Giorgio Capogrossi, aka “GIO MONTEZ” is an interdisciplinary artist and curator of contemporary art.
Born on November 12, 1987 in Rome. He attended the 12th class at the Heinrich-von-Gagern-Gymnasium in Frankfurt am Main; He obtained his scientific high school diploma at the Liceo S.S. Amedeo Avogadro of Rome in 2006.
Travels for two years in Western Europe, Latin America and Australia. Having returned to Europe he settled in Germany, in Frankfurt am Main, where he participated in numerous cultural initiatives, receiving his first significant recognition.
Since 2011 he has worked for a few years as assistant to the interdisciplinary artist Miroslaw Macke, Hermann Nitsch's Meisterschueler, taking an interest in Viennese Actionism and its developments in the second and third generations. In the same year he was appointed member of the board of directors of the Kunstverein Familie Montez and participated in some exhibitions at important institutions such as the Museum das Haus der Stadtgeschichte in Offenbach, the Museum fuer Moderne Kunst, Biennale della Lichtkultur, Museum fuer Angewandte Kunst where together with a select selection of artists (including Tobias Rehberger, Yoko Ono and Hermann Nitsch) participate in the auction in favor of the victims of the tsunami in Japan.
In 2012 he curated the “Fragile Helden” exhibition at the Kunstverein Familie Montez and was subsequently selected by Dr. Markus Frings, Director of the Haus der Stadtgeschichte of Offenbach a.M. to participate in the traveling project “Kunsthallen Offenbach” and represent the latest trends in European contemporary art in the “Neue Welten” exhibition.
During his stay in Germany, Bjoern Boehning, Chef der Berliner Senatskanzlei und Sprecher der SPD wrote about him ("Neue Welten - Die neuen Medien und die Kunst" ISBN 978-3-89739-742-0) Nils Bremer, Chefredakteur – Journal Frankfurt (“Und das soll Kunst sein?”) Christoph Schuette. Journalist FAZ Frankfurt (“Und das soll kunst sein?”) and Markus Frings (“das Gute von Gestern”, ISBN 978-3-89739-708-8).
In the same year he moved to Rome where he obtained a diploma in Sculpture at the Academy of Fine Arts with a thesis entitled "Thauma" on the genre of performance art and the sublimation of sculptural technique in the contemporary era.
He begins a twinned project with the Kunstverein Familie Montez in Frankfurt by establishing the Atelier Montez, of which he is President and Artistic Director.
He curated the art exhibition of the emerging young Osvaldo De Grazia in Meknés (Morocco) for the Ducci Foundation in September 2012; at the beginning of 2013 he began collaborating with the Ducci Foundation for the Art Section. In Fés, Morocco, as part of the “IncontriFes 2013” ​​event, he created “Le Nouvelle Palmeraie”, his first solo sculpture exhibition presented by Claudio Strinati at the Palais Dar Tazi, institutional headquarters of the “Esprit de Fes” Foundation. Thanks to the diplomatic intervention of President Paolo Ducci, “Le Nouvelle Palmeraie” was installed in the external square of the Bibliotheque National in Rabat, Morocco, welcomed as a gift to the city of Rabat and a symbol of dialogue between the different cultures of the Mediterranean.
In August 2014 on the occasion of the V National Exhibition of Contemporary Arts "The city and the human" Montez was awarded the "Soriano Città" prize for having created a civic monument for the Municipality of Soriano del Cimino entitled "Sublimation", presented by the art critic Robertomaria Siena and permanently installed in Piazzale Cavalieri in Vittorio Veneto at the behest of the Mayor Fabio Menicacci and Paolo Berti, Artistic Director of the A.C. Center Award.
In March 2015 he presented the installation "Motore immobile" at the "Umberto Mastroianni" Civic Museum in Marino on the occasion of the exhibition "The matter of absence" curated by Lorenzo Canova.
In the same period Montez is involved in the "ART-Eco" mission (Habana, Cuba) of the European Community, in cooperation with the International Committee for the Development of Peoples and with the Ducci Foundation, to scout the Cuban artistic scene and contribute to the development of independent culture in Havana. The series of works created on site "Ventana Viejas" are exhibited in an event curated by Sachie Hernandez and attended by the Italian Ambassador Carmine Robustelli. They are still preserved at the Castillo del Jardin Tropical, the institutional headquarters of the CISP in Havana.
In 2016 he participated in the CINEFORUM exhibition organized by the Professor of Psychiatry Gabriele Cavaggioni, exhibiting some works in relation to the screening of the film "Babadouk" directed by Jennifer Kent, in the Giunchi room, Department of Clinical Medicine of the La Sapienza University of Rome.
He curated the exhibition "Nitsch and his Double" in collaboration with the Austrian Embassy and the Austrian Cultural Forum in Rome in 2019, exhibiting his work "NONèTERNIT" in the form of an organ altar at the Atelier Montez for give rise to the concert by Maestro Hermann Nitsch. Since then he has been on international tour, exhibiting his works in important museums, galleries and foundations.
In 2020 Gio Montez invented "ARTup" and has since been involved in the experimental AI development project. named "B.A.R.T." and the implementation of I.o.T. and blockchain in the contemporary art value chain.