Sitara Abuzar Ghaznawi
January 19–March 19, 2023
Sitara Abuzar Ghaznawi is a sculptor born in Ghazni, Afghanistan, living and working in Switzerland. Auto Italia will present Ghaznawi’s first solo exhibition in the UK: a series of site-specific sculptures that will continue her investigations into the classist and racialised structures of Western taste and aesthetics. This newly commissioned body of sculpture will extend the artist’s work using salvaged, commonly available materials often considered lowbrow in the context of Western aesthetics, which she uses to discuss dominant hierarchies in taste-making.
David Aruquipa Pérez
April 13–June 11, 2023
David Aruquipa Pérez is an artist, archivist and human rights activist, and President of El Colectivo TLGB de Bolivia, working in La Paz, Bolivia. Auto Italia will present a major new survey exhibition presenting Pérez’s rare collection of photographs, which document the role of Two Spirit performers in the fiestas populares, popular street carnivals that have taken place across the plurinational state of Bolivia for the past 75 years. The exhibition will trace the history of La China Morena, a carnival character whom Pérez argues was created by trans people, and has increased the visibility of people of diverse genders and sexuality in Bolivia and beyond. The exhibition is co-curated by Quechua-Spanish artist Aitor González Valencia.
Shaun Motsi
July 6–September 3, 2023
Shaun Motsi is a visual artist born in Harare, Zimbabwe, living and working between Berlin and Amsterdam. Auto Italia will present Motsi’s first solo exhibition in the UK. This major new film commission draws on edutainment as both format and subject matter, through which the film’s protagonists navigate the shifting landscape of institutionalised learning whilst re-evaluating the constructs of their reality. The project expands Motsi’s exploration of the abstract processes in world-making and knowledge production. He is interested in how realities and identities, particularly Black identity, are constructed from and through language in media and consumer cultures.
R M
September 28–December 3, 2023
R M is an artist collective, currently living and working between Berlin, Germany and Geneva, Switzerland. Auto Italia will present a major new sculpture commission and the group’s first solo exhibition in the UK, which will explore the social and political impact of behavioural codes implemented to control or prevent contagion. The project will expand the group’s work examining the intersections of sexuality, pharmacology, consumerism and identity, focusing on the social contexts of viruses and bacteria, in particular stigmatised illnesses such as sexually transmitted diseases.
Auto Italia
Auto Italia is a visual arts organisation dedicated to commissioning and producing contemporary art. We support early and mid-career artists to develop critical discourse, active research and experimental projects through major new commissions and process driven participation projects. This work is presented through exhibitions, performances and live work, international touring projects and creative learning activities for young people.
