San Gimignano
Beijing
Les Moulins
Habana
Roma
Sao Paulo
Paris
Valentina Ornaghi and Claudio Prestinari were born respectively in 1986 and 1984 in Milan, where they live and work. An artistic duo since 2009, one graduated in Industrial Design and the other in Architecture at the Milan Polytechnic before continuing their studies at the IUAV University of Venice.
Some of the most noteworthy representatives of a young generation of Italian artists, Valentina Ornaghi and Claudio Prestinari begun to work together in 2009 with a desire to develop each of their projects through dialogue and sharing. The multidisciplinary approach that Ornaghi & Prestinari perfected during their training, as well as their interest for design, architecture and art history, have become part of their research. The artists’ work explores the domestic, fragile and intimate dimension of things. Ornaghi & Prestinari’s practice moves between concept and action with a particular attention to the materials and their manipulation. Delicacy, care, time, lightness and irony are the recurring themes of their works.
In 2011 they were selected for the workshop with Massimo Bartolini at the Spinola Banna Foundation for Art and in 2012 they received the Veneto Region Award from the Bevilacqua la Masa Foundation. In 2013 they participated in VIR Viafarini-in-residence in Milan. In 2014 they held their first personal exhibition, “Familiare”, at the Galleria Continua in San Gimignano. In 2016 they presented their work at the New York University – Casa Italiana Zerilli-Marimò inaugurating the cycle of exhibitions dedicated to contemporary Italian art promoted by Magazzino Italian Art. In 2017 they created the public sculpture Philemon and Baucis for the new ArtLine park in CityLife in Milan and exhibit their personal project Grigio Lieve at Casa Morandi/MAMbo in Bologna.In the same year they won a residency at the Carlo Zauli Museum creating a final exhibition at the International Museum of Ceramics in Faenza. In 2018 Galleria Continua dedicated two more solo exhibitions to them in San Gimignano and at Les Moulins. In the same year they won the Club GAMeC Prize and their work became part of the collection of the GAMeC Museum in Bergamo. In 2021 they opened a solo exhibition, “Toccante”, at Galleria Continua at the hotel, The St. Regis Rome, in Rome. In 2022 one of their works was acquired by the International Museum of Ceramics in Faenza and they participated in the Porcelain Biennial in Jingdezhen in China. In the same year they won the competition organized by the “Percent for Art” program of the city of New York to create a series of public sculptures in 2023 in Bush Terminal, Brooklyn. Among the numerous group exhibitions we mention those at Palazzo Reale, Milan 2015; Le Centquatre, Paris, 2015; Pietro Canonica Museum in Villa Borghese, Rome; Arte Continua, Havana, 2016; Museum Voorlinden, Wassenaar, 2016; MAAT, Lisbon, 2018; MIDeC International Museum of Ceramic Design, Cerro di Laveno Mombello, 20018, Kasteel van Gaasbeek, Brussels, 2019; Rocca di Angera, Angera 2020; Fondation d’Entreprise Martell, Cognac, 2020; Ceramic Art Avenue Art Museum, Jingdezhen, 2022; Fondation Villa Datris, Isle-sur-la sorgue, 2022; GAMeC, Bergamo, 2022.
Valentina Ornaghi
2012 MFA Degree in Visual Arts, IUAV, Venice, IT
2009 BA Degree in Industrial design, Politecnico di Milano, IT
2005-2006 Brera Academy of Fine Arts, Milan, IT
Claudio Prestinari
2013 MFA Degree in Landscape Architecture, IUAV, Venice, IT
2008 BA Degree in Architecture, Politecnico di Milano, IT
2015
Dynamo Camp, workshop with Dynamo children, San Marcello Pistoiese (PT), IT
Artista X Artista, curated by Estudio Carlos Garaicoa, La Habana, CU
2014
Conversation, curated by Claudia Santeroni, The blank residency, Bergamo, IT
Fondazione Spinola-Banna per l’arte, tutor: Liliana Moro-Mario Airò, Poirino (TO), IT
2013
VIR Viafarini-in-residence, curated by Simone Frangi, Milan, IT
Effetto Venturi, workshop with Gianni Pettena, curated by Peep Hole, Museo del ‘900, Milan, IT
2012
Penso con le mie ginocchia, workshop per la Cattedrale, Viafarini DOCVA, Milan, IT
2011-2009
IUAV visiting professors: Lewiz Baltz, Tania Bruguera, Enrico David, Antoni Muntadas, Francesco Vezzoli, Cesare Pietrosi, Venice, IT
2011
In un luogo imprecisato, opera radiofonica con Liliana Moro, curated by Lelio Aiello, Bologna, IT
Fondazione Spinola-Banna per l’arte, visiting professor: Massimo Bartolini, Poirino (TO), IT
Museo dell’arte italiana in Esilio, workshop with Cesare Pietroiusti, 54° Biennale di Venezia, IT
2025
Blursday, Galleria Continua, Paris Marais, FR
2023
Sbilenco, Galleria Continua, San Gimignano, IT
2021
Toccante, Galleria Continua, Roma, IT
2020
Tre Vani, curated by Jessica Bianchera, Spazio Cordis in collaboration with Formigari, Verona, IT
2019
Affiorare, curated by Matilde Galletti, Ex-chiesa di Ognissanti, Fermo, IT
2018
KEEPING THINGS WHOLE, Galleria Continua, San Gimignano, IT
Early Autumn, Galleria Continua, Les Moulins, FR
2017
Grigio lieve, Casa Morandi, Bologna, IT
Solo Show, Museo Internazionale delle Ceramiche, Faenza, IT
STILLE, Villa Pacchiani, Santa Croce sull'Arno, IT
2016
Ornaghi & Prestinari, Casa Italiana Zerilli-Marimò, New York University, New York, USA
Artista X Artista, Open Studio, La Habana, CU
2014
Amoir Libre, Dedar, Paris, FR
Familiare, Galleria Continua, San Gimignano, IT
2013
Pentagona: un percorso a Ferrara dopo il terremoto, Palazzo Paradiso- Biblioteca Comunale Ariostea, Ferrara, IT
2025
The Life of Things, Voorlinden Museum, Wassenaar, NL
2024
Love is Louder, Bozar Centre for Fine Arts, Brussels, BE
2023
À toi de faire, ma mignonne, as part of Sophie Calle's Collection inside her solo show, curated by Cécile Godefroy, Musée Picasso, Paris, FR
Toucher Terre, Espace Monte Cristo, Fondation Villa Datris, Paris, FR
Brand new ancients, curated by Wassan Al-Khudhairi and Cecilia Ruggeri, Misk Art Institute, Riyadh, SA
Heavy Rotation Infra-habibi-technics, Lantian Xie mit Aarushi Surana, İpek Hamzaoğlu, Kaushal Sapre, Aasma Tulika, Alla Semenovskaya, Sabih Ahmed, Laura Nitsch, Ornaghi & Prestinari, FRAME, Nanni, 7 Winds, Kunsthalle Bern, CH
Ato (Act), Galleria Continua, Sao Paulo, BR
2022
In the heat, Galleria Continua, Dubai, UAE
Il est ici, jamais ailleurs, Galleria Continua, Les Moulins, FR
Il est ici, toujours ailleurs, Galleria Continua, Paris, FR
New wave, Galleria Continua, Dubai, UAE
La Collezione Impermanente #3.0, GAMeC, curated by Sara Fumagalli, Valentina Gervasoni e A. Fabrizia Previtali, Bergamo, IT
Toucher Terre, Fondation Villa Datris, Isle-sur-la-Sorgue, FR
2021/
2022
In bianco. La porcellana nella ceramica d’arte italiana contemporaneae, International Ceramic Art Biennale, curated by Matteo Zauli and Xiuzhong Zhang, Ceramic Art Avenue Art Museum, Jingdezhen, CN
2021
Nota Bene, Galleria Continua, Les Moulins, FR
Passages / Paysages, curated by Roberto Lacarbonara, Palazzo Barbò a Torre Pallavicina (BG), IT
Intersections, Galleria Continua, Les Moulins, FR
Truc à faire, curated by JR, Galleria Continua, Paris, FR
2020
Una Boccata d'Arte, curated by Galleria Continua and Fondazione Elpis, Ex cinema storico, Sant'Agata dei Goti, IT
Places to be, curated by Nathalie Viot, Fondation d’entreprise Martell, Cognac, FR
Utopie fantastiche, curated by Ilaria Bonacossa, Rocca d’Angera / with Galleria Continua, Angera, IT
2019
Immersione Libera, Palazzina dei Bagni Misteriosi / with Galleria Continua, Milano, IT
Feast of Fools. Bruegel rediscovered, curated by Luk Lambrecht and Lieze Eeneman, Gaasbeek Castle, Lennik, BE
Ossessione, Palazzo Monti, Brescia, IT
2018
Eco-Visionaries: Art, Architecture and New Media after the Anthropocene, MAAT, Lisbon, P
Immagini Ombre Idee / Images Shadows Ideas, The Open Box, Milano, IT
Young Italians 1968-2018, Istituto Italiano di Cultura, New York, USA
Caducità, MIDeC – Museo Internazionale del Design Ceramico, Cerro di Laveno Mombello, IT
About a Vase, Montelupo Fiorentino, IT
anteprima a palazzo, Palazzo Bernetti Evangelista, Fermo, IT
2017
Mythologies, Palazzo Palmieri, Monopoli, IT
2016
The Habit of a Foreign Sky, FutureDome, Milan, IT
Full Moon, Voorlinden Museum, Wassenaar, NL
Microonde, The Blank Residency, Bergamo, IT
Substantial, curated by Ginevra Bria, The Open Box, Milan, IT
Artista X Artista (III), curated by Estudio Carlos Garaicoa, La Habana, CU
Homeworks in gita, curated by Samuele Menin, Careof, Milan, IT
Linea del tempo annodata, StudiFestival #2, Milan, IT
YOU + ME = US, Arte Continua, Aguila de Oro, La Habana, CU
2015
ArtLine, curated by Roberto Pinto and Sara Dolfi Agostini, Palazzo Reale, Milan, IT
Talent Prize, Museo Pietro Canonica in Villa Borghese, Rome, IT
Rebuilding the future, curated by Marco Pierini in collaboration with Laura Barreca, Andrea Bruciati and Claudia Loffelholz, Chiesa dei Cavalieri di Malta, Siracusa, IT
Follia Continua! Les 25 ans de GALLERIA CONTINUA, curated by José-Manuel Gonçalvès, Le Centquatre, Paris, FR
Homeworks, Esercizio numero 1, Corso Monforte, Milano, IT
Ever Present Past, Relais La Suvera, Casole d'Elsa (SI), IT
Milano Roma Palermo Torino, StudiFestival #1, Milan, IT
2014
On another scale, curated by Ricardo Sardenberg, GALLERIA CONTINUA, San Gimignano, IT
Extradelicato 2, via privata Pantelleria, Milan, IT
2013
Come se tutti avessero smesso di respirare nello stesso istante, curated by Lelio Aiello, Zola Predosa (BO), IT
Open studio VIR Viafarini-in-residence, curated by Simone Frangi, Milan, IT
Tutta colpa dell’amore, Premio d’arte città di Treviglio, curated by Sara Fontana, ALT, Alzano Lombardo (BG), IT
Jeune Création Européenne, (November 2012-January) Galerie im traklhaus, Salzburg, AT and (April-June) Museu Amadeo De Souza Cardoso, Amarante, PR
2012
96ma collettiva Giovani Artisti, Fondazione Bevilacqua La Masa, Galleria di San Marco, Venice, IT
Tutta colpa dell’amore, Premio d’arte città di Treviglio, curated by Sara Fontana, Museo della Torre, Treviglio, IT
The Self-Moving Number, curated by Sils project, Duende studios, Rotterdam, NL
Jeune Création Européenne, touring biennal of young artists: (October-November) Zsolnay Cultural Quarter, Pécs, HU; (June-July) GMB - Centre for Contemporary Art, Bratislava, SK; (April-May) Hamburg Kunsthaus, Hamburg, DE; (February-March) KCCC - Klaïpeda Culture Communication Center, Klaïpeda, LT
Extracurricular Activity, curated by Daniele Capra, Superfluo, Padova, IT
2011
Jeune Création Européenne, (October-November) La Fabrique, Mountrouge, FR
Senza Soggetto - Sul fare, workshop by Enrico David, Fondazione Bevilacqua La Masa, Palazzetto Tito, Venice, IT
2010
Il museo immaginario, workshop by Antoni Muntadas, Fondazione Bevilacqua La Masa, Palazzetto Tito, Venice, IT
Cielo di pietra, curated by Francesco Vezzoli, Pietro Rigolo and Claudia Cremonini, Ca d’Oro, Venice, IT
2009
Ogni limite ha una pazienza (Esperienze non lineari del tempo), curated by Cesare Pietroiusti and Filipa Ramos, Fondazione Gervasuti, Venice, IT
XIV Biennial of Young Artists from Europe and the Mediterranean, BJCEM, Museum of Contemporary Art, Skopje, MK
Quotidiana 09, curated by Teresa Iannotta and Stefania Schiavon, Palazzo Trevisan, Padova, IT
IMMAGINI OMBRE IDEE / IMAGES SHADOWS IDEAS, The Open Box, Milan, Italy
2021
Treccani Arte, curated by Ilaria Bonacossa, Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana Treccani, Roma, IT
2019
Artissima Junior, curated by Ilaria Bonacossa, Artissima in collaboration with Juventus, Oval Lingotto fiere, Torino, IT
2015
Dynamo Art Factory, Dynamo Camp Onlus, Limestre, IT
2014
Amoir Libre, curated by Antonella Crippa, Dedar showroom in collaboration with Galleria Continua, Paris, FR
2022
Percent for Art program, winner of the contest inded by the Department of Cultural Affair in NY for a public art project in Bush Terminal, Brooklyn, USA
2021
Premio Santa Croce Grafica, hons mention, Villa Pacchiani, Santa Croce Sull'Arno, IT
2018
Club GAMeC Prize, Galleria d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea, Bergamo, IT
2017
Under35 prize SIAE/Sillumina, Museo Carlo Zauli, Faenza, IT
2015
Talent Prize, Finalist, Museo Pietro Canonica, Rome, IT
2012
Premio Regione Veneto, 96ma collettiva Giovani Artisti, Fondazione Bevilacqua La Masa, Venice, IT
2009
A box of dreams, menzione d’onore, Fondazione Claudio Buziol, Venice, IT
2021
Siena Residency, curated by Amant Foundation, Chiusure, IT
2017
Residenza d'artista Faenza, Museo Carlo Zauli, Faenza, IT
2016
Artista X Artista, artist residence curated by Estudio Carlos Garaicoa, La Habana, CU
2013
VIR Viafarini-in-residence, curated by Simone Frangi, Milan, IT
2011
Fondazione Spinola Banna per l’Arte, curated by Gail Cochrane, Guido Costa, Poirino, IT
Museum Voorlinden, Caldic Collection, Wassenaar, NL
Magazzino Italian Art, Olnick Spanu Collection, New York, USA
Cleveland Clinic Art Collection, Cleveland, USA
GAMeC – Galleria d’arte moderna e contemporanea, Bergamo, IT
Museo Carlo Zauli, Faenza, IT
MIC - Museo internazionale delle Ceramiche, Faenza, IT
2017
Filemone e Bauci, Artline, Milan, IT
