Fabrizio Plessi Italy, b. 1940
Fabrizio Plessi (b. 1940 in Reggio Emilia, Italy) is one of the pioneering figures of video and media art. After studying at the Accademia di Belle Arti di Venezia, he emerged in the late 1960s as an experimental filmmaker and performance artist before developing his signature concept of the video sculpture — works that merge raw materials, moving image, sound and architecture into immersive environments.
Water, and later fire, became central motifs in his practice, functioning as metaphors for memory, flow, transformation and the tension between nature and technology. Plessi’s work occupies a unique position at the intersection of elemental forces and digital media, creating poetic, emotionally charged spatial experiences.
Over the course of his career, Plessi has presented major institutional exhibitions worldwide. Key milestones include his participation in the Venice Biennale (several editions since 1970), his contribution to documenta 8 in Kassel (1987), and his celebrated solo exhibition at the Guggenheim Museum SoHo in New York (1998). In 2000, he created the monumental installation Mare Verticale for the Italian Pavilion at Expo 2000 in Hannover, a 44-metre waterfall of light and video.
His work has been shown in numerous museums across Europe and the United States, and since 2013 a dedicated institution — the Plessi Museum at the Brenner Pass — presents a substantial overview of his oeuvre. Plessi lives and works in Venice, Italy.
