HOW DO ARTISTS LIVE?

The exhibition “How Do Artists Live?”, organized by the Italian Cultural Institute in Warsaw and curated by Alex Urso and Santa Nastro, brings Italian and Polish artists into dialogue around living conditions and means of support in the world of contemporary art.
The image of the artist entirely devoted to their own research often conceals a different reality. For many, taking on other activities is a necessity. Teaching, curating exhibitions, writing, working in communications, collaborating in the organization of events, working as a freelancer, or carrying out professions unrelated to art is, more than a choice, often what allows artistic research to continue.
A study by AWI – Art Workers Italia conducted among 440 artists shows that 80% of respondents carry out other activities in addition to their own research. A condition of instability also emerges in Poland, with its own specific characteristics, as highlighted by the 2024 national study Policzone i policzeni. Artystki i artyści w Polsce 2024.
In summary, Italy and Poland share a common condition: art is recognized as important, but the work that makes it possible often remains precarious. Precarity concerns not only income, but also time, the possibility of planning for the future, access to social security, and the possibility of devoting oneself to one’s own research. Administrative management, work outside the studio, care, motherhood, and economic difficulties contribute to a reality that often remains invisible.
The artists featured in the exhibition – Maess Anand, Alicja Bielawska, Eva Frapiccini, Piotr Hanzelewicz, Igor Kubik, Luana Perilli, Alessandro Scarabello, Giuseppe Teofilo, and Alex Urso – belong to different generations and have followed different paths, but share a “plural” condition: the need to combine artistic research with other activities. Their works address precarity not only as a social and economic issue, but also as a psychological and existential experience.
“How Do Artists Live?” does not offer definitive answers, but poses a question: what are the conditions today that make it possible to continue being an artist? The exhibition thus shifts the focus from the artwork to what makes it possible, giving visibility to the time, work, and experiences that normally remain hidden.
The exhibition will be presented in preview on October 10 at the Italian Cultural Institute in Warsaw. The opening will be accompanied by a performance by Veronica Vagnoni.