Biography

Born in the hamlet of Laag in the village of Neumarkt, South Tyrol, and a former teacher at the Waldorf School of Verona, Italy, Tomasi served as Assistant Professor at the Academy of Fine Arts of Verona, where he hold the Photography graduate/undergraduate course for the Visual Art Department.
His work as Coordinator of the Art Lab at the Hospital Borgo Roma, Department of Psychiatry and Clinical Psychology, CSM for the National Observatory of Outsider Art

National Observatory of Outsider Art

The National Observatory of Outsider Art is a joint Department of the University of Verona, Faculty of Arts and Faculty of Medicine....

 led to the development of a systemic research devoted to creating a bridge between the fields of Art Therapy

Art therapy

Because of its dual origins in art and psychotherapy, art therapy definitions vary. They commonly either lean more toward the ART art-making process as therapeutic in and of itself, "art as therapy," or focus on the psychotherapeutic transference process between the therapist and the client who...

 and Ethnopsychology.
The latter years of academic research found a better expression in 2007, when David Tomasi became director of the CRAM - Centre for Art Research in Mezzocorona (Tn), Italy, and coordinator of the Giontech archeological site, centre of the Via Claudia Augusta

Via Claudia Augusta

The Via Claudia Augusta is an ancient Roman road, which linked the valley of the Po River with Rhaetia across the Alps. Since 2007, the Giontech Archeological Site, in Mezzocorona/Kronmetz serves as the Via Claudia Augusta International Research Center, directed by Prof...

, Italy/Austria/Germany. In 2010 worked as curator of Intersections, the young contemporary art section of the International Art Fair of Bolzano/Bozen/Bulsan kunStart.
Prof. Tomasi is currently Residential Counselor for the Mental Health Dept. of Howard Center (Founded in 1873 in Burlington, VT) and member of the Diversity Committee.
He also held classes, conferences and lectures at: Archaeological Museum Ostiglia (Italy, 2009), South Tyrolean German Speaking Teachers' Association (Italy, 2008), University of Trento

University of Trento

The University of Trento is an Italian university located in the cities of Trento and Rovereto. It has been able to achieve considerable results in didactics, research and international relations, as shown by Censis University Guide and by the Italian Ministry of...

 - TSM (Italy, 2007), University of Innsbruck (Austria, 2007), University of the Dolomitic Alps (Italy, 2007/2008), Albrecht Dürer

Albrecht Dürer

Albrecht Dürer was a German painter, printmaker, engraver, mathematician, and theorist from Nuremberg. His prints established his reputation across Europe when he was still in his twenties, and he has been conventionally regarded as the greatest artist of the Northern Renaissance ever since...

 Museum Nürnberg (Germany, 2007), Superintendence for History and Archaeology of the Provinces of Bolzano and Trento (Italy, 2007–2009), Verein für Heimatpflege Innsbruck (Austria, 2007), Vermont Italian Club / St. Michael's College (USA, 2011).
Tomasi has shown work internationally in many exhibitions and performances in Italy and abroad in theatres, museums and private/public institutions like: Teatro Cristallo Bolzano, Galleria Civica d'arte Contemporanea di Trento, MART Rovereto, Festival OrienteOccidente Rovereto, Bevilacqua La Masa Venice, Centro Internazionale della Grafica Venice, Teatro Città di Conegliano, CISA - Centro Internazionale Studi d'Architettura Palladio Vicenza, Teatro Antonianum Padua, Galleria San Fedele Milan, Festival Ritracciarti Mantua, Artissima Turin, PAN - Palazzo delle Arti Naples, Manifesta 7 the Netherlands/Italy, VAC Ventabren France.

He currently lives and works in USA.

Academic years

Working as a professor at the Academy of Fine Arts of Verona, David Tomasi invited lecturers like Christian Rainer, Achille Bonito Oliva

Achille Bonito Oliva

Achille Bonito Oliva, is a recognized and respected Italian contemporary art critic, author of many essays on mannerism, and a professor of History of Contemporary Art at La Sapienza University in Rome...

 and Harald Szeemann

Harald Szeemann

Harald Szeemann was a Swiss curator and art historian.-Life:Szeemann was born in Bern. He studied art history, archaeology and journalism in Bern and Paris, and in 1956 he began working as an actor, stage designer and painter, as well as doing one-man shows. He started creating exhibitions in 1957...

 (former directors of the Biennale di Venezia (Venice Biennial), respectively in 1993 and 1999/2001. He worked together with Academy Director Elisabetta Di Prisco and Department Dean Daniela Rosi to create the first Italian Academic MFA program in Outsider Art

Outsider Art

The term outsider art was coined by art critic Roger Cardinal in 1972 as an English synonym for art brut , a label created by French artist Jean Dubuffet to describe art created outside the boundaries of official culture; Dubuffet focused particularly on art by insane-asylum inmates.While...

, which led to the foundation of the National Observatory for Outsider Art (Osservatorio Nazionale per l'Arte Irregolare). As an artist and curator he organized exhibitions and performances such as Young Minds for Young Ideas (together with Flavia Fossa Margutti for MART

Mart

Mart may mean:* Data mart* Shoppers Drug Mart* Mart * Mart , Syriac title for women saints* Montachusett Regional Transit Authority* Mart, Texas* mArt, a local broadcasting station in Amsterdam....

 museum) and MYST (CRAM 2007), presenting works of (amongst others) Joel-Peter Witkin

Joel-Peter Witkin

Joel-Peter Witkin is an American photographer who lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico. His work often deals with such themes as death, corpses , and various outsiders such as dwarfs, transsexuals, hermaphrodites, and physically deformed people...

, Oyvind Hjelmen, Mario Giacomelli

Mario Giacomelli

Mario Giacomelli was an Italian photographer born on 1 August 1925 in Senigallia, Italy. He died on 25 November 2000 in the town of his birth.Known for:Photographs of Italian seminaries and a poetic transcription of everyday life in Southern Italy...

 and Andrew Miksys. He wrote articles for several magazines like Lila (Vienna, Austria) and Ars et Ratio (Verona, Italy) on art and history related subjects. Newton & Compton, Editor of the Official Collection of Edgar Allan Poe

Edgar Allan Poe

Edgar Allan Poe was an American author, poet, editor and literary critic, considered part of the American Romantic Movement. Best known for his tales of mystery and the macabre, Poe was one of the earliest American practitioners of the short story and is considered the inventor of the detective...

's works (Tutti i racconti del mistero dell'incubo e del terrore - The complete work of mystery, nightmare and terror, curated by Gabriele La Porta) chose David Tomasi in 2004 to present the Italian edition of the book on a special performing event at the Teatro Nuovo di Verona. In 2006 Tomasi took part in the performance by Külli K. Kaats (Art Museum of Estonia/Eesti Kunstimuuseum) National Instruments: A Ritual Mystery.
During his carrier, Tomasi was often described as a visual poet, definition linked to his early works, both in visual art and music, often related to the disciplines of etymology

Etymology

Etymology is the study of the history of words, their origins, and how their form and meaning have changed over time.For languages with a long written history, etymologists make use of texts in these languages and texts about the languages to gather knowledge about how words were used during...

, ethnolinguistics

Ethnolinguistics

Ethnolinguistics is a field of linguistics which studies the relationship between language and culture, and the way different ethnic groups perceive the world. It is the combination between ethnology and linguistics. The former refers to the way of life of an entire community i.e...

 and calligraphy

Calligraphy

Calligraphy is a type of visual art. It is often called the art of fancy lettering . A contemporary definition of calligraphic practice is "the art of giving form to signs in an expressive, harmonious and skillful manner"...

. The label originated also due to his many collaborations with Visual Poetry

Visual poetry

Visual poetry is poetry or art in which the visual arrangement of text, images and symbols is important in conveying the intended effect of the work. It is sometimes referred to as concrete poetry, a term that predates visual poetry, and at one time was synonymous with it.Visual poetry was heavily...

 artists, like Sarenco and Julien Blaine. As a member of the Board of Curators for Manifesta

Manifesta

Manifesta, the , is a European pan-regional contemporary cultural biennale, described in 2010 by the as "stunning in its scope and uncompromisingly experimental in its approach".-Manifesta History:...

 7 (South Tyrolean Commission), Tomasi worked with artists and curators like Michael Fliri (Shady Oat amusement, 2008), Olaf Breuning

Olaf Breuning

- Works :*Home 1/Home 2 --30 minute video starring Brian Kerstetter. Home 1 is presented as a double-projection, where the main character can no longer distinguish the difference between reality and fiction. He wanders around a hotel room telling stories about himself and other people to the...

, Brian Getnick (The Triumph of Goodness, 2008) and Catherine Wood (curator at the London Tate Modern

Tate Modern

Tate Modern is a modern art gallery located in London, England. It is Britain's national gallery of international modern art and forms part of the Tate group . It is the most-visited modern art gallery in the world, with around 4.7 million visitors per year...

).

Awards

He won several grants and prizes like: Cariverona Foundation University Grant (2004), Best Young Artist Prize - Toniolo Foundation (2003), Academy of Fine Arts Grant (2005), Biennial of Mantova - MAM

Mam

Mam or MAM may refer to:* Mam language, a Mayan language spoken in Guatemala* Mam people, an indigenous Maya people in Guatemala* Mam , a reverential term for certain aged Maya deities.* Mam, Azerbaijan, a village...

 (2004), One_Hop Extrart - RAI

RAI

RAI — Radiotelevisione italiana S.p.A. known until 1954 as Radio Audizioni Italiane, is the Italian state owned public service broadcaster controlled by the Ministry of Economic Development. Rai is the biggest television company in Italy...

 Jury Prize (2007), Best Artist Prize - Academy of Fine Arts (2003), Best Artist Prize - Councillorship for Culture and Arts, Govt. of the Region Veneto (2002). He was also selected for the International Prize for Performance at the Gallery of Love by Marina Abramović

Marina Abramovic

Marina Abramović is a Belgrade-born New York-based Serbian performance artist who began her career in the early 1970s. Active for over three decades, she has recently begun to describe herself as the “grandmother of performance art.” Abramović's work explores the relationship between performer and...

, Civic Gallery for Contemporary Art, Trento (2005); Abu Dhabi International Art Fair (2003); Albrecht Dürer Preis für die zeitgenössische Kunst (2004), The Best of Photography, Trento ASA (2008); Arte Presente Arte Futura, Verona (2004), Galleria San Fedele, Milan (2006); Premio Artissima 13, Turin - PAN

PAN

Pan and panning can have many meanings as listed below in various categories.-Prefix:* Pan- as a prefix , e.g.:** Pan American** Pan-Americanism...

 - Palazzo delle Arti, Naples (2006); and for Arts for the World, University of Naples, Faculty of Architecture (2006), together with Karin Andersen

Karin Andersen

Karin Andersen is a Norwegian politician for the Socialist Left Party . She was elected to the Norwegian Parliament from Hedmark in 1997...

, Vanessa Beecroft

Vanessa Beecroft

Vanessa Beecroft is an Italian contemporary artist living in Los Angeles.-Artistic practice:Beecroft's work is a fusion of conceptual issues and aesthetic concerns, focusing on large-scale performance art, usually involving live female models...

, Robert Carroll

Robert Carroll

Robert Carroll may refer to:*Robert L. Carroll , American paleontologist*Robert Todd Carroll , American academic and well-known skeptic of pseudoscience*Robert Carroll , TV actor who starred in The Stranger...

, Omar Galliani and Mimmo Paladino

Mimmo Paladino

Mimmo Paladino is an Italian sculptor, painter and printmaker.-Paintings and drawing:Mimmo Paladino was born Domenico Paladino in Paduli, Campania, southern Italy...

, Best Video Artist for ME-RO, Manifesta

Manifesta

Manifesta, the , is a European pan-regional contemporary cultural biennale, described in 2010 by the as "stunning in its scope and uncompromisingly experimental in its approach".-Manifesta History:...

7, the European Biennial for Contemporary Art (2008). In 2007 Tomasi was chosen by the Italian government as official designer for the 500 years Anniversary's celebrations of the Birth of Post. 4 years later Tomasi presented the video 2001-2011 at the Howard Center's Diversity Fair, curated by Tuipate Mubiay. In 2011 The Academy of Fine Arts of Verona selected him amongst the 9 best artists for the 150th Anniversary of the Italian Republic exhibitions "Risorgimento" and Fotoarte - Percorsi Creativi.

Music

From 1992 to 1999 Tomasi studied at the Vivaldi Music Institute of Bozen, South Tyrol for the 7-years Classical Guitar Program, and played in several bands and side projects, performing with musicians like Peo Alfonsi (Verona Conservatory Jazz Band

Jazz band

A jazz band is a musical ensemble that plays jazz music. Jazz bands usually consist of a rhythm section and a horn section, in the early days often trumpet, trombone, and clarinet with rhythm section of piano, banjo, bass or tuba, and drums.-Eras:SwingDuring the swing era in the mid-twentieth...

), Diego Andreasi, Hartmann Giovanett (Still Blind

Still Blind

Still Blind are a heavy metal band from the Unterland area in South Tyrol, Italy formed in 1986 by the brothers Reinhold Giovanett, Hartmann Giovanett and Helmuth Giovanett.-History:...

, Worbet, Embryonic Jam), Rudy Pellizzon (Mothercare, Evil Whisper, Skizophonic, David's Avatar), Francesco Ronzon, Samuel (Subsonica

Subsonica

Subsonica is an Italian rock band that was formed in 1996 in Turin. Their eponymous debut album debuted in the spring of 1997. The band gained real success in 2000 by playing the Sanremo Music Festival...

, Krakatoa

Krakatoa

Krakatoa is a volcanic island made of a'a lava in the Sunda Strait between the islands of Java and Sumatra in Indonesia. The name is used for the island group, the main island , and the volcano as a whole. The island exploded in 1883, killing approximately 40,000 people, although some estimates...

, Motel Connection), Alex Mastini, Stefano Bannò (Anansi

Anansi

Anansi the trickster is a spider, and is one of the most important characters of West African and Caribbean folklore.He is also known as Ananse, Kwaku Ananse, and Anancy; and in the Southern United States he has evolved into Aunt Nancy. He is a spider, but often acts and appears as a man...

 and the Buffalo Soldiers), Marco Ongaro, Afterhours

Afterhours (band)

Afterhours is an Italian alternative rock band. The name is a tribute to the same-titled Velvet Underground's song.-Biography:The Afterhours were formed in 1985 in Milan around Manuel Agnelli, a Velvet Underground fan...

, Just Married, Vince Tempera, My Barbarian

My Barbarian

My Barbarian is a Los Angeles based collaborative group consisting of Malik Gaines, Jade Gordon and Alexandro Segade. The trio makes site-responsive performances and video installations that use theatrical play to draw allegorical narratives out of historical dilemmas, mythical conflicts, and...

.
In 2004 he joined for the first time the Teatro Stabile di Verona Company for the Show "Memory-Desire-Signs", written by Philip Glass

Philip Glass

Philip Glass is an American composer. He is considered to be one of the most influential composers of the late 20th century and is widely acknowledged as a composer who has brought art music to the public .His music is often described as minimalist, along with...

 and Giampaolo Calliari for MART - Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art.

Bandology:

• 1995-1999: Avil Noctis (Rock)
• 1998-1999: DDD Blues Band (Blues)
• 2000-2001: The Daffodils (Pop/Rock)
• 2005-2006: Cut_Up (Digital/Contemporary)
• 2006-2007: Wings of Fog (Hard Rock)
• 2007-2010: B Painfull (Gothic/Raetic Metal)
• 2009-2010: Embryonic Jam (Trash/Speed Metal)

Theater, Cinema, Television

Tomasi took part in several TV shows and movies, focusing on art and art therapy related subjects, mainly for RAI

RAI

RAI — Radiotelevisione italiana S.p.A. known until 1954 as Radio Audizioni Italiane, is the Italian state owned public service broadcaster controlled by the Ministry of Economic Development. Rai is the biggest television company in Italy...

, the Italian National TV Channel, and other private broadcasting companies, such as TVA, TCA, Telenuovo. He also appeared in Austria and Germany for the channels ORF

ORF

ORF may refer to:* ORF , the Austrian public service broadcaster.* Open reading frame, a portion of the genome.* The IATA airport code for Norfolk International Airport in Norfolk, Virginia.* ORF format , Olympus raw image file format....

 and ZDF

ZDF

Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen , ZDF, is a public-service German television broadcaster based in Mainz . It is run as an independent non-profit institution, which was founded by the German federal states . The ZDF is financed by television licence fees called GEZ and advertising revenues...

 as art historian for the Albrecht Dürer Foundation. As member of the Teatro Stabile di Verona, he played for the Shakespeare Theater Season and went on tour with the contemporary art performance Quattro Quadri, by coreographer Sisina Augusta.
He also directed shortfilms like SymBallein (0+1=2) (2004), winner of the Premio Verona and presented at Manifesta7, the European Biennial for Contemporary Art and wrote several scripts for projects like Incomunicabilità (2003) Unio Mystica (2004) and Play with your imagination (2007), the official video for MART

Mart

Mart may mean:* Data mart* Shoppers Drug Mart* Mart * Mart , Syriac title for women saints* Montachusett Regional Transit Authority* Mart, Texas* mArt, a local broadcasting station in Amsterdam....

, the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art of Trento and Rovereto, presented at the Babelgum Film Festival, curated by Spike Lee

Spike Lee

Shelton Jackson "Spike" Lee is an American film director, producer, writer, and actor. His production company, 40 Acres & A Mule Filmworks, has produced over 35 films since 1983....

. In 2005, with the contemporary digital project band Cut Up he presented the piece Pier Paolo Pasolini

Pier Paolo Pasolini

Pier Paolo Pasolini was an Italian film director, poet, writer, and intellectual. Pasolini distinguished himself as a poet, journalist, philosopher, linguist, novelist, playwright, filmmaker, newspaper and magazine columnist, actor, painter and political figure...

: Cut up at the University of Trento

University of Trento

The University of Trento is an Italian university located in the cities of Trento and Rovereto. It has been able to achieve considerable results in didactics, research and international relations, as shown by Censis University Guide and by the Italian Ministry of...

.
He also did minor roles and cameos in movies such as A Gothic Romance, with Eliza Ryciak and Micol Olivieri and Primo Amore, directed by Matteo Garrone

Matteo Garrone

Matteo Garrone is an Italian film maker.Born in Rome, the son of a theatre critic, Nico Garrone and a photographer, in 1996 Garrone won the Sacher d'Oro, an award sponsored by Nanni Moretti, with the short film Silhouette, that became one of the three episodes that are on his first long film ...

. He also appeared as visiting artist in several American and European Radio and TV talk shows, like WVMT Morning Show (2011) , Artists envisioning our future (2009) and The painter and the muse, with David Riondino and Milo Manara

Milo Manara

Maurilio Manara – known professionally as Milo Manara – is an Italian comic book writer and artist, best known for his erotic approach to the medium.-Career:...

 (2003).
In 2007 Tomasi directed Via Claudia Augusta: viaggio di confine at the Teatro Cristallo in Bozen, for the Autumn Theatrical Season with Margherita Hack

Margherita Hack

Margherita Hack is an Italian astrophysicist and popular science writer. The asteroid 8558 Hack, discovered in 1995, was named in her honor.-Biography:...

, Moni Ovadia

Moni Ovadia

Moni Ovadia is an Italian actor, musician, singer and theatrical author. "Moni" is short for "Salomone" .-Career:Ovadia was born in Plovdiv, Bulgaria, in 1946 to a Jewish family who moved to Milan in Ovadia's early childhood...

, Dario Fo

Dario Fo

Dario Fo is an Italian satirist, playwright, theater director, actor and composer. His dramatic work employs comedic methods of the ancient Italian commedia dell'arte, a theatrical style popular with the working classes. He currently owns and operates a theatre company with his wife, actress...

 and Sergej Brobov.

External links

• Official website (EN/ITA/DE/RÆ)
• KunStart Press Conference (EN)
• The Glocal Rookie of the year Prize (DE)
• Jerry Uelsmann in MYST by David Tomasi (EN)
• David Tomasi in Dissezioni (Dissections) (ITA/EN)
• Artists envisioning our future on RETN Channel 16 (EN)
• Altrarete (ITA/DE/EN)
• Tomasi and Alfonsi at the Conservatoire of Verona (EN)
• Symballein at the Majakovskij Gallery (ITA)
• Interview for CittadiVerona (City of Verona) (ITA)
• David Tomasi on Teknemedia (ITA)
• CRAM opening on Teknemedia (ITA)
• Exhibition on UnDo (ITA)
• TurIn - International Design Festival (ITA)
• Verona.net (ITA)
• SiamoDonne Magazine (ITA)
• KunStart Art Fair Catalogue (EN)

Published sources

• Mesoraca, S (2009) David Tomasi, in Art & Web, LUISS University, Rome, pp. 56–88
• Dalla Torre, P (2008) Davide Filippi scultore (Davide Filippi sculptor), CRAMtemporanea editions, Mezzocorona
• Fiorese, M; Tomasi, D (2007) MYST - mystic and mystery of a photographic collection, CRAMtemporanea_Photographia, Mezzocorona
• Cinquetti, R (2007) Spazioarte Pisanello: 10 anni (Spazioarte Pisanello: 10 years), Fondazione Toniolo, Verona, pp. 12–32
• Bombana, J (2007) Identità: Io è l'altro (Identity: Me is other, catalogue), Moscacieca/Binario 0, Villafranca di Verona, pp. 10–12
• Blaine, J (2005) L'ultimo lustro di Harald - Omaggio ad Harald Szeeman (The last five years of Harald - Homage to Harald Szeemann), Adriano Parise Editore, Colognola ai Colli (Vr)
• Calliari, G (2003) Memoria Desiderio Segni (Memory Desire Signs), MART, Rovereto (Tn), pp. 4–9
• Barausse, M (2003) Le pietre della Basilica (The stones of the Basilica), CISA - Centro Internazionale Studi di Architettura Palladio, Vicenza, pp. 11,12