Piero Mottola - Artist & Experimental Composer

Piero Mottola was born in Caserta in 1967, and currently lives and works in Rome. An artist and experimental musician, he teaches Multimedia Installations and Decorative Plastic Arts at the Rome Academy of Fine Art. He received his education and training at the Rome Jartrakor Study Centre, in the context of Eventualism, developed by Sergio Lombardo at the end of the 1970s. His first exhibition was at the Jartrakor Centre in 1988, where he showed his experiments, Improvement-Worsening (Miglioramento-Peggioramento). From 1990 to 1994, he took part in the following exhibitions: FIAC in Paris, with the Mara Coccia Gallery of Rome; Young Artists, curated by A. Perilli at the Rome Exhibition Hall (Palazzo delle Esposizioni); the XXXVII Termoli Prize, curated by A. B. Oliva; Artissima in Turin, with the Ellequadro Gallery of Genoa; the Serra Gerace Palace of Genoa, curated by O. Calabrese; and Flash Art Young Art, curated by G. Di Pietrantonio, at the Steam Factory of Milan. Beginning in 1994, his studies have evolved into an original interpretation of evocative acoustic and visual stimuli. These involve complex systems of emotional relations reflecting aesthetic, musical, and emotional values. In 1995, he exhibited acoustic stimuli composed for Sonorous Boxes (Scatole Sonore), curated by M. Mirolla, at the Bocchi Studio and Arte in Scena Gallery in Rome. Some of his acoustic work is recorded on the compact disc Emotional Pathways (Percorsi emozionali 1995/01), Muspac Recordings, L’Aquila. From 1995 to 1998, he presented his music at two editions of the Enchantment Festival (Festival Incantesimi) organised by S. Lux and M. Mirolla in Bomarzo; Macro ex-Slaughter House in Rome; the Zoo Gallery of Contemporary Art in Bologna, curated by R. Daolio; the Sixteenth Century Castle of L’Aquila: the Trevi Flash Art Museum of Perugia; the “Translations” group exhibition in Piotrkòw Trybunalski (Poland); and the “Sound” group exhibition at the Arsenal Gallery of  Bialymstoku (Poland).  In 1998, he participated in the conference entitled, “Cognition and Behaviour: Relevance to Musical Composition,” where he presented the paper, “Emotional Involvement in the Perception of Acoustic Stimuli.” In 1999, he took part in the conference, “Trends and Significance in Computer Music,” organized by M.O. Belardinelli at the Psychology Department of the Sapienza University of Rome,. In 2000 he presented a paper entitled “The Experimental Construction of Abstract Acoustic Stimuli,” at the Macro Conference in Rome on “Current Research in Eventualism.”  In 2006 he gave a presentation on the relations among sound, emotion, and colour for the Radio 3 Science broadcast, “The Palette in the Brain”.  He has performed his own acoustic compositions at concerts since 1998, including: Music Project ’98 at the Roman Aquarium, presented by the Sala Uno Gallery of Rome and organised by E. Cocco; Music Project ’02 at the Pietralata Centre of Rome; Macro of Rome: the Psychology Department of the Sapienza University of Rome; the Pontignano Certosa of the University of Siena, organised by E. Crispolti; the construction site of Zisa, Palermo; Music Project ’04 at the American Academy of Rome; a work for four hands, performed together with the composer Mauro Bortolotti at the Goethe-Institut of Rome; the Stefania Miscetti Gallery of Rome with Giuseppe Chiari, organised by P. Ferri and M. de Candia; the Colonna Castle of Genazzano, organized by S. Lux; the Auditorium of the John Hopkins University Center of Bologna; and the India Theatre of Rome, at the invitation of the Pio Monti Gallery. He has designed acoustic environments since 1995 at the Civic Gallery of Termoli; the Santa Rita Hall of the City of Rome; and the Andersen Museum of Rome.  Since 1997, he has also constructed complex chromatic-emotional environmental sequences for: the Laboratory Museum of the Sapienza University (directed by S. Lux); Macro; the Pino Casagrande Gallery (directed by P. Ferri); and Temple University of Rome.  Since 2000 he has worked together with collaborators from the Aesthetic Sound Laboratory (LER) on the construction of the Autocorrelator. This is an automatic system for the production of acoustic and chromatic emotional promenades, using the complex relations of the emotional maps created beginning in 1997. The method employed has been published in a number of art journals, including Titolo, Konsequenz, Avanguardia, and the Review of the Psychology of Art. In 2008 he was commissioned by the Home Gallery of Napes to write Missing Interior (Interno Disperso), a score for three instruments and a soprano voice. This work was performed a second time, together with a version for flute and soprano voice, at the Cerere Pasta Foundation of Rome.  He was invited to give a lecture entitled “From an Aesthetic Choice to Music Not Chosen” for the program in sound at the Toulouse Academy of Fine Art. In June 2008 he held a solo exhibition entitled Chromatic Promenades at the Pino Casagrande Apartment/Gallery of Spoleto. He wrote Four Emotional Pianos, a composition created as part of a collaborative project with the choreographer Susan Sentler of the Laban School of London, who set a dance work to the music. During the summer of 2008, he performed the electronic work, Improvisation on Missing Interior. He also presented the audio installation Sonorous Immaterial (Immateriale sonoro) at the Bihac Theatre of Bosnia-Herzegovina, and  at the Former Prison of Castiadas (Cagliari) at the Third Art Festival of Sardinia. He was invited to give a performance with the E. 10 Emotional Sampler by the Eliseo Theatre of Nuoro. In January 2009 he created a wall drawing entitled Awe: Emotional Promenade for a Chromatic Environment (Stupore-passeggiata emozionale per un ambiente cromatico), covering the entire space of the Pino Casagrande Gallery of Rome. He presented Sonorous Immaterial, a multi-channel installation for autocorrelator, at the Barletta Castle Svevo Aragonese as part of the group exhibition entitled “On the Ground, Underground” directed by A.B. Oliva and G. Caroppo.  He has recently written Differing Paces (Andamenti differenti), a new composition for three instruments and one voice, for the Morra Foundation of Naple