selected exhibitions

2024
The Reading Room, Kunstverein am Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz, Berlin (solo)
Überall und nirgendwo, Neues Museum, Nürnberg
Artenumero, Museo Archeologico, Aosta
Orlando's Library, site-specific installation, Palazzo Ducale, Genova (solo)
Opus liber, Building, Milano
Supporto memoria / Memory Device, Galleria Studio G7, Bologna (solo)

2023
Daniela Comani: Perturbazione / Disturbance, Fondazione La Rocca, Pescara (solo)
Protocol, drj art projects, Berlin
BIENALSUR 2023, Ficciones Reales / Real Fictions, CCK - Centro Cultural Kirchner, Buenos Aires, Argentina
Orlando's Library, permanent site-specific installation, MAMbo - Museo d'Arte Moderna, Bologna
Planet Earth: 21st Century, Museum Folkwang, Essen (solo)

2022
YOU ARE MINE, Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Moderna e Contemporanea, Rome (solo)
No, Neon, No Cry, MAMbo - Museo d'Arte Moderna, Bologna
Here. Between not-yet and no-more, Galleria Milano, Milan
Decaptitalize Humanity, Deutscher Künstlerbund e.V.

2021
Daniela Comani: Orlando's Library, Solo show at Galleria Studio G7, ARTISSIMA, Oval, Turin
BLAST - estetiche della violenza tra immagine, video e documento, Palazzo Poste Verona, Verona
The Things I Tell You Will Not Be Wrong, Scope - Biennale für Fotografie und Medienkunst, Städtische Galerie Kubus, Hannover
On Photography: Landscape, Cityscape, Interior, Edition VFO, Zurich
Io dico Io - I say I, Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Moderna e Contemporanea, Rome

2020
Daniela Comani: The Beginning The End / L'inizio La fine, Galleria Studio G7, Bologna (solo)
Illusionary Observations: Daniela Comani, Kata Geibl, Sanna Kannisto, Museum für Photographie, Braunschweig
Metropolis, Museum on the Seam, Jerusalem
Chiaroscuro, Galleria Studio G7, Bologna
Resistance and Sensibilty - Collection Donata Pizzi, Fotografie Forum Frankfurt, Frankfurt am Main
Carlo Battisti + Daniela Comani: Lesen, drj art projects, Berlin

2019
Daniela Comani: Ordine e metodo, Galleria Milano, Milan (solo)
Biography: A Model Kit / The Human Condition, Museum of Modern Art, Moscow
Inside - Out. Konstruktionen des Ichs, Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg, Wolfsburg
POLITICAL AFFAIRS - Language is not innocent, Kunstverein in Hamburg, Hamburg
CENTURY. idee Bauhaus, Dr. Julius, Berlin
Daniela Comani: It Was Me. Diary 1900-1999, SOUND CORNER, Auditorium Parco della Musica, Rome
Daniela Comani: Planet Earth: 21st Century at Festival of the Sciences, Auditorium Parco della Musica, Rome
Vergessen - warum wir nicht alles erinnern, Historisches Museum Frankfurt, Frankfurt am Main

2018
Daniela Comani: Planet Earth - 21st Century, IIC, Jakarta (solo)
L'ALTRO SGUARDO. FOTOGRAFE ITALIANE 1965-2018, Palazzo delle Esposizioni, Roma *
What is Love? - Nähe, Begehren und Beziehungen, Kallmann-Museum, München-Ismaning *
DRIVE DROVE DRIVEN - Cars in Contemporary Photography, Kommunale Galerie, Berlin *

2017
Daniela Comani: 1975 - Diario di strada, Kunstsaele, Berlin *
RAZZLE-DAZZLE / Camouflaging [in] Society, Campus / Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, Turin
Ritrattare, curated by Gino Giannuizzi, Galerie d'Art Contemporain L'Entrepôt, Monaco *
Drive Drove Driven: Cars in Contemporary Photography, The Moving Gallery, Omaha, Nebraska *
Faktor X - Das Chromosom der Kunst, Haus der Kunst, München *
Da Duchamp a Cattelan. ALT. Arte contemporanea al Palatino, Roma *
My Way - A modo mio, MAMbo - Museo d'Arte Moderna, Bologna *
Perfect Day - Daniela Comani, Fabio Torrem Galleria Studio G7, Bologna
CHRONOS. L 'arte contemporanea e il suo tempo, Palazzo Colleoni a Cortenuova, Bergamo *
Selección Natural - This is the Cover of the Book, CCL Blanquerna, Madrid *

2016
A New Bookstore, Una Vetrina/The Indipendent, Roma (solo)
My Diary - Your News, OSA Archivum and Goethe Institut, Budapest (solo)
Eine glückliche Ehe, dkw. Kunstmuseum Dieselkraftwerk, Cottbus (solo)
Dall'oggi al domani, 24 ore nell'arte contemporanea, MACRO - Museo d'Arte Moderna, via Nizza, Roma *
"...und eine Welt noch", Kunsthaus Hamburg, Hamburg

2015
Unprotected Zone, Museum on the Seam, Jerusalem
Masterpieces from Farnesina Collection, Museum of Contemporary Art, Zagreb *
Macrocosmi, Galerie Jordan/Seydoux, Berlin
Contresens - Dissidence - Tolérance, 21e Festival d'Arts plastiques, Carla Bayle, France
The Self: Portraits of Artists in their Absence, National Academy Museum, New York
Archive in Progress (International Holocaust Remembrance Day), MAMbo - Museo d'Arte Moderna, Bologna
Daniela Comani's Top 100 Films, Charlie James Gallery, Los Angeles (solo)

2014
raus hier, Kunstpavillon im alten Botanischen Garten, München
Takeover, Gildar Gallery, Denver, Colorado
Ich war's. Tagebuch 1900-1999, dkw - Kunstmuseum Dieselkraftwerk, Cottbus (solo)
Collezione Farnesina Arte, Roma *
My Film History, Galleria Studio G7, Bologna (solo) *
Liebe/Love, Wilhelm-Hack-Museum, Ludwigshafen am Rhein *
Pausen Bilder 1-11, Ozean, Berlin

2013
Weiße normen der Macht, GrazMuseum, Graz, Austria
10 Jahre "Eine glückliche Ehe" 2003-2013, Kunstverein Tiergarten, Berlin (solo) *
Accoppiamenti giudiziosi, Nuova Galleria Morone, Milano *
Autoritratti. Iscrizioni del femminile nell'arte italiana contemporanea, MAMbo, Bologna *
Cumuli, Verein zur Förderung von Kunst und Kultur am Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz e.V., Berlin *
She Says, Second Street Gallery, Charlottesville, Virginia, USA

2012
Le Printemps de Septembre: History is Mine!, Musée les Abattoirs, Toulouse, France *
C_artelibro. Il principio delle pagine, Biblioteca Universitaria, Bologna *
Novità editoriali a cura di Daniela Comani, Corraini, Mantova, Italy (solo)*
History, Film and Dynamite, Kirk Hopper Fine Art, Dallas, Texas (solo)
Daniela Comani's Top 100 Films, after the butcher, Berlin (solo)
The Cross Shown, Nuova Galleria Morone, Milano *
Capital Offense: The End(s) of Capitalism, Beacon Arts Building, Los Angeles

2011
Lascia un segno, Pinacoteca Nazionale, Bologna *
I Know What You Don't See, Karlin Studios, Futura Centre for Contemporary Art, Prague
Doublespeak, Utah Museum of Contemporary Art, Salt Lake City, Utah
PULSE Projects 2011, Los Angeles
Verbale 2, Studio Esther Stocker, Wien
Sex/Twist, Kirk Hopper Fine Art, Dallas, Texas
54th Venice Biennale / Repubblica di San Marino Pavilion, Venice, Italy *
Macht Geschichte! - X Wohnungen, 16. Internationale Schillertage, Nationaletheater, Mannheim, Germany
Schon wieder und nochmal? - Handlungsspielräume, Kunstverein Medienturm, Graz, Austria
Your Home in Berlin, Berlin Carré am Alexanderplatz, Berlin
366 Days, 52 Bookcovers and 1 Happy Couple, Charlie James Gallery, Los Angeles (solo)
Washed Out, Konsthall C, Stockholm, Sweden

2010
Überblendungen. Das Zukünftige rekonstruiren, Shedhalle, Zurich
Courier, University Art Museum, University at Albany, State University of New York *
C'était moi. Journal 1900-1999, Centre d'Art Passerelle, Brest (solo) *
Press Art. Die Sammlung Annette und Peter Nobel, Museum der Moderne, Salzburg *
Please Me Fashion, Palazzo Ducale, Sabbioneta *
The Fate of Irony, KAI 10 Raum für Kunst, Düsseldorf *
ITaliens. Junge Kunst in der Botschaft, Botschaft der italienischen Republik, Berlin *
Nouvelles parutions éditées par Daniela Comani, Centre d'Art Passerelle, Brest (solo) *
Ich weiss was du nicht siehst, Kunstraum Kreuzberg / Bethanien, Berlin
365/51/1 Daniela Comani, Souterrain, Berlin (solo)
Selected Artists, RealismusStudio / NGBK, Berlin *

2009
#3 Presenti, Musée de l'OHM c/o Museo Civico Medievale, Bologna
Zeigen. Eine Audiotour durch Berlin von Karin Sander, Temporäre Kunsthalle, Berlin *
Kaléidoscope d'Italie, Centre national de l'audiovisuel, Dudelange, Luxembourg *
Novità editoriali a cura di Daniela Comani, Galleria Studio g7, Bologna (solo) *
Revisiting - Videoscreening, The Building, Berlin
Portrait: Berlin, Goethe-Institut Santiago de Chile and Buenos Aires Photo
fake or feint, Szenario 5, Berlin Carré am Alexanderplatz, Berlin *
Neuerscheinungen hrsg. von Daniela Comani, Laura Mars Grp., Berlin (solo) *
STILL / MOVING / STILL, International Photo Festival Knokke-Heist, Belgium

2008
Focus on Contemporary Italian Art, MAMbo - Museo d'Arte Moderna, Bologna
Three Men in a Boat, General Public, Berlin
Daniela Comani invited by Ludwig Seyfarth, Anna-Catharina Gebbers Bibliothekswohnung, Berlin
Sono stata io. Diario 1900-1999, Neon>FdV, Fabbrica del Vapore, Milano (solo) *
Not so Private: Studio G7, Villa delle Rose, Bologna *
I Queerelanti, Neon>Campobase, Bologna *
Guangzhou Triennial, Guangdong Museum of Art, Guangzhou, China *
Liebe. Love. Paare, Ulmer Museum, Ulm *
HeartQuake, Museum on the Seam, Jerusalem *
Vertrautes Terrain / Resonanzraum: streng verdaulich, ZKM/Museum für neue Kunst, Karlsruhe *
Inéditos 2008 / Así se escribe la historia, La Casa Encendida, Madrid *
History will repeat itself, Goethe-Institut/Film Archive/Videotage, Hong Kong *
Gewoon Anders! / Just Different!, Cobra Museum, Amsterdam/Amstelveen *
Bildpolitiken, Salzburger Kunstverein, Salzburg
Portrait: Berlin, Goethe-Institut, Oscar Schindler's Factory, Krakow and Goethe-Institut Riga
Liebe. Love. Paare, Gustav-Lübcke-Museum, Hamm *
History will repeat itself, Centre for Contemporary Art, Ujazdowski Castle, Warsaw *
Re-Education - You Too Can Be Like Us!, HAU (Hebbel am Ufer), Berlin
Transmediale.08 - conspire!, Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin *

2007
History will repeat itself, Kunst-Werke Institute for Contemporary Art, Berlin *
Kunsthalle Berlin-Lichtenberg, Berlin
Ich war's. In 32 Tagen um den Alexanderplatz. 1805-2007, NGBK / U2 Alexanderplatz, Berlin *
Liebe. Love - Paare, Museum im Kulturspeicher, Würzburg *
Mondo e Terra, Municipal Gallery of Art of Castel San Pietro, Italy *
Portrait: Berlin, Goethe-Institut, Washington, DC *
History will repeat itself, Hartware MedienKunstVerein at PHOENIX Halle, Dortmund *
Sono stata io / It was me, Galleria Corraini, Mantova (solo) *
Témoins de l'absence, Centre d'art Passerelle, Brest, France
Portrait: Berlin, Old Omaha Association-Moving Gallery, Omaha, Nebraska *
Bodytalk, Fotogalerie Wien, Vienna *
L'immagine infedele. Galleria neon>campobase, Bologna *

2006
Die QueerulantInnen innen/aussen, Auto, Vienna
Zeugen der Abwesenheit, Kunstverein Tiergarten-Galerie Nord, Berlin
Doppia vista mare (mit Frühstück), Laura Mars Grp., Berlin *
Das achte Feld - Geschlechter, Leben und Begehren in der Kunst seit 1960, Museum Ludwig, Cologne *
Un matrimonio felice e altre storie, Officina delle Arti, Musei Civici, Reggio Emilia, Italy (solo) *
Diari, Galleria 1000eventi, Milan
Un matrimonio felice / Eine glückliche Ehe, C/O careof, Milan (solo)

2005
Orientalismi, Studio la Città, Verona, Italy *
Polished Goldrausch 05, Kunstraum Kreuzberg/Bethanien, Berlin *
Permanent zeitgenössisch, Haus Am Waldsee, Berlin *
Ich war‘s. Tagebuch 1900-1999, //plattform//, Berlin (Solo) *
EuropaFries, Collegium Hungaricum, Berlin *
A happy Marriage #3, C.A.R.K., Yuwaku sousako no mori, Kanazawa, Japan (solo)
Rigorosamente bianco e nero, Galleria Studio g7, Bologna

2004
Portraits, Esso Gallery, New York
B2B AND BACK AGAIN, Laura Mars Grp., Berlin

2003
Onufri 2003-Catch me if you can, National Gallery of Arts, Tirana *
Eine glückliche Ehe, Murata & friends, Berlin (solo)

2002
Daniela Comani, Antje Dorn - Senatsstipendiaten, Kunstbank, Berlin
Entr‘acte, Palazzo Albiroli, Bologna *
Comani, Milanesi, Morley, Galleria Comunale d Arte Contemporanea, Sassuolo, Italy

2001
Tranches de vie, Ex-convento di S.Maria, Gonzaga, Italy *
Maebashi Festival of Arts, Center of Art Maebashi, Gunma, Japan *

2000
Double Drawings, Galleria Studio G7, Bologna (solo) *
Ladies, Murata & friends, Berlin (solo)

1999
Más y más-Stadt in den Beinen, La Panadería, Mexico City
Souvenirs 1999, Galleria Studio G7, Bologna (solo)

1998
Sehen sehen-Berlin 98, Loop, Berlin

1997
[O.m.U.], Neuer Berliner Kunstverein, Berlin *
Daniela Comani, Zeichnungen und Fotoarbeiten, Kunstverein Braunschweig, Germany (solo) *
Medium of Exchange, CCH, Hamburg

1996
Double Drawings, Galleria Studio G7, Bologna (solo)
Station Deutschland, Kampnagelfabrik, Hamburg *
Lesen, Kunsthalle St.Gallen, CH *

1995
Speculum absconditum, Wiensowski & Harbord, Berlin (solo) *
Stipendiaten der Karl-Hofer-Gesellschaft, Bahnhof Westend, Berlin *
Fotografie als Bild, Kunstverein Braunschweig, Germany *
Station Deutschland, Künstlerhaus Bethanien, Berlin *

1993
Kommunikation vs Entfremdung, Bruno Brunnet Fine Arts, Berlin (solo)
What you see sees you, Likör Fabrik, Kunst-Werke, Berlin (solo)
More than zero, Magasin, Centre National d'Art Contemporain, Grenoble, France *

1992
37 Räume, Kunst-Werke, Berlin *
Junge Kunst 1992, Saarland Museum, Saarbrücken, Germany *
Zwischenräume, Gallery Tryekhprudny, Moscow (solo)

1991
Affascinato dallo sviluppo della tua grandezza, Hochschule der Künste, Berlin
...in Zusammenarbeit mit Isa Genzken, Hochschule der Künste, Berlin

1990
Dromomania, Botschaft e.V., Berlin *

* with catalogue

selected bibliography

bio



Supporto Memoria / Memory Device, 2024, series of 44 photos, pigment prints on matt paper, each 45 x 30 cm
East Berlin 1990-2020, 2023, video, 18 min.
and Untitled, 1992, Polaroid, double exposure
Daniela Comani
Supporto memoria / Memory Device
Curated by Giangavino Pazzola
Opening: January 12, 2024
January 13 - March 30, 2024
Galleria Studio G7, Bologna

The set-up designed by Daniela Comani for Supporto memoria / Memory Device features three previously unseen works from as many periods of the artist’s career: Supporto memoria / Memory Device (2023), East Berlin 1990-2020, and Polaroid con doppia esposizione (Polaroid with double exposure, 1992). Both the static and the moving images first and foremost highlight a reflection on the relationship between the individual and time, which has become essential in the artist’s research. Time is explored, measured with one’s body, disclosed with devices, atmospheres and objects. It is a respected, yet at the same time directly addressed dimension, where logic is questioned despite the abundance of information offered by Comani.

In Supporto memoria / Memory Device (2023) – a series that also lends its title to the exhibition – Comani presents a sort of archive composed of 44 still-lifes of as many technological devices used over the years by the artist herself. Cameras, recorders, mobile phones, films, audio tapes, floppy disks, CDs, memory and sim cards make up a visual sampler of media history. On an aesthetic level, the devices immortalised on neutral backgrounds show resonances with works by conceptual artists such as Christopher Williams (1956) and Steven Pippin (1960). However, Comani does not criticise photography as a visual system or a mechanical process of capitalist society, but creates objective, nostalgic images to declare the impossibility of a technological archaeology, as well as to narrate a personal aspect of her own experience.

Indeed, from a methodological standpoint, the objects are photographed concisely and organised in a grid, showing information about the models and their structure, years of production and technical details. This cataloguing process reveals the coordinates of the construction of Comani’s personal archive, and thus of her personal memory and identity. It also questions viewers and suggests what the artist saw, decided to record or create with them, and – perhaps – what we would (or have) done with the same devices if we had owned any. On the one hand, by showing the subjects as icons, Comani makes a self-portrait of her relationship with history, echoing Walter Benjamin’s reflections on the ability of devices to record what unconsciously escapes the eye. On the other, she questions the potential for organising archives in the contemporary world – the second major theme addressed by the exhibition – reshaping time according to one’s interests, tastes and values. Here, additions have the same relevance as absences and are included in a scheme for collecting, storing and interpreting the past that does not reconstruct a complete picture, but rather opens up an opportunity for continuous questioning, a new narration of history and our relationship to it, and a possible reorganisation of the ways of imagining the future.

As in most of her works over the past thirty years, Comani shows an interest in the ‘technologies of time’ indicated by curator Dieter Roelstraete and, even better, for the media archaeology recounted by theorist Jussi Parikka, as also found in East Berlin 1990-2020, a split-screen video work that synchronously shows the course of the same urban space in the German capital thirty years apart. Both videos are shot from inside the passenger compartment of a car, recalling a great classic of conceptual photographic art such as Every Building on the Sunset Strip (1966) by American artist Ed Ruscha. The first view was made by the artist on her birthday through a VHS video camera, as was the second, which, however, was made with an iPhone camera. Once again, the idea of personal experience supports a reflection on the progression of time and society, as well as the evolution of technology. Indeed, in this comparative juxtaposition, it is not only possible to detect a kind of grammar of semblance and contrast linked to the subject and technique, but also to observe the actions that the artist has performed with her body, leading to significant variations in the film. Images are first and foremost the place of the unveiling and exploration we make in the world, of our shedding light on the indistinct void, organising it and giving answers – albeit partial – to the knowledge of what surrounds us.

The 1990 footage is one of the first personal explorations of the Soviet sector after the fall of the Berlin Wall, crossing the eastern districts of Mitte and Prenzlauer Berg. The camera movements are incessant, the zoom focuses several times on details, and the architecture is often pointed at. In this sense, Comani lets the excitement of the discovery of what had until a few months earlier been considered the forefront of the socialist world in Europe shine through. However, not only is the grain of the shot in 2020 different for obvious reasons, but urban transformations emerge, as does the cultural, social and economic stratification related to the influence of the entertainment industry and capitalism. Furthermore, in the latter, the surroundings are filmed by hand, but with greater stability, leaving objects reflected on the glass to emerge – notebooks with writings that declare Comani’s connection to text and writing and emphasise the theme of the double. It is a meta-area in which the encounter and exchange between individual reality and social fiction is staged.

The theme of the double – as well as that of time – also emerges in the previously unexhibited photographic work Polaroid con doppia esposizione (1992), which the artist produced during her years at the Berlin University of the Arts. The picture was taken with one of the cameras immortalised in Supporto memoria / Memory Device; there, the artist portrays herself in front of one of her works of the time, which included a photographic reproduction of a detail of the model of the large domed building designed by Adolf Hitler and his architect Albert Speer, ‘Große Halle/Volkshalle’ (‘Great Hall of the People’) for the project ‘Welthauptstadt Germania’, i.e. the Universal Capital of the Third Reich. Using the double exposure technique, Comani stages a paradoxical situation that creates a short circuit in the experiential function of the photographic document and – at the same time – refers as much to our relationship with historical memory as to the theme of identity – both topics that will permeate her research in the years to come, as can be seen in works such as Sono stata io. Diario 1900-1999.

Due to great collective trauma, contemporary society appears incapable of thinking and imagining the future. Like many artists nowadays, Comani retrieves objects from the past, reactivating their history and function to outline a sort of self-portrait, which is also a hidden reflection of our times.

Text by Giangavino Pazzola, 2024

Installation photos by Francesco Rucci