ACT OF READING
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1y3VaOfT2WXIYiXWu9pY_eMFmicSmm2PK/view?usp=sharing
Biografia essenziale/ Essential Biography
is a multimedia artist currently based in Italy. She holds a Bachelor from Aarhus School of Architecture (Denmark, 2016) and a Masters of Fine Art in Performing Arts from Iceland University of the Arts (Iceland, 2019). As a multimedia artist, she creates and thinks across media, from sculptural installation to video and performance. Through practices of attentive listening and attunement to both the body and the environment, her creative work takes form in the attempt to reveal and make felt what often remains unnoticed. She is interested in crafting conditions to experience diverse modes of encounter that may create shifts in perception and propose different modes of inter-relation. Her work is often situated in a specific environment, becoming with and within it.
Elsa has presented her work nationally and internationally between Italy, USA, Germany, Iceland and Portugal. Her most recent collaborations are with Paula Diogo (PT) in ”Terra Nullius”, presented at the National Theater D. Maria II in Lisbon, and with Alex Cassal (BRA) in ”A Biblioteca do Fim do Mundo”, presented at the Verão festival Azul 2021 in Loulé. She is a recipient of the Artists Development Programme 2022 of the European Investment Bank Institute.
She is also a co-founder of Celestial Bodies, a project dedicated to opening spaces in order to explore meanings and practices of solidarity, care, empathy, and wonder. Together with Nora Tormann she is curating the CB meeting 2022, taking place in Italy in partnership with cultural association Vera Stasi.
EDUCATION
2018-2019, MFA in Performing Arts at Iceland University of the Arts, Reykjavik, Iceland
2013-2016, BA at the Aarhus School of Architecture, Aarhus, Denmark
2011-2012, Basic year at the faculty of Architecture and Design of Aalborg University, Aalborg, Denmark
2009, Architecture at Krabbesholm school of art, photography, architecture and design, Skive, Denmark
WORK EXPERIENCE
2022, Graphic design and illustration for the publication Resonances, a production of Má-criação, Lisbon, Portugal
2022, Graphic design for Physical Proscpect by Nora Tormann, Berlin, Germany
2022, Artistic support for Physical Proscpect by Nora Tormann, Berlin, Germany
2022, Graphic design and illustration for the publication Celestial Bodies, a production of Má-criação, Lisbon, Portugal
2021, Artistic collaboration for Terra Nullius, a production of Má-criação, Lisbon, Portugal
2021, Scenographer for Biblioteca do Fim do Mundo, a production of Má-criação, Lisbon,Portugal
2019-2020, Intern at Má-criação, Performing Arts organization, Lisbon, Portugal
2019-2020, Stage crew at the National Theater, Reykjavik, Iceland
2017-2018, Intern at the studio of Yoko Seyama, multimedia artist, and scenographer, Berlin, Germany
2016, Support staff at Arts, Letters and Numbers (ALN), an art-education center, Averill Park, NY, US
ELSA
MENCAGLI
2015-2016, Curatorial assistant for the exhibitions at the Aarhus School of Architecture, Aarhus, Denmark
2011-2013, Volunteer at Platform 4, a non-profit organization working with technology in combination with artistic genres such as music, design and architecture, Aalborg, Denmark
RESIDENCIES
2024, Lademoen Kunstnerverksteder, Trondheim, Norway (upcoming)
2022, Cité internationale des arts, 2022, Paris, France
2022, Resonances / Celestial Bodies 2022, Vera Stasi, Tuscania, Italy
2022, Spazio Corsaro, Chia, Italy
2021, Celestial Bodies – Female Artist’s Meeting 2021, Lisbon, Portugal
2020, The Arquipélago Center for Contemporary Arts, Azores, Portugal (guest artist)
2019, Buihno Residency, Messejana, Portugal
2016, Arts, Letters and Numbers, Averill Park (NY), US
2015, Arts, Letters and Numbers, Averill Park (NY), US
PERFORMANCES and EXHIBITIONS
2022, Intonations, Act I // At Dawn, open studio at the Cité internationale des arts, Paris, France
2022, Mormorii, Spazio Corsaro, Chia, Italy
2022, Mormorii, BAMMM! (group exhibition), Florence, Italy
2022, Mormorii, 100×100 Libri d’artista (group exhibition), Sincresis, Empoli, Italy
2021, Intervalli, Oltre l’attesa (group exhibition), Tuscania, Italy
2021, L’articolazione delle parole é una danza degli organi, Urban Vision Festival, Acquapendente, Italy
2020, Molting, Reykjavik Fringe Festival, Reykjavik, Iceland
2020, Luminous bodies, List í Liosi festival, Seyðisfjörður, Iceland
2019, Ainda está a arder, Buihno Residency, Messejana, Portugal
2019, Might yet still be, Celestial Bodies Festival, Reykjavik, Iceland
2019, The touch of Blue, Celestial Bodies Festival, Reykjavik, Iceland
2018, Skin, List í Liosi festival, Seyðisfjörður, Iceland
2017, Conversations into a liquid state, GlogauAir, Berlin, Germany
2017, A meteorological report, La dolce berlin, Berlin, Germany
2017, Memory of a Skin, La dolce berlin, Berlin, Germany
2017, A meteorological report, Elephant And Castle, 2025 Art and Culture, Hamburg, Germany
2016, How can we communicate through light?, Pioneer Works, Red Hook (NY), US
2016, There are leaks in the pipes, and it’s dripping in the room, Arts, Letters and Numbers, Averill Park (NY), US
2016, Zeoptrope Sun, (festival), Arts, Letters and Numbers, Averill Park (NY), US
2015, Vertical Horizons, Arts, Letters and Numbers, Averill Park (NY), US
2015, Galapagos Now, (festival) Arts, Letters and Numbers, Averill Park (NY), US