicchier d’acqua’, Palazzo Barovier&Toso, Murano-Venice (2025). 

Theatrical & Performance Projects 

Electronic stage design for Luciano Pavarotti's concert, Central Park, New York (1993); 'Fenix DNA', La Fenice opera house, Venice (2017). 

Awards 

Miró Medal,UNESCO,Paris(1993); Kunstpreis der NORD/LB (1999); Commendatore della Repubblica Italiana (2006). 

Collections 

Plessi's works are held in major international museum collections including the Guggenheim Museums (New York and Bilbao), Centre Georges Pompidou (Paris), Fondazione Peggy Guggenheim (Venice), ZKM | Centre for Art and Media (Karlsruhe), Museum Ludwig (Cologne), Museum Folkwang (Essen), Fundació Joan Miró (Barcelona), Pushkin Museum (Moscow) and Fondazione Mudima (Milan). His permanent museum at the Brenner Pass houses one of the most comprehensive collections of his work, featuring the monumental installation ‘The Soul of Nature’, originally created for Expo 2000 in Hannover. His works entered the Fondazione Barovier&Toso Collection.