Pitagora Prize

The Pitagora Prize took Federico Clapis to Crotone, the Calabrian city where Pythagoras founded his school, for an exhibition and award at the Pythagoras Garden Museum. A short video by the artist, titled with his win of the prize, and photographs of the works on show record the occasion.

The installation view shows two of Clapis' canvases on a white wall, with the artist himself walking past them. One is an orange panel carrying a white square turned on its point, from which a tiny white figure hangs on a thin thread; the other is an ochre canvas on which two small white figures stand out in relief, each casting a long shadow down the surface. The video records the award ceremony: Clapis, in a white shirt, stands among the other recipients holding his certificate while the audience applauds and photographers crowd the front of the room. In the footage he explains that in all his work he plays a role, which is why the series is called Actor On Canvas.

The prize belongs to Clapis' early career, long before his move to crypto art. In Actor On Canvas small sculpted figures, stand-ins for the artist as performer, act out suspensions and encounters on monochrome grounds, and the recognition in Crotone marks one of the first steps of this work beyond the online audience that had followed his videos.

Sources

• Pitagora prize — Federico Clapis
• Federico Clapis Win Pitagora Prize — Vimeo (Federico Clapis)