When the adventure of the COLLI gallery began in 2015, in the center of Rome, the project responded to guidelines that were already very clear in the heads of those who had conceived them. And almost ten years after the opening of the space in Via di Monserrato 40, then moved to number 103, the initial intentions of Edoardo Colli they were not betrayed. Folignate, coming from a family of printers (his father Roberto Colli), the young gallery owner, immediately supported in the concept by Emanuele De Donno (Viaindustriae) has set the work on parallel and complementary tracks, conceiving, alongside the exhibition space created to promote contemporary art, a bookstore – direct sales shop but also bibliographic studio for specialist consultancy aimed at private collections, museums and archives in the the field of contemporary rare and artist publishing – and an editorial platform dedicated to publishing and co-editing unpublished and research projects.
The history of the COLLI gallery in Rome, between art and publishing
A solution identified not only to give the nascent COLLI the opportunity to work on long-term planning (a goal that today can be said to be more than accomplished), but also to make the most of the family background: “Our DNA is the editorial peculiarity, in addition to the part linked to exhibitions there has always been a great attention on the production of limited edition artist books, or on the archive book with typographical editions, as well as on the idea of multiple, with the idea of producing not only original works, but multiplied ones”, explains Colli. A hybrid formula that brought together the world of art and that of typography, also lending itself to collaborations with artists in the dimension of the project room and the residency. Co-productions have thus grown in parallel with the portfolio of the artists represented, as well as a “library” of rare and artist off-media publications, selected from European and global publishers.
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The new COLLI headquarters in Foligno
Therefore the new project on the horizon – the opening of a second gallery in the family printing shop in Foligno – is also configured as a return to the origins, which arrives on the eve of an important birthday: “First of all we are expanding, but we are opening in the place where we were born, in a city that has welcomed contemporary artistic research since the 1970s, in a space similar to our design nature”. In the Umbrian town, the COLLI gallery will, above all, have a lot of space available to host projects “bigger and more ambitious than the artists represented”; but the 300 square meters of surface area of Foligno (“about 10 times the space we have in Rome!”) will also allow us to dedicate a section to the bookshop and set up a viewing room focused on the editorial projects of the artists on display and the gallery’s productions. “In Foligno we will have the opportunity to develop the COLLI concept to the maximum, both in the exhibition component and in the part dedicated to publishing, which is somewhat sacrificed in Rome”.
Luca Trevisani’s exhibition in Foligno and the next projects of the COLLI gallery
And the first exhibition scheduled – it opens on May 25, 2024 with the solo exhibition of Luca Trevisani (Verona, 1979), Salad of Fossils / Salad of Fossils – will demonstrate the assumption: “Alongside the exhibition part, we will present the artist’s book that we produced with Trevisani (published by COLLI publishing platform and Viaindustriae publishing), and also a limited edition silk-screen printed edition/poster. Later, even during the exhibition itself, this hybrid space linked to publishing could be implemented with other books by the artist (on display and for sale), become a generic bookshop to browse and purchase the books we have collected over the years, or host a viewing room that displays the productions curated in the past by the gallery”. The Trevisani exhibition will be followed in October by a new project based on the works of Kethe fishcurrently on display in the Roman headquarters with the solo exhibition Oldies but Goldies (until July 31st): “This is an artist we have been representing since 2019, with whom we have undertaken a path of mutual growth, which is giving excellent feedback. But in general 2024 is proving to be a very busy year for COLLI, starting with work with Francesco Cavaliere, who will also be present with a solo show during Artissima, at the Barriera association. While in Rome, the new autumn season will bring a second project with Maurizio Nannucci”.
Livia Montagnoli
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