Meet Camilla Boemio | Art writer and curator of contemporary art

We had the good fortune of connecting with Camilla Boemio and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Camilla, other than deciding to work for yourself, what was the single most important decision you made that contributed to your success?

Twenty years ago, I started to write about contemporary art, and began to curate my first exhibitions. Art is dynamic and regenerates itself. Power, belief and the perception of reality are being shaped and shared in society at large and for me this is such a key aspect to understand how society and art are evolving. I’m interested in practices that develop discourses around gender, body, the body politics resulting in a new vision of society, “identity bending,” a key Modernist trope spanning at least from Marcel Duchamp to Matthew Barney. If at the beginning of my career all I did was write about it, now I engage in curatorial activities connected to these topics and outlooks and would like to continue curating even more art projects.

I have a nomadic spirit, but part of my identity is linked with LA and California. There are several ley lines intersecting in California, creating a unique energy that has attracted cultural and spiritual seekers for decades. Despite my frequent travels, the allure of the LA area remains irresistible, drawing me back to my art experiences, my life’s purpose, the sky and the sea, landscape and the inclusive sense of community; LA is still the best place in the world.

I understood that art was becoming very important in my life when I was a teenager. My best afternoon of the week was dedicated to drawing in the museums of Roma and discovering the permanent collections. When I discovered Land Art; I was completely absorbed by these artists creating artworks in and with the landscape made with natural materials, including soil, rock, boulders, and trees, sometimes along with man-made materials such as concrete, metal, and asphalt. The Pilgrims Way 1971; by Hamish Fulton was fundamental for my imaginary.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?

My career has always been shaped by my encounters, the people and places I chanced upon. It is very important for me to find meaning in my work and in my life in general. Curating contemporary art is a way to express my creativity but it is also for me a tale of encounters and sharing. This is why collaborating with artists (and architects) is very important and inspiring. For me, the “body of work” I produce matters more than maintaining a singular creative identity as an individual curator, writer, theorist (with extensive experience in journalism), consultant and so on.

The highest value of the meaning of the word: the dedication to disseminate, to show, to explain and to offer a cultural proposal of visual art that creates attention, and shakes and engages a debate with the exhibition visitors and publication readers. For me to curate is a kind of plant cultivation, we must devote a vigilant assistance to the various stages of development based on care, patience and time so that theories, application of concepts and artistic practice can mature. A plant needs sun and air; similarly, an exhibition needs the ideal conditions to create a flow, to actively change the language of art proposing new keys to reading, experimenting, establishing a philological order and a curatorial method and raising the critical debate. This may mean sometimes dissatisfaction with the knowledge of the world, but at the same time intervening in directing the movements, quoting Marx “Philosophers have only differently interpreted the world, but the important thing is to change it.” When can art activate and trigger new social and aesthetic ways? The curator comes into play to ensure a fertile humus by implementing the vigilant conditions and opening new avenues for thought, intercepting the ways to represent the start of a movement or research and experimentation, an aesthetic process or an innovative function.

My next project will be impressive. I’m engaging in a collaboration with Reising and Taylor Contemporary for PER/FORMATIVE CITIES. A Nest of Triptychal Performances, the solo show of talent artist Saun Santipreecha, starting at the end of month of February at AOC F58 Galleria Bruno Lisi in Roma.

This exhibition is drawn from, and engages with, three books by Italo Calvino: If On A Winter s Night A Traveler, Invisible Cities, and Mr. Palomar, as well as the three cities which have paved my own journey to this exhibition: Bangkok, Los Angeles, and Rome itself. Working with and through Calvino’s texts, the works in this exhibition interweave the visual and the aural, breaking the non-linear through relational modularity in both painting and sound (music). Throughout, the works employ a triptych-like, scalable configuration, unfolding each layer, from the three cities’ sonic imprints, to the performative, relationally-modular painting (video) installation to the three sculptural sound-works. The sound works themselves are created from the performative gestures of three groups: myself, the contributors including alto flute performances by Cari Ann Souter, and the public spect-actor. Like the formative and performative actions that make a city, always the entwining of three elements-nature/environs, human/systemic action, and myth/ideology-within time, the works consist of these interwoven threads from the macro to the micro level-from the subjective to the objective back to the subjective and outwards again. The actions do not end with Saun Santipreecha as the artist but both come from beyond and continue further, from and through systems forming not only the morphology of who we are but that of the cities we live in as well: embodiments of the disembodied, “spider-webs of intricate relationships seeking a form.” (Invisible Cities)

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?

1. LACMA (Los Angeles County Museum of Art) Largest art museum in the West inspires creativity and dialogue, with an amazing permanent collection.
2. Reisig and Taylor Contemporary

Reisig and Taylor Contemporary is a fine art gallery based in Los Angeles.

3. Frieze Los Angeles

Frieze Los Angeles largely focuses on contemporary art and celebrates the exceptionally dynamic culture of Los Angeles and its global contributions to the contemporary art.

4. Durden and Ray

Durden & Ray is comprised of artist and curators who work together to create exhibition opportunities at their Downtown Los Angles space.

In 2018 I curated Fragments, It was a group show highlighting Italian artists. At Durden and Ray, exhibition looked at cultural identity and current Italian art. The exhibition included the beginnings of “As Brilliant As the Sun” published by Vanillaedizioni, tracing a line between exhibiting artists’ practices in Italy and California. Held in collaboration with AAC Platform, a nonprofit art organization based in Rome, it was a dazzling exhibition of mixed media works from a strong group of artists.

5. Getty Villa

Greek and Roman antiquities housed in a re-created Roman country home

6. The iconic Griffith Observatory
7. Malibu
8. Ago restaurant
9. The coolest bars and hot spots in L.A. are: Tenants of the Trees co-owned by Reza Fahim, and The Girl at the White Horse designed by Jason Lev

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?

I would like to dedicate much deserved credit and recognition in my story to AAC Platform. AAC Platform is an invitational, nomadic, no-profit space co-founded by Fabrizio Orsini and myself, aimed at artists, thinkers, intellectuals who are re-examining traditional methods of presenting, viewing, and experiencing contemporary art. The projects represent the art world’s most inspired artistic visions from a cross-section of emerging, mid-career and established programs from around the world. Additionally, the AAC publishes books by associated artists and hosts non-profit, alternative programs to increase interest and dialogue in the areas where we are developing projects.

The role of art is key in the culture debate. There are many great figures who have recently changed the aesthetical language, and who have constantly taken an active stand within society and the community, during the pandemic and the war period in Ukraine.

Website: http://www.camillaboemio.com/

Instagram: @camillaboemio

Twitter: @CamillaBoemio

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100064118525031

Other: blog http://aniconics.wordpress.com

Image Credits
Camilla Boemio’s portrait realized during Pitti 2024 by AAC Platform