Benedetta Manfriani. Singer, interdisciplinary artist, and instructor was born in Florence, where she lives and works. She has pursued artistic studies along with humanities, both in Italy and in France, graduating in pedagogical studies, focused on the care of fragility (UniFi, 1993 and Université Sorbonne, Paris). The latter is one of the key-themes of her artistic research, as opposed to the anthropology of oppression and the repression of death characterising contemporary civilization. She studied singing for many years with Faye Nepon (Amici della Musica, Florence), and in seminars with Paul Farrington (Royal Academy of Music, London), NicoNote and Monica Benvenuti (Tempo Reale). Over the years she has roamed toward different artistic genres – videos, photography, illustrations, multimedia installations -, creating a corpus of multiform works. In 2016 she founded the vocal group CONfusion which is part of the national network of intercultural choirs curated by ethnomusicologists Luciana Manca, Serena Facci, and Alessandro Portelli.
In 2020 she directed Orkestra Rosa, a choir of convicted women in the correctional facility of Sollicciano. In 2022 she conducted a workshop about voice exploration in a mixed skills group, comped by academics and people with mental disabilities in Cambridge (Lyn’s House Community).
She runs numerous workshops for people of all ages, ethnicity, gender, abilities in contemporary art centres, schools, public spaces, but also in natural environments. She has received grants to do workshops in the Italian Public School system with children.
She has collaborated with artists of international fame, such as Roberto Laneri and Yuval Avital. She collaborates with Tempo Reale, a Florentine music research centre, and with Catalyst theatre company. She is in residence at MAD Murate Art District, centre for contemporary art in the city of Florence. Her installations and performative works have been exhibited in Italy, France, United Kingdom, Switzerland, Portugal, Germany, Poland, USA.
Main performances and exhibitions:
2024, EXTATICA | Itinerario oltre le mete contingenti, Director and performer, Abbazia di San Miniato al Monte, Florence;
2024, “Sounding Gestures: Alongside the Gdańsk Winterfeld Diptych” by Kirsten Stromberg and Benedetta Manfriani, “The Lost & Found” symposium, National Museum, Warsaw
2023, Babelebab, Director and Performer, National Festival of International Choirs,
Naples;
2021, QuaranTeens Audio installation, Piazza del Carmine Florence, MAD
Murate Art District, in cooperation with the Municipality of Florence;
2020, CONfusion Hello Django, “Creative Confinement Exhibition-Art under
Quarantine”, RAC Rochester Art Center, Minneapolis (USA);
2019, Togli il tuo piede dalle nostre gole, Director and Performer, Festival of
rights, MAD Murate Art District, Florence;
2019, Walkabout/Sound Migrations, Director and Performer, PARC, Estate
Fiorentina, Florence;
2019, Mediterranea #5, CineEco Festival DME, Seia (Portugal);
2018, RIVERS by Yuval Avital, Director and Performer, Notte Bianca #24
ACCENTS, ACCENTS, АКЦЕНТЫ, Mario Marini Museum, Florence;
2018, Mediterranea #3, Ikigai Room, Bologna;
2018, RIVERS by Yuval Avital, Director and Performer, Progetto RIVA, Ex-
cinema Ristori, Montelupo Fiorentino;
2017, Sound&Bike, Director and Performer, Tempo Reale Festival, Florence;
2017, Lontano da dove by Daniela Fantechi, Director and Performer, Migrarti Festival Teatro Puccini, Florence;
2016, WUNDE(r), Photographer and Videomaker, Istituto Italiano di Cultura, Hamburg;
2015, Vulnera, Photographer and Videomaker, Free Space Gallery, Kentish Town London;
2013-2014, Oltre lo sguardo, Installation/Sound Sculptures, Istituto degli
Innocenti, Florence.
