Cristian Chironi's "Manhattan Stop" at Morton Street Partners

Cristian Chironi and his colorful Fiat 127 return to New York for the final stop on his New York Drive performance series, a continuation of the event organized by Magazzino Italian Art on October 12-17, 2021. In collaboration with Morton St. Partner's, Manhattan Stop is an exhibition featuring Chironi’s Special Fiat 127 (Chameleon) along with collages, photographs, sculptures, and video documenting the New York Drive performance, and brand-new works installed by the artist. An opening reception will be held on May 25, 2022 from 6:00-8:00 p.m. at Morton Street Partners. RSVP is required and can be made to RSVP@vidoun.com. The exhibition is on view until August 13, 2022.

Through this project, Chironi has set out to explore the relationships Le Corbusier had with different cities via documented drives in a Fiat 127 specifically painted for each location in a series of colors based on the modernist architect’s palette. The drives have taken place in cities such as Bologna, Milan, Marseille, Bolzano, La Chaux-deFonds, and now New York. For Manhattan Stop, Chironi has collaborated with the renowned jazz musician Paolo Fresu on a series of tracks that will play from the Fiat 127’s stereo along with recordings commissioned by Chironi. The recordings were made inside of houses designed by Le Corbusier in 12 countries and in which Chironi resided as part of an ongoing project called My house is a Le Corbusier begun in 2015.

Cristian Chironi’s project was initially inspired by Sardinian artist, Costantino Nivola, the subject of Magazzino's 2021 special exhibition, Nivola: Sandscapes, and with whom Chironi shares a birthplace (the town of Orani in Sardinia, Italy). Le Corbusier and Nivola shared a lifelong friendship filled with artistic exchange. Chironi's car is the same make, model, and year as the one Nivola owned, as well.

Through this exhibition, the artist investigates emotions associated with the experience of gazing out of the window during each of the NY drives, as he travels across urban and rural landscapes, telling collective and personal stories. Manhattan Stop does not represent the end of the New York Drive series, but a new point of origin as Chironi invites an expanded audience to be part of his ongoing exploration, brought together in conversation around concepts pertinent to our present moment. 

“We are very proud to collaborate with Morton St. Partners and thrilled for the public to have the opportunity to experience Chironi's new body of work, allowing more people to reflect on the performance, New York Drive, that Magazzino produced during the artist's stay in New York last fall. This exhibition is another opportunity for Magazzino to foster connection with other organizations towards the promotion of Italian contemporary art in the U.S. This show stands as a meaningful culmination of the work and research that went into the artist’s performance, New York Drive," says Vittorio Calabrese, Director of Magazzino Italian Art.

About the artist

Cristian Chironi was born in Nuoro and grew up in Orani, Sardinia, Italy. His practice involves performance, photography, video, and drawing, often in combination with one another. He works on site-specific performances and installations, focusing on the interactions that take place within a given context. His research aims to relate image and imagination, fact and fiction, memory and modernity, conflict and integration, material and immaterial. He has exhibited widely, both in Italy and internationally. Chironi has had solo exhibitions at Manifesta 13, Les Parallèles du Sud, Marseille (2020); BIENALSUR Bienal Internacional de Arte Contemporáneo de América del Sur, Buenos Aires (2019); Museo Nivola, Orani (2018) and 16a Quadriennale, Rome (2016). He has completed performances for the FOG Triennale Milano Performing Arts (2019); CND (Centre National de la Dance Pantin), Pantin (2016); Italian Embassy, Berlin (2015); Museo Madre, Naples (2012); and Fondation Cartier, Paris (2014). His work is held in the collections of MAMbo, Bologna; MAN Museo d’Arte, Nuoro; Pierre Jeanneret Museum, Chandigarh; and Patrimonio regionale, Emilia-Romagna.

Special thanks to Anna and Francesco Tampieri Collection, Nonantola, Italy, for supporting Chironi's work.

About Morton Street Partners

Morton St. Partners is a new curatorial project merging the worlds of contemporary art and collectible cars. Collectible cars are selling at auction for record-setting prices, art institutions are staging car-centric exhibitions like Automania recently on view at MoMA, and premier car makers are increasingly pursuing artist collaborations, all raising the aesthetic regard for automobile design and setting the stage for Morton Street Partners’s intrepid curatorial project. Located at 16 Morton Street (between Bleecker Street and 7 Avenue South) at the heart of the West Village, Morton Street Partners has taken over the 3,000 square foot ground floor of a 19th-century carriage house outfitted with a historic garage door capable of accommodating cars in every exhibition.

About the Founders of Morton Street Partners

Tom Hale is a collector and historian specializing in handcrafted rare European racing cars and other vehicles with historic and artistic significance. In 2021, Sports Car Market Magazine included Hale in their “40 Under 40” collectible-car industry leaders.

Jake Auerbach was a car specialist at Sotheby’s part of a team behind the 2018 record-setting sale of a 1962 Ferrari 250GTO in 2018 for $48.4M. He was formerly the Head of Collector Car Acquisitions for the investment platform Rally.

Benjamin Tarlow specializes in mid-century sports and competition cars with an academic background in art history and conservation. Formerly an independent broker in the Hudson Valley, he is an avid vintage racer, motorsport organizer, and car builder.