Valerio Rocco Orlando () (born 1978 in Milan, Italy) is an Italian artist, researcher, and professor. He holds a PhD in Engineering-based Architecture and Urban Planning from Sapienza University of Rome.
His collaborations include working with French philosopher Jean-Luc Nancy, English composer Michael Nyman,Noè, Paola, 2008. http://www.artforum.com/picks/id=21493&view=print Artforum. artists Gilbert & George, Ugo Rondinone and Liam Gillick, supermodel Eva Riccobono, actors Saleh Bakri, Alba Rohrwacher, sociologist Boaventura de Sousa Santos, and psychoanalyst Luigi Zoja.
Orlando has exhibited widely and represented Italy at the 11th Havana Biennial (2012). A selection of solo institutional exhibitions include: The Reverse Grand Tour, Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Moderna e Contemporanea, Rome (2013); The Sphere of the Between, Korea Foundation, Seoul (2015); What Education for Mars?, Museo Marino Marini, FlorenceMeneghel, Barbara, 2015. https://atpdiary.com/what-education-for-mars-valerio-rocco-orlando ATPdiary. (2015); Portami al Confine, MUSMA, MateraMacrì, Teresa, 2016. https://ilmanifesto.it/in-viaggio-oltre-i-limiti/ il manifesto. (2016); Valerio Rocco Orlando, Santiago Museum of Contemporary Art, SantiagoMuscatello, Mariagrazia, 2017. https://moussemagazine.it/valerio-rocco-orlando-que-educacion-para-marte-el-museo-de-arte-contemporaneo-santiago-2017/ Mousse Magazine. (2017); Dialogue with the Unseen, MUDEC Museo delle Culture, MilanBellini, Elisa Pervinca, 2019. https://www.vogue.it/news/article/mostre-da-vedere-a-milano-valerio-rocco-orlando-al-mudec-palestina Vogue Italia. (2019); Vite operose, GAMeC, BergamoGiaume, Giulia, 2023. https://www.artribune.com/arti-visive/arte-contemporanea/2023/09/museo-gamec-bergamo-neon-valerio-rocco-orlando Artribune. (2023); Community Specific Archive, CSAC – University of Parma, Parma (2024).
Orlando's works have been featured in Artforum, ArtReview, Contemporary (magazine), Corriere della Sera, Domus (magazine), Flash Art, Frieze (magazine), Il manifesto, La Repubblica, L'Uomo Vogue, Modern Painters (magazine), The Korea Herald, Vogue Italia and W magazine.
Artistic practice Since 2002, Orlando has worked on several community-based projects, creating different cycles of installations focused on the relationship between individual and collective identity. His first project (The Sentimental Glance, 2002-2007) is a seven-channel video installation built like a stratified Bildungsroman populated by the portraits of six young women on the threshold between childhood, adolescence, and adulthood.
Dealing with themes such as the relationship between artists and society (The Reverse Grand Tour, 2012), the feelings of newer generations towards folklore (Bisiàc, 2007), the exchanges between a couple (Lover’s Discourse, 2010)Viola, Eugenio, 2010. https://flash---art.it/article/valerio-rocco-orlando/ Flash Art. and within a school as an institution (What Education for Mars?, 2011-2013).Magini, Elena, 2015. https://www.exibart.com/personaggi/lartista-e-laltro-da-se Exibart. Orlando carries out a personal exploration of portraiture, using the activities of meeting and dialogue as tools.Donoso, Pedro 2017. https://artishockrevista.com/2017/09/27/valerio-rocco-orlando-no-diferencia-arte-la-educacion/ Artishock. By defining art as a process of analysis and mutual knowledge, Orlando explores and tells everyday life stories, taken from personal and social context, recomposing them as the pieces of a mosaic within an image of the whole.Voso, Daniela, 2013. https://www.doppiozero.com/reverse-grand-tour Doppiozero.
"To investigate a universal theme, Valerio Rocco Orlando thinks, builds, and weaves relationships with the other, in such a direct and essential way that the artist’s main medium become the encounter itself. Einfülhung, what German philosophers refer to as empathy, is both a prerequisite and a direct consequence of the methodology of Orlando. Conceiving the production as a long-term process based on trust and intimacy, the audience gets to feel the other, participating in his points of view and feelings, by mirroring and questioning their own experience. Only through this new exchange with the viewer the research is completed and the artwork can respond to its function of radical education".Florian, Federico, 2015. https://www.klatmagazine.com/art/valerio-rocco-orlando-ritratti-in-movimento-interviews/15795 Klat.
One of his most recent works (Dialogue with the Unseen, 2019) is a spiritual pilgrimage and a political journey to the Holy Land. Starting from a collaboration with Palestinian actor Saleh Bakri, this video installation is a collection of encounters between individuals who are questioning their own relationships with Nature and Society.Bergamini, Matteo, 2019. https://www.exibart.com/speednews/la-palestina-oltre-il-territorio-valerio-rocco-orlando-e-linvisibile-al-mudec-di-milano Exibart.
Orlando’s long-term initiative (Scuola dei Sassi, 2024) is a free, intercultural, and transpedagogical program conceptualised as a permanent art intervention in the city of Matera, Italy.Stocchi, Francesco, 2025. https://www.ilfoglio.it/il-foglio-arte/2025/07/26/news/valerio-rocco-orlando-e-la-citta-invisibile-7946981 Il Foglio.
Academics and conferences Orlando gave lectures and workshops in some of the most renowned faculties and institutions worldwide, among others: Accademia di Belle Arti di Roma, Rome; Accademia Carrara di Belle Arti di Bergamo, Bergamo; Accademia di Belle Arti di Firenze, Florence; Accademia di Belle Arti, L'Aquila; Accademia di Belle Arti di Napoli, Naples; Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design, Jerusalem; Bocconi University, Milan; Brera Academy, Milan; Dongduk Women's University, Seoul; Ewha Womans University, Seoul; Instituto Superior de Arte, Havana; International Studio & Curatorial Program (ISCP), New York City; Istituto Europeo di Design, Milan; IULM University of Milan, Milan; Kookmin University, Seoul; Korea Foundation, Seoul; MAXXI – National Museum of the 21st Century Arts, Rome; Musei Capitolini, Rome; Palazzo Strozzi, Florence; Parsons The New School for Design, New York City; Politecnico di Milano, Milan; The Valley School, Bangalore; Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Milan; University of Basel, Basel.
Awards Orlando has been the recipient of numerous awards, including the ISCP New York Prize (2009), an International Artist Fellowship from the MMCA National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art Korea (2014), and the Kunstpreis VAF Stiftung (2016). He has also obtained the support of the Italian Council (2020) and the Contemporary Art Plan (2023) from the Ministry of Culture (Italy).
Public collections A. M. Qattan Foundation, Ramallah Centro de Arte Contemporáneo Wifredo Lam, Havana Centro per l'arte contemporanea Luigi Pecci, Prato CSAC - University of Parma, Parma Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian, Lisbon Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Moderna e Contemporanea, Rome Galleria d'Arte Moderna e Contemporanea, Bergamo Museo MAGA, Gallarate Museo del Novecento, Milan Museo Irene Brin, Bordighera Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art of Trento and Rovereto, Rovereto Museum of Contemporary Art of Rome, Rome MUSMA Museo della Scultura Contemporanea Matera, Matera Panza Collection, Varese Villa Reale, Monza
Bibliography Community Specific Archive, Silvana Editoriale, 2024. Vite operose, Skira, 2024. Portami al Confine, Silvana Editoriale, 2021. Uno alla volta. Comunità e Partecipazione, Postmedia Books, 2020. What Education for Mars?, Museo Marino Marini, 2016. The Sphere of the Between, Korea Foundation, 2015. The Reverse Grand Tour, Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Moderna e Contemporanea, 2013. Endless, Mousse Publishing, 2011.
References
External links Valerio Rocco Orlando's official website Scuola dei Sassi's official website