Elisa Diaferia (b.1998, Milan) and Juri Simoncini (b.1999, Florence) are two Italian artists active between Germany and Italy. They’re based in Frankfurt am Main, where they studied at the Städelschule, under Professor Hague Yang.
Their research, straddling sculpture and digital practices, is grounded on an interest in the limits and possibilities of language and storytelling.
A logic of refraction and redistribution of information bits is the constructive principle for hyper-layered, clue-bearing installations that observe the potential of a critical mass to contain meaning. In their practice, a case of study is often ‘rewritten’ through an injective research approach, making of it a tool for fantasy and speculation, and allowing stories to become unstable. With a sculptural attitude to sound, and a musical one to form, they bridge languages with a focus on machinic imagery, as a revealing space for the phenomenological structure of things. Appropriating codes and communicative formats, they explore the way that cosmologies come to be, worlds are built and myths are born.
Their work has been shown across Europe in Italy, Germany, The UK and Switzerland, including recent solo shows such as The best night goggles ever, at saasfee*satellit, Frankfurt am Main. In 2024, as a duo, they’ve been awarded the Portikus Prize.
CV
EDUCATION (Elisa Diaferia)
2021 - present
Hochschule für Bildende Künste Städelschule, Frankfurt am Main (DE)
2017-21
Bachelor Degree at Brera Academy of Fine Arts, Milan (IT)
EDUCATION (Juri Simoncini)
2022 - present
Hochschule für Bildende Künste Städelschule, Frankfurt am Main (DE)
2018-22
Bachelor Degree at Brera Academy of Fine Arts, Milan (IT)
SELECTED DUO EXHIBITIONS
2024
- Bony labyrinth (upcoming), Husslehof, Frankfurt am Main (DE)
2023
- The best night goggles ever, Saasfee*satellit, Frankfurt am Main (DE)
https://www.saasfee.de/pavillon/satellit/soloshows/
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2024
- TBH, Magma Maria, Offenbach am Main (DE)
2023
-Tearoom Relay: PIT STOP, Delfina Foundation, London (UK)
https://www.delfinafoundation.com/whats-on/tearoom-relay-pit-stop/
-Care Package, Tunnel Tunnel, Lausanne (CH)
https://tunneltunnel.ch/en/exhibitions/care-package
-Unorthodox way of opening up, Fondation Tschuess, Karlsruhe (DE)
https://fondationtschuess.org/unorthodoxwaysofopeningup
2022
-Saluti da CoCo!, Como Contemporanea, Como (IT)
-Brutal Tenderness, Studiolo, Golab Agency, Milano (IT)
https://golabagency.com/art/group-show-brutal-tenderness/
2021
- Slow Signal, Korean Pavillion Biennale Architettura 2021, Venezia (IT)
https://futureschool.kr/en/slow-signal
- Campo Minato, Como Contemporanea, Como (IT)
- PICK CLIQUE - Choose your fighter, Curated by Viola Morini, Como Contemporanea (CoCo), Como (IT)
- Semitraglia, Spazio Marea, Milan (IT) 2019
- Teenage Wasteland, SpazioFico, Milano (IT)
2018
-UHM, SpazioFico, Milano (IT)
http://www.spaziofico.com/past/uhm/
AWARDS
- Hochschule für Bildende Künste - Städelschule Rundgang, Portikus Prize 2024 laureates