Through a variety of media, Elena Damiani reinterprets documented geology, archaeology and cartography, once rationalized by the sciences, presenting natural elements and processes as incomplete and ambiguous spaces where multiple times and topographies merge. The artist collects found materials that have an embedded narrative, such as books, photographs, video footage and public records. These materials are then stripped from their initial context and recomposed into works that point out the manipulability of cultural items and information. In her practice, Damiani constantly oscillates between past and present, science and narrative, from the factual to the invented and from the personal to the collective.
Elena Damiani studied Architecture at the Universidad Peruana de Ciencias Aplicadas and later transferred her studies to the Escuela Superior de Bellas Artes Corriente Alternativa, where she graduated in Fine Arts in 2005. In 2010 he received his Masters in Fine Arts at Goldsmiths, University of London. His major solo exhibitions include Ensayos de lo solido, MAC Lima, Peru (2022); Great Circles, Galerie Nordenhake, Mexico City, Mexico (2019); As the dust unsettles, Revolver Galeria, Buenos Aires, Argentina (2019); In the Box: Elena Damiani’s Dust Tail, Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, USA (2017); Testigos: A Catalogue of Fragments, Museo Amparo, Puebla, (2016) and MUAC, Mexico City (2015); Excavaciones, Solo Projects ARCO, Madrid, Spain (2014) and All The Pieces Back Together, Selma Feriani Gallery, London, UK (2013).
Damiani has participated in several biennials, including: Seoul Mediacity Biennale (2023); Bienal de Cuenca (2018); Gwangju Biennale (2016); Vienna Biennale (2015); Venice Biennale (2015); Bienal do Mercosul (2011 and 2013); as well as group exhibitions at institutions such as MoMA, New York (2023); Museo de Arte Zapopan, Guadalajara (2022); DePaul Art Museum, Chicago (2020); Museu Coleção Berardo, Lisbon (2019); MUAC – Museo Universitario Arte Contemporáneo, Mexico City (2015); Garage Museum of Contemporary Art, Moscow (2015), MOCAD Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit (2015); Americas Society, New York (2014); Museo Tamayo, Mexico City (2013); MAC Museo de Arte Contemporaneo, Lima (2013), Museo de Bellas Artes de Valencia (2009), MAMBA Museo de Arte Moderno de Buenos Aires (2007); Kunstmuseum Bonn (2006).
The artist has received awards from the Grants & Commissions Program, Cisneros Fontanals Art Foundation CIFO, Miami (2016); Americas Society’s David Rockefeller Atrium, New York (2014); International Festival of Digital Arts and Cultures of Gran Canaria (2006) and 2nd Prize in the Franco-Peruvian Visual Arts Competition Pasaporte para un Artista (2006).
Her work is present in important institutional collections such as MoMA – The Museum of Modern Art, New York, USA; MALI Museo de Arte de Lima, Lima, Peru; Museo Tamayo Arte Contemporaneo, Mexico City, Mexico; Kamel Lazaar Foundation, Geneva, Switzerland; Cisneros Fontanals Art Foundation CIFO, Miami, USA; PAMM – Pérez Art Museum, Miami, USA, among others.
