Reggio Emilia, August 23, 2026 – Fabrizio Plessi has died at the age of 86, an artist known for video installations created in numerous locations and international exhibitions. This was learned in Venice, the city where he lived alternating with Reggio Emilia, where he was born on April 3, 1940. He completed his studies at the Art High School and the Academy of Fine Arts of Venice, where he later held the chair of painting. At the end of the 1960s, he focused his artistic research on the theme of water, expressed in works of installations, films, videotapes, and performances.
Arriving from Emilia at the age of 14, present 14 times at the Venice Biennale, Plessi traversed the Venetian art scene for decades, carrying forward research capable of combining primordial elements and technology.
From Ferrara to Venice
He began collaborating in 1973 with the Visual Activities Center of Palazzo dei Diamanti in Ferrara, where with the equipment provided by the Center he created his first videotapes. In 1981 he was invited to the Venice Film Festival with “Underwater,” a French production. His complete video work was presented at the Centre Pompidou, Beaubourg in Paris. In 1986 he represented Italy at the 42nd Venice Biennale with one of his most significant works, “Bronx,” and from there he continued with his works exhibited in numerous countries and exhibitions. Among the main ones, in 2000 he created the Italian pavilion for the Hannover Expo, with the installation “Vertical Sea” 44 meters high.
Venice pays tribute to Plessi with an installation
In the same year he represented Italy at the Kwangju Biennale in Korea. In 2001 in Venice with the video installation “Waterfire” he modified the facade of the Correr Museum. During the Covid-19 quarantine, on the occasion of his 80th birthday, the lagoon city paid tribute to Plessi with “The Golden Age,” a digital installation on the windows of the Correr, then at Christmas Plessi created a 10-meter-high digital “Christmas tree” composed of 80 bright LED monitors. Placed in the San Marco square, it was the only light in Venice during that period.
The mayor of Venice: “Plessi pioneer and visionary”
“I lose a friend and Venice loses a pioneer, a visionary who always had the courage to follow a personal language, without seeking easy applause – declares Mayor Simone Venturini in a statement -. His works always brought light: a physical light and at the same time an idea of energy, future, and rebirth. Fabrizio was able to look at Venice without nostalgia, putting its history in dialogue with the contemporary, so much so that he presented our city as ‘the grammar of his artistic work.’ My deepest condolences, also on behalf of the City Administration, to Fabrizio’s family and to all those who crossed paths with him and his poetics. We will work so that his message continues to resonate in the works and initiatives of many other artists who will produce art following his example.”
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