Massimo Furlan (CH)

Swiss-Italian artist Massimo Furlan was born in 1965 in Lausanne. From 1984 to 1988 he studied Visual Arts at the Beaux-Arts School of Lausanne. Since 1987 he has regularly exhibited his work in Swiss and European art galleries and museums. His artistic research led him to the stage, and collaborations with several dance and theatre companies. In 2003 he founded his own company, Numero23Prod, which focuses on the performing arts. His own biography forms the central theme of his projects. An everyday story or memories from his childhood become the source for his works: A banal story, memories from his childhood become the origin for his works: moments in which he played football alone in his room while listening to a match on the radio or watching the Grand Prix d’Eurovision de la Chanson in 1973, where the performance by the Swiss singer Patrick Juvet filled the eight-year-old with enthusiasm for Schlager music. His works include: “Schiller Thriller” (2011, Internationale Schillertage Mannheim), “1973” (2010), “Foot”, “You can speak, you are an animal” (2009), “Sono qui per l’amore” (2008), “Les filles et les garçons” (2007), “International Airport” (2007). Among his well-known works are his re-enactments of legendary football games, one-man shows in which he recounts the entire course of the match in football stadiums in real time, in the role of a particular player in each case, for instance Jürgen Sparwasser in the match between the FRG and GDR in 1974 (“22. JUNI 1974, 21 UHR 03” Kampnagel Hamburg, 2009) or as Hans Krankl in the match between Austria and Germany at the 1978 World Cup in Argentina (“Das Wunder von Cordoba”, Wiener Festwochen 2008).