Studio 54 is an atelier that has been active in the multi-ethnic neighbourhood of Torpignattara since 2006. It is a place where artists who have distinguished themselves with their work both nationally and internationally can work and meet.
It stems from painter Nicola Rotiroti's need to share this large space, which opens onto Via Gabrio Serbelloni with two large windows, has a charming inner courtyard with wisteria and succulent plants and a kitchen: a place to work in but also to live in and to pass through.
The attitude of the studio, welcoming from the beginning both to those who live there and to anyone who casually comes to visit, has given rise to a large community of ‘friends’ and frequenters who have found a home there. The studio is also in constant dialogue with the outside world, in a neighbourhood described as ‘suburban’, characterised by an enormous diversity and coexistence of cultures, and rich in associations and initiatives.
During its first years of activity, the studio was invited to participate in some cultural events in Torpignattara, such as Alice in the Land of Marranella. On that occasion, a large-format painting created by the studio's artists was broken down into many small pieces. The fragments were inserted into the plastic balls of a coin-operated dispenser (donated by Bunka's screen-printing friends) that was carried around the neighbourhood. These small fragments were a cue to meet the inhabitants of the neighbourhood and invite them to recompose the whole work.
Today, the studio is now a piece of the neighbourhood's history, having hosted numerous events realised in collaboration with other artistic and cultural realities in East Rome, including the Baba Festival spontaneous art exhibitions, experimental music concerts, project presentations, books, festivals (Gita al Faro di Turbine) and workshops. Also a regular event are the Christmas festivities, on the occasion of which the calendar is produced every year, and Carnival - festivities open to all and during which performances and interactions are organised. The meeting with Officine gave birth to Spazio Y, a small art gallery at the Quadraro, active since 2014.
The studio's inhabitants have also launched joint projects such as Michael Rice, a fictitious publishing house that produces publications with a Risograph printer - donated to the studio malfunctioning and refurbished by Nicola Rotiroti and Simone Montozzi.
The publications, A5-format booklets, responded to the need to bear witness to the more or less hidden lives of the people they came into contact with.
The same need gave rise to the Anthological Collection of My Neighbour project, a series of interviews with the studio's frequent visitors (whether artists, plumbers or shutter repairers) solicited to express themselves on the major themes of life, which will be shared in a podcast.
The presses of Michael Rice's Risograph also gave birth to the Dadaist periodical Giaccadigins distributed free of charge in a series of friendly places in East Rome.
For the New Year's Eve in Rome in 2019, Studio 54 created the collective work ‘The Flags of the Moon’ to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the moon landing by making ten 200 cmx300 cm flags symbolising imagination and trespassing, which were hung along Via dei Cerchi.
During 2022, the studio organised Il Fine della Fine (The End of the End), 12 events every month, with 12 artists and for 12 weekends. A choral project aimed at transforming what is usually a workplace into an experience of openness to the community and a celebration of art. Each of the members of Studio 54 invited two artists from the most heterogeneous fields - visual art, poetry, music, fashion, illustration, photography - to choose a way to play with the studio spaces and reinvent them through their work.
Over the past year, the studio has opened its doors to young trainees from the Fine Arts Academies to share the wealth of technical and human experience with new artists and open up to their gaze.
To date, the members are Nicola Rotiroti (founder), Simone Tso, Margherita Bianchini, Tommaso Medugno, Ilaria Cappellini, Elio Castellana and Luisa Montalto.
The individual members' awards include participation in the Venice Biennale, Collezione della Farnesina, Temple Rome Gallery, Nuite de Fourviere Lyon, Galleria Nazionale dell'Umbria, and collaborations with leading Italian publishers.
They were part of it or attend it: Daniele Spanò, Luca Brinchi, Sara Basta, Hugo Sanchez, Stefano di Trapani, Jonida Prifti, Federica Fumarola, Lola Kola, Ledi Maru, Marta Mancini, Francesca Grossi, Paolo Assenza, Julie-Rebecca Poulain, Nikky, Arianna Bonamore, Andrea Aquilanti, Paolo Aita, Christian Ciampoli, Gianfranco Grosso, Daniele Villa, Gabriele Talarico, Raimondo Galeano, Elvio Chiricozzi, Fabio De Chirico, Alberto Dambruoso, Alessandro Sarra, Simone Bertugno, Marco Bernardi, Davide D'Elia, Silvia Litardi, Giuseppe Capparelli, Roberto Gramiccia, Fabrizio Pizzuto, Maria Rosa Sossai, Michela Becchis, Fabrizio Scrivano, Piotr Hanselewicz, Germano Serafini, Pericle Guaglianone, Toni Franz and many others.
Studio 54 is an artists' studio in Rome's Torpignattara district, a meeting place and happy gym for restless minds and hands.
Currently part of Studio54 are:
Nicola Rotiroti, Tommaso Medugno, Luisa Montalto, Simone Tso, Elio Castellana, Ilaria Cappellini, Margherita Bianchini.
Events at Rome Art Week
2024
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