York Art Gallery

23 September 2017 – 7 May 2018

Through a series of workshops and conversations collecting individual stories in York, Italian artist Marinella Senatore has created a new Symphony which celebrates the city.

Well-known in Europe and the US for her collaborative process of making new artworks through public participation, Senatore uses a range of media including video, collage and text to allow her projects to speak within a range of contexts.

This new Evelyn Commission is a contemporary response to the historic Evelyn Award, a scheme which ran from 1950 until 1962 with the aim of bringing York’s topographical collection up to date.

York Symphony is a commission produced in partnership with York Museums Trust, supported by a York family through the Friends of York Art Gallery.

Marinella Senatore

Marinella Senatore was born in Italy in 1977. Her artistic practice merges forms of protest and theatre, music and film. She takes inspiration from public ceremonies, civil rituals as well as mass events, while reflecting on the political dimension of collective formations and how they generate a potential for social change.

In 2013 she founded The School of Narrative Dance. Next to her performative practice she explores urban issues and social topics such as emancipation and equality through paintings, collages, installations, video, photography and sound.

Marinella Senatore’s record of solo shows includes projects at the Queens Museum, New York (2017), “Under the Mango Tree”, Documenta, Kassel (2017), “Action!”, Kunsthaus Zurich (2017), Les Laboratoires d’Aubervilliers, Paris (2016), High Line, New York (2015) and Castello di Rivoli (2013). She participated in group exhibitions such as the 13e Biennale de Lyon (2015), 5th Thessaloniki Biennial of Contemporary Art (2015) and the 54th Venice Biennale, « ILLUMInations » (2011). In 2014 she won the MAXXI Prize, Rome.

Find out more about her practice and previous exhibitions on her website here.