Fernanda DAgostino

Artist Statement

My interest in installation art began during a stay in Italy, where I saw art integrated with landscape, architecture, crafts, and ritual in daily life. For the first time, I understood the connection between “culture” in both its artistic and broader senses. This inspired me to recreate such immersive experiences for my viewers. In addition to sculptural works that anchor my installations, I’ve grown crops for local gleaners, made artist’s books, and constructed interactive spaces—inviting viewers to engage directly with the art. Starting as a craft artist, I still use the tactile qualities of materials to draw people in. For 25 years, I’ve used video projections to animate spaces and sculptures, imbuing them with a sense of memory. Creative coding for interactivity is now a key aspect of my practice, adding a layer of responsiveness to the environments I create.

Fernanda D'Agostino-Chrysalis-Immersive video and sound installation. 2023 Oregon Center for Contemporary Art. 35' x 25' x 22'H -Chrysalis investigates states of becoming and of ending and the mathematical processes that drive change in the natural world. Photo Credit Brian Foulkes

Bio

Fernanda D’Agostino’s internationally exhibited installations incorporate sculpture, architecture, interactive video, projection mapping and sound in novel ways. Her work engages themes of movement and growth as catalyzed by phenomena of the natural world, alchemical transformation, complex networks, and human engagement with non-human communities. Having begun her career in the 1980s as a performance artist with a focus on body work, the body and how it engages with space and objects informs all her work. Although no longer performing every installation includes a performance or other live event and often the making of the work involves performative acts by herself and/or collaborators. She continues to use prompts to initiate her own process and to provoke responses from viewers and collaborators. The connecting thread in all her work is placing viewers at the center of an all-encompassing interactive environment, in this sense the viewer becomes the performer in a “prepared environment.” D’Agostino has received fellowships and grants from the Bronson and Flintridge Foundations, NEA, Precipice Fund, and Ford Family Foundation. Her work has been exhibited widely, including at the Brooklyn Art Museum, SoundWave Biennial, and Virtual Venice Biennale. Her work is in major collections, including the Houston Museum.

https://fernandadagostino.com