Silvia Fiorucci, Maria Katia Tufano and Julien Rodier in conversation

May 7, 2024 – Monaco

Tuesday 7th May

18:30

Le QUAI, Monaco

Maria Katia Tufano. Graduated in Visual Arts at the University of Bologna, she specialised in the restoration of contemporary works of art, favouring conservation and minimal intervention. She has been managing private collections for over twenty years and also works as an art advisor. She has collaborated with CNR research groups on scientific publications focusing on the conservation and degradation of materials. Since 2006 she has been curator of the Alessandro Maccaferri Collection. She lives in Italy.

Julien Rodier was born in 1981 in France. He holds a master’s degree in archaeology, Art History, and anthropology, and has also studied political science.

For the past three years, he has held the position of Director of Culture at the Departmental Council of Hérault in Montpellier. In this role, he has led the development of the cultural framework for the department’s 2023-2028 policy. He has also worked on the territorialization of cultural policy, with a focus on equity and inclusion in artistic and cultural partnerships.

In 2020, he initiated artist residencies in partnership with the municipality of Montpeyroux and the MO.CO. (Montpellier Contemporain) art center, in collaboration with Vincent Honoré. This project, titled “ENSEM,” aimed to strengthen the creation of artworks, address ecological issues, promote civic participation, foster social connections, and promote hospitality in a rural commune in the south of France. It involved 4 artists and artist collectives who immersed themselves in the village of Montpeyroux for 6 months.

In 2020, Julien was also involved in curating the exhibition “Artifices instables” for the Nouveau Musée National de Monaco, as well as the exhibition “WE PAINT!” on the occasion of the 10th anniversary of the Jean-François Prat Prize at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris.

From 2008 to 2015, he directed the “Santé e(s)t culture(s)” program at the Assistance Publique-Hôpitaux de Marseille. This program aimed to initiate cultural partnerships between the city and the hospital through artistic commissions, design projects, and landscape developments as part of the European Capital of Culture 2013. He also served as Director of International Affairs and worked on developing hospital and scientific collaborations in the Mediterranean region.

For nearly 7 years, Julien worked with Silvia Fiorucci on the implementation of artistic projects in Monaco, Greece, Italy, and France. He also co-initiated the creation of the Società delle api with her while managing Silvia Fiorucci’s private collection. Silvia and Julien have recently reestablished this collaboration.

Silvia Fiorucci is an entrepreneur and collector of contemporary art and design. Born in Rome, she lives and works in Monaco.
She began her professional life as ambassador of the family company in the United States and as head of financial assets, an activity in which she is still engaged today.
For more than twenty years she has cultivated a passion for horseback riding at a competitive level, achieving the title of Italian dressage champion.
Silvia Fiorucci grew up in a family sensitive to ancient art, antiques and objects, and over the years she developed a personal interest in contemporary art and design.
Her private collection is characterized by an experimental and transdisciplinary approach driven by her personal experience and research. The collection branches out into different thematic nuclei, ranging from concrete art to magical realism, from abstract to figurative art; between painting and design, it focuses on the work of a group of artists with whom Silvia Fiorucci has built a long-lasting relationship of collaboration and dialogue.
In 2018, she founded the independent non-profit organization La Società delle Api, in order to strengthen the relationship with the artists and encourage cultural exchange. Promoting and supporting artistic research and cross-disciplinarity, La Società delle Api organizes residencies, special projects, publications, and meetings, aiming at building an inclusive network between artists, architects, designers, thinkers, curators, researchers, institutions, collectors and philanthropists.
Silvia Fiorucci is Chevalier de l’Ordre du Mérite Culturel of the Principality of Monaco. In 2017, she funded a capital project for the Villa Noailles–Centre d’art d’Intérêt National, métropole Toulon Provence Méditerranée. For more than ten years she has been Patron of the Nouveau Musée National de Monaco. Alongside this, she is also a Patron of Castello di Rivoli Museo d’Arte Contemporanea, Museo MADRE Napoli, La Triennale di Milano and is part of the Council of the Serpentine Galleries, London.
Privately and with the Società delle Api, she has supported special projects in close collaboration with artists and designers, contributing, through the production and loan of works, to the realization of important exhibitions in international institutions. This includes supporting work by Renato Leotta for Manifesta 12, the Rome Quadriennale 2020 and Castello di Rivoli. As well as Rodrigo Hernández Solo Exhibition at the Wattis Institute for Contemporary Art in 2023, the Italian Pavilion and the Sol Calero Pavilion at the Venice Biennale 2024 and contributed to Alvaro Urbano’s major commission at SculptureCentre, New York.