Bizhan Bassiri is the founder and president of the Foundation. Born in Teheran in 1954, he left Iran for Rome in 1975 and now lives between Rome, Tuscany, and Umbria.
Bizhan Bassiri’s artistic research develops through the use of different materials and techniques: surfaces made from papier-mâché, and from steel and bronze, lava stone elements, and photographic image processing. He is the author of Pensiero Magmatico (1984) and of the Manifesto del Pensiero Magmatico (1984 – 2021).
He began exhibiting in 1981, participating in solo and group shows. His work has been shown in numerous museums and cultural institutions including the Kunsthalle, Vienna (Austria); Museum van Hedendaagse Kunst, Ghent (Belgium); Centre d’Art Contemporain, Thiers (France); Borholms Kunstmuseum, Borholms (Denmark); Centro per l’Arte Contemporanea Luigi Pecci, Prato; Arsaevi, Collegiumartisticum, Sarajevo (Bosnia); the French Academy in Rome, Villa Medici; Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Napoli; Tophane-i Amire culture and Art Centre, Istanbul (Turkey); S.M.A.K, Stedelijk Museum voor Actuele Kunst, Ghent (Belgium); Galleria Nazionale dell’Umbria, Perugia; Sala dei Cinquecento, Palazzo Vecchio, Florence; Tehran Contemporary Art Museum, Tehran; Macro Testaccio, Rome; Ca’ Pesaro – Galleria Internazionale d’Arte Moderna, Venice.
In 2017, he was the sole artist invited to represent Iran at the 57th Biennale of Venice with the exhibition Tapesh. The Golden Reserve of Magmatic Thought.
Co-founder, she is both vice president and director general of the Foundation.
Camilla Cionini Visani is from Milan and graduated in International Relations from the Bocconi University, Milan. She was Director of International Affairs for Confindustria, dealing with policies and processes encouraging enterprise internationalization as well as consolidating relations with governments, Italian and foreign ministries. Previously she has held management roles at SACE – Gruppo Cassa Depositi e Prestiti in Rome and at the Deutsche Bank and Schroders in London. She is currently Director General at ItaliaFintech in addition to holding non-executive roles in leading companies like Alba Leasing, Solution Bank, and Coima Sgr. A lover of art, music, and culture, she is currently an Honorary Member of the Accademia Chigiana, Siena.
President of Museo Pecci di Prato, former President of Fondazione Palazzo Strozzi, Florence, as well as President of Société Generale, economist, former member of the Executive Board of the European Central Bank. Author of several books and Visiting Scholar at Harvard University.
President of the Scientific Committee of the Bassiri Foundation. Art critic and historian, he is currently President of the Foundation Palazzo Albizzini Collezione Burri.
Board member at the Teatro dell’Opera, Rome, and former member of the governing body of the Biennale di Venezia as well as President and Founder of Comin & Partners. Former Director of Communications and Institutional Relations for Enel. Lecturer in Communication Strategies at the Luiss “Guido Carli” University; author of several books on communication.
Board member at the Galleria nazionale di Arte Moderna, Rome, Co-founder and vice president at Comin & Partners, former director of communications at the Biennale di Venezia.
Vice President of Museo MADRE, Naples, entrepreneur and Vice President of the Board of Directors of the Magaldi Group.
Graduated in Business Administration, he began his career at Banco Lariano. He then gained experience in strategic consulting, first at McKinsey & Company and later at Bain, Cuneo & Associati. Subsequently, he worked at RAS and Credito Italiano. From 1997 to 2010, he served as CEO of the UniCredit Group. Under his leadership, UniCredit became a major European player, growing from 15,000 to over 162,000 employees, with offices in 23 countries. During this period, the UniCredit art project was developed, and UniCredit became the main sponsor of the Filarmonica della Scala and La Scala for its international tours. From 2017 to 2023, he was the CEO of Leonardo Spa.
PhD in Molecular Biology, she has extensive managerial experience in top-level roles and expertise in the field of sustainable development, gained through multiple experiences in the corporate world, research, and civil society organizations, including at the international level. In particular, she held the position of Sustainability Senior Vice President at Eni and served as Executive Director of the Eni Enrico Mattei Foundation.
Passionate about design and contemporary art, she has combined her personal and professional experience in lifestyle to dedicate herself to creating her own company, focusing on luxury hospitality.
Lawyer and partner at Bonelli Erede, coordinating the Banking and Finance Department, former president of banks and publicly-listed companies, currently President of the Board of Directors of the Banca Centrale di San Marino, of the Conseil de Surveillance at the concession company for the Nice, Cannes, and Saint Tropez airports, and member of the Board of Directors of the Rome Chamber of Commerce.
Founder of the accountancy firm of the same name in Ravenna with extensive experience in dealing with art foundations. He was a member of the audit committee of the MAXXI Foundation from 2014 to 2019.
Art critic and historian, President of Fondazione Burri, Città di Castello.
President of Jannis Kounellis Archive, Rome.
Director emeritus at the Bornholm Art Museum, Denmark. Curator of numerous exhibitions, both at national and international level. His books on museology, graphic art, painting, and sculpture have been published in several languages. He is currently head of the Board of Directors and founding director of the Bornholm Biennials.
Composer, artistic director, cultural manager, and journalist. Since 2015, he has been the artistic director of the Fondazione Accademia Musicale Chigiana.
Art critic and independent curator. He has served as a curator at Castello di Rivoli and MART in Rovereto and was the director of Artefiera in Bologna. He has curated or co-curated exhibitions of artists such as Accardi, Agnetti, Cattelan, Cucchi, Dumas, Delvoye, Dynys, Gordon, Islam, Jodice, Lavier, Limonta, Nagasawa, Neshat, Paolini, Penone, Rama, Shanahan, Steinbach, Testa, Tillmans, Toroni, Varisco, Vitone, as well as numerous group exhibitions. He has written books on Boccioni, Guarino, Knoebel, Merz, Picco, and Atkinson, and essays on Boetti, Chiari, Decrauzat, Fabre, Fontana, Haring, Hartung, Kaprow, Merz, Pascali, Pisani, Pistoletto, Ruff, Salvo, Tirelli, Vilmouth, and Wolf. He is a member of the scientific committee of the Vincenzo Agnetti, Franco Angeli, and Alighiero Boetti archives. Since 1990, he has been a contributor to Artforum magazine.
Iranian Canadian Art Curator graduated from OCAD University, Toronto, Majored in Art Critic & Curatorial Practice. Currently focusing on Iranian Contemporary art.
Art historian, graduated from the University of Florence. She holds a master’s degree in Art Management from the Free University of Guido Carli. She is currently attending the School of Specialization in Contemporary Art History offered by the University of Siena.
