Marina Pizziolo

Marina Pizziolo at the Mart in Rovereto, a museum with which she collaborates

Tomás Saraceno and Marina Pizziolo in the artist’s studio in Berlin

Marina Pizziolo and Wim Delvoye in the artist’s studio in Ghent, Belgium

Vittorio Sgarbi and Marina Pizziolo opening the exhibition ‘Corrente. Le parole della vita’ at Palazzo Reale, Milan

Carlo Rambaldi, Francis Ford Coppola, Zucchero Fornaciari and Marina Pizziolo, at the opening of the Carlo Rambaldi exhibition at the Fondazione Bandera

Marina Pizziolo visiting the building site of the New York University campus on Saadiyat island, Abu Dhabi

Marina Pizziolo and Antonio Stellatelli at the Galerie Daniel Templon in Paris. Artwork by Sudarshan Shetty

Arturo Carmassi and Marina Pizziolo in the artist’s studio in Fucecchio

Art historian and critic. Founder and Director of Art Consulting, specialised in the study of modern and contemporary art and in the creation and direction of major collections.
Over thirty years of activity, she has conducted negotiations and acquisitions on behalf of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, established the permanent collection of the NYU Abu Dhabi campus, and defined the operational standards for sustainable public art together with Masdar City. Every decision is documented by verifiable acquisitions, permanent installations and scientific publications.

Exhibitions and institutions. As a curator, she has worked at the Academy of Sciences in Moscow; the European Parliament in Brussels; the Galleria d’Arte Moderna in Lugano; Castel Sant’Angelo in Rome; Palazzo Reale, La Triennale and Fondazione Mazzotta in Milan; Palazzo Strozzi and Palazzo Vecchio in Florence; the Mart, Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Trento and Rovereto; and prestigious international galleries. She has curated programmes at several venues of the Istituto Italiano di Cultura, including New York, Brussels, New Delhi and Beijing.

In Milan she directed the Museo Treccani for ten years, establishing among other things an exhibition programme focused on emerging international artists. Also in Milan, she served as a member of the Scientific Committee of Fondazione Corrente. She founded and directs the Archivi di Corrente, a project of comparative study dedicated to the protagonists of the Corrente movement. She also established the Fondazione Francesco Pellin in Varese, which she directed for four years.
For three years she directed Fondazione Bandera, a museum of contemporary art in Busto Arsizio near Milan, where under her direction the institution developed a programme devoted to Italian art from 1930 to the present.

International projects. In New Delhi in 2005, she worked with the Birla Academy on the design of a new museum.
In 2007, with Romano Ravasio, she launched Art Fair Preview, the first platform in the world to offer online previews of international art fairs. From 2013 she worked for the Abu Dhabi government creating the site-specific art collection for the new New York University campus on Saadiyat Island, bringing into the project Antony Gormley, Alice Aycock, Tomás Saraceno, Richard Long, Etel Adnan, Ahmed Mater and Hassan Sharif. Between 2018 and 2020, with Romano Ravasio, she developed the Rulebook for Sustainable Public Art for Masdar City, an operational guide for the commission, installation and management of sustainable public artworks. For the Dubai government she developed public art projects within Expo 2020 Dubai, in collaboration with Al Ain University.
In 2021, with Romano Ravasio, she led the experimental editorial laboratory Re-Design at New York University Abu Dhabi, within the university’s teaching programme, producing with students the volume Thinking Digital. How Technologies (Will) Shape the Art Book, published by EdiXion.

The study of private collections. A central subject of her research is the study of private collections. In 1999, the accumulated experience led her, with Romano Ravasio, to found Art Consulting, among the first firms to introduce historical and critical criteria of museum management into the creation of major private and institutional collections.
Among completed projects, the cataloguing of the Eni Petroli art collection and the direction of the Cristóbal Balenciaga drawings collection belonging to couturier Lorenzo Riva, a collection that, through Art Consulting’s work, was acquired in 2022 by the Museo Balenciaga in Getaria, in the Basque Country, and in part by the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York in 2025. The original collection comprised more than nine thousand drawings, today established as international museum heritage.
Among long-term projects: the construction of three successive collections for an Italian collector — the first dedicated to the artists of Corrente, the second to contemporary Italian art, the third to contemporary Indian and Chinese art, each documented by international institutional exhibitions and publications.
She currently directs important international collections, in a respected and guaranteed confidentiality.

Current research and projects. She is engaged in the direction of major projects with public institutions in India and the United Arab Emirates, while in South Africa she is developing a cooperation project dedicated to young artists. In Italy she has initiated the rediscovery of Marco Carnà, a twentieth-century artist whose Archive she established, overseeing the acquisition of five works by Fondazione Feierabend (2022) and the exhibition at the MUST in Vimercate (2024). In preparation: the scientific monograph (2026) and the major retrospective at Villa Reale in Monza (2027).

EdiXion. In 2021, with Romano Ravasio, she co-founded and co-directs EdiXion, a multimedia cultural publishing house integrating augmented publishing, virtual reality and innovative digital platforms.

Art4Life. For over fifteen years she has developed with Romano Ravasio international art and solidarity projects in collaboration with Imbumba Foundation and Mandela Foundation, including the construction of a school in India. In 2026 this activity is formalised in the cultural association Art4Life Movement.

Books. She is the author of numerous publications. Among the principal:
Pizziolo, M & Zattini, M 2024, Paganin e Fioravanti. Il grido e il canto, Mart, Rovereto;
Pizziolo, M & Ravasio, R 2024, Marco Carnà. Uova di gallo 1961-1968, enhanced Focus, EdiXion, Milan;
Pizziolo, M 2024, Bahar Heidarzade. Le mie pietre sono aquiloni, enhanced Challenge, EdiXion, Milan;
Grosso, E, Mollea Ceirano, F & Pizziolo, M 2024, Ri-Connessioni, Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, Turin;
Pizziolo, M 2023, Memorie dal futuro. Katja Loher e Dario Tironi, enhanced Focus, EdiXion, Milan;
VV.AA. September 2021 To be continued, Thinking digital. How technologies (will) shape the art book, in collaboration with New York University Abu Dhabi, EduXion – Enhanced educational tools, EdiXion, Dubai;
VV.AA. 2021, Balenciaga. The glamorous 1950s. Drawings from the iconic Maison, enhanced Focus, EdiXion, Dubai;
Demina, N & Pizziolo, M 2017, Dipinti sull’acqua. Da Magnasco a de Conciliis. 1720-2017, Il Cigno GG, Rome;
Pizziolo, M & Ravasio, R 2013, This is not propaganda. Arte Contemporanea italiana. Collezione Antonio Stellatelli, L’Artistica, Savigliano;
Pizziolo, M & Ravasio, R 2012, The Indian renaissance. A research project on the new frontiers of art, L’Artistica, Savigliano;
Pizziolo, M & Ravasio, R 2009, Zhang Dali. Il sogno proibito della nuova Cina, Argo, Turin;
Barbera, L & Pizziolo, M 2009, Migneco europeo, Silvana Editoriale, Milan;
Pizziolo, M & Sgarbi, V 2008, Corrente. Le parole della vita, Skira, Milan;
Pizziolo, M & Ravasio, R 2007, Arte italiana contemporanea. New Entries, Arte-2000, Milan;
Pizziolo, M & Sgarbi, V 2006, Antologia della figurazione contemporanea. Italia: le ultime generazioni. 1, Skira, Milan;
Pizziolo, M 2006, Carlo Levi. Pitture del confino e ritratti, De Angelis, Avellino;
Pizziolo, M & Vanni, A 2005, Arturo Carmassi. 1980-2005, Luciano Vanni Editore, Terni;
Pizziolo, M 2005, Ettore de Conciliis. Opere 1979-2005, Skira, Milan;
Pizziolo, M 2005, Il cenacolo verde. Cassinari, Migneco, Morlotti, Sassu, Treccani in Brianza, Bellavite, Missaglia;
Pizziolo, M 2004, Dino Lanaro e gli artisti di Corrente, Mazzotta, Milan;
Pizziolo, M 2003, Ernesto Treccani e il movimento di Corrente, Skira, Milan;
Crispolti, E & Pizziolo, M 2000, Renato Guttuso. Spes contra spem. I capolavori della Fondazione Pellin, Electa, Milan;
Pizziolo, M 1999, Aligi Sassu. Antologica 1927-1999, Skira, Milan;
Pizziolo, M 1999, Giovanni Paganin. Sculture 1940-1985, Skira, Milan;
Pizziolo, M 1998, Corrente e oltre. Opere dalla collezione Stellatelli. 1930-1990, Charta, Milan;
Pizziolo, M 1998, La Milano dei Brambilla e di Buzzati. Tre amici nel naufragio dei giorni, Gallone Editore, Milan;
Chiappini, R & Pizziolo, M 1997, Opere d’arte della città di Lugano. Fondazione Aligi Sassu, Skira, Milan;
De Micheli, M, De Michelis, M & Pizziolo, M 1995, Le ragioni della libertà. A cinquant’anni dalla Resistenza, Vangelista, Milan;
De Grada, R & Pizziolo, M 1994, Ennio Morlotti. Opere 1940 – 1990, Museo delle Arti e Galleria d’Arte Moderna Palazzo Bandera, Busto Arsizio;
Pizziolo, M 1992, Donato Frisia. L’invenzione del vero, Bolis, Bergamo;
Pizziolo, M 1991, Carnà Informel. Dipinti 1953-1962, Carnate – Ville de Plaisance du Touch;
Pizziolo, M 1991, Artéfici, non artefìci. Arte russa contemporanea, Proserpia, Milan.