Cesare Pietroiusti: born in Roma 1955, lives in Roma. Cesare Pietroiusti gained his degree in Medicine in 1979, and was close to becoming a psychiatrist. Since 1977 he has exhibited in private and public spaces, in and out of the artworld, in Italy and sometimes abroad. In recent years his work mostly concentrated on the topic of the exchange and on the paradoxes that can emerge in the folds of economic systems, norms and organizations. Starting from 2004 he has irreversibly transformed banknotes; distributed almost a hundred thousand unique drawings for free; swallowed banknotes at the end of an auction and then given them back to the legitimate owner (the successful bidder) after their evacuation. He also opened shops where the goods for sale are banknotes, and the currency used to purchase them is the customer’s gaze; organised restaurants where, at the end of the meal the customer, instead of paying, gets paid for everything they consumed; curated exhibitions where artworks are for sale, not in exchange of money but of the best visitors’ ideas, etc.
He has been one of the coordinators of the "Oreste" projects (1997-2001), and co-founder of "Nomads & Residents" (New York, 2000). Since 2004 he has been teaching “Laboratorio di arti visive” at the IUAV University in Venice, and, since 2009, he has been working as MFA Faculty at the Art Institute of Boston at Lesley University.