ARTFEED — Contemporary Art Intelligence

Fabio Cherstich on Directing Across Theatre, Curation, and Archives in ARTFEED Interview

publication · 2026-09-29

In a conversation with Cristiano Seganfreddo for Flash Art, Italian filmmaker Fabio Cherstich explores his diverse artistic endeavors, which encompass opera, exhibitions, film, fashion, and design. He highlights the significance of engaging the audience in his work. One notable initiative, Visual Diary, premiered at the FOG festival at Triennale Milano in 2024, spotlighting the queer art movement of the 1970s and 1980s in Manhattan, featuring artists such as Patrick Angus, Larry Stanton, and Darrel Ellis. Cherstich created Operacamion in 2016 for Teatro dell'Opera di Roma to make opera accessible. He also reflects on archival materials, mentions a documentary about Lucia Di Luciano, and discusses a current project inspired by Angus's artwork, Hanky Panky, emphasizing the need to safeguard delicate archives.

Key facts

  • Visual Diary debuted at the FOG festival at Triennale Milano in 2024 and has toured to La MaMa, Kunsthalle Basel, Centro Pecci, ICA London, and Festival del Monte Verità.
  • Upcoming presentations of Visual Diary are scheduled at Bourse de Commerce in Paris and Volksbühne in Berlin in autumn.
  • Operacamion was invented in 2016 for Teatro dell'Opera di Roma and Teatro Massimo di Palermo.
  • 30 Blizzards, created with Helen Marten and Beatrice Dillon for Miu Miu, premiered during Art Basel Paris 2025 at Palais d'Iéna.
  • Staging Modernity, with Formafantasma for Cassina, took place at Teatro Lirico Giorgio Gaber during Milano Design Week 2025, celebrating 60 years of the Cassina collection by Le Corbusier, Pierre Jeanneret, and Charlotte Perriand.
  • Cherstich's research on Patrick Angus began in 2012 after Tomaso De Luca showed him an image in Paris.
  • Lucia Di Luciano died in January 2026; Cherstich's documentary on her was filmed in her home-studio in Formello.
  • Cherstich is developing a musical-opera based on Patrick Angus's 1990 painting Hanky Panky, set in the Gaiety Theatre in Times Square.

Entities

Artists

Institutions

  • Flash Art
  • Triennale Milano
  • FOG festival
  • La MaMa
  • Kunsthalle Basel
  • Centro Pecci
  • ICA London
  • Festival del Monte Verità
  • Bourse de Commerce
  • Volksbühne
  • Teatro dell'Opera di Roma
  • Teatro Massimo di Palermo
  • Aspen Art Museum
  • Miu Miu
  • Art Basel Paris
  • Palais d'Iéna
  • Cassina
  • Formafantasma
  • Teatro Lirico Giorgio Gaber
  • Milano Design Week
  • Gufram
  • Memphis Milano
  • dOCUMENTA 13
  • Biennale Teatro
  • Scuola Paolo Grassi
  • Gaiety Theatre
  • Louis Vuitton
  • Alessi
  • Teatro dell'opera di Roma
  • Harvard University
  • AES+F
  • The Estate of Larry Stanton
  • Acne Studios
  • San Carlo Cremona
  • Mendes Wood DM
  • Sylvia Kouvali
  • SolidNature
  • designboom

Locations

  • Manhattan
  • New York
  • United States
  • Triennale Milano
  • Milan
  • Italy
  • Basel
  • Switzerland
  • Prato
  • London
  • United Kingdom
  • Paris
  • France
  • Berlin
  • Germany
  • Rome
  • Palermo
  • Aspen
  • Cremona
  • Formello
  • Beirut
  • Lebanon
  • Shanghai
  • China
  • Times Square
  • Salon d'Automne
  • Venice
  • Dolomites
  • New York City
  • São Paulo
  • Brazil
  • Brussels
  • Belgium
  • Piraeus
  • Greece

Sources

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