Studio Azzurro and Rai: Retrieving Neglected Histories from Artist Archives

Chiara Borgonovo; Laura Marcolini

doi:10.60923/issn.2280-9481/22079

Authors

Chiara Borgonovo Vita-Salute San Raffaele University https://orcid.org/0009-0009-4735-9743

Chiara Borgonovo is a PhD candidate at Università Vita-Salute San Raffaele, Milan (Italy). Her research project in contemporary art history addresses the materiality of time-based media art with respect to curatorial, conservation and archival challenges. She holds an MA in Art History from Milan Catholic University (UCSC) and a Certificate of Advanced Studies in Curating from the Zürcher Hochschule der Künste (ZHdK). She gained curatorial experience working between Milan and Berlin. Her interests focus on visual culture, socially engaged curatorial and artistic practices and contemporary art conservation.
Laura Marcolini Studio Azzurro Produzioni srl

After studying Art History and completing a master’s degree in photography, Laura Marcolini works as an editor, photographer and photo editor, focusing on image theory. She meets Studio Azzurro in 2012, starting a collaboration on the work In Principio (e poi) (55th Venice Art Biennale), and continues to contribute to the development of projects and the artistic direction of works in various formats, from sensitive environments and editorial projects. She favors co-authorial work and dialogue between disciplines and explores the relationship between intermedia works, artistic tradition, and the transitions of new aesthetics related to the digital realm.

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.60923/issn.2280-9481/22079

Keywords:

Artist archives, Italian television history, Rai (Radiotelevisione Italiana), Studio Azzurro, Video art

Abstract

This paper examines the overlooked collaborations between the Milanese artist collective Studio Azzurro and Italy’s national broadcaster, Rai, during the 1980s and 1990s. Drawing on previously unpublished documents, sketches, and footage preserved in the artists’ archive, it reassesses the role of artistic contributions in Italian television history. While some collaborations reflect Studio Azzurro’s openness to experimenting with television formats and aesthetics—as well as Rai’s interest in leveraging the artists’ technical expertise—the many unrealized project proposals also reveal the structural limitations of Italian broadcasting in accommodating more ambitious creative interventions. Studio Azzurro’s archive thus emerges as a valuable resource for reconstructing neglected aspects of Rai’s programming, shedding light on the intersections between contemporary art and the production logics of public television. By foregrounding these materials, the paper explores the convergence of art history, television history, and cultural production, offering new perspectives on the institutional tensions that shaped Italy’s media landscape in the late twentieth century.

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Studio Azzurro and Rai: Retrieving Neglected Histories from Artist Archives

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