Andrea Bellini and Paulo Wirz
Photo: Galaxia Wang
Andrea Bellini is director of the Centre d'Art Contemporain Genève, artistic director of the Biennale de l'Image en Mouvement in Geneva and curator of the Swiss Pavilion at the 2024 Venice Biennale. He was previously co-director of the Castello di Rivoli, director of the Artissima art fair, curatorial advisor for MoMA PS1 and senior editor of Flash Art International. He holds a degree in philosophy (1996) and a postgraduate diploma in archaeology and art history from the University of Siena (2002). Bellini has curated numerous group and solo shows, including exhibitions by Marina Abramović, Hannah Black, Roberto Cuoghi, Chiara Fumai, Ernie Gehr, Giorgio Griffa, Sonia Kacem, John McCracken, Nicole Miller, Philippe Parreno, Thomas Schütte, Hannah Weinberger and Guerreiro do Divino Amor, among others. He has also edited various publications to which he has contributed essays or interviews.
Photo: Claude Gasser
Paulo Wirz (1990*) was born and raised in the city of Pindamonhangaba, Brazil. At the age of 18, he moved to Switzerland to continue his academic studies, where he completed his BA in Photography at ZHDK, Zurich, and his MA in Fine Arts at HEAD, Geneva, in 2017. Wirz received the New Heads Award in 2019, the Swiss Art Awards in 2021 and in September this year he will start a research project at the Collegium Helveticum - ETH, Zurich. Between 2019 and 2022 he took part in the residency programs of the Fondazionne Ratti, Como, ZQM in Berlin, Cité des Arts in Paris and ProHelvetia in Cairo. In 2024, he will be at the New Europe College in Bucharest thanks to a Landis Gyr residency scholarship. His work has been exhibited at institutions such as Kunsthalle Basel (CH), FriArt (CH), Centre d'art Contemporain de Genève (CH), Helmhaus (CH), Archivio Conz (DE), Wehrmühle (DE), HausKonstruktiv (CH), Fondazionne Ratti (IT), Palais de l'Athénée (CH), and Villa Dei Cedri (CH)
Project
Paulo Wirz graduated in 2017 with a BA in Photography. Since then, his practice has shifted towards large-scale sculpture and site-specific installation. Alongside this, he has continued his photographic practice, albeit at a slower pace. The desire to reintroduce this medium into his work, and to explore a new medium – video – are the main focuses of his mentorship project. In collaboration with Andrea Bellini and his expertise in art and moving images, Wirz will sift through his archive to create a visual essay. The collaboration aims to transform his diverse collection of photographs into a visual essay that goes beyond the conventional narrative of each individual image and explores new ways of telling stories.
