Marina Sartori

Marina Sartori is an architect, visual artist, and scenic designer. Currently she is interested in  the confluence of spatial design, installation art, and performance, especially in the context of scenic design. Her past scenic design research explored the creation of physical and emotional “place” through a mobile performance space that scenically incorporates the phenomenological aspects of a given site. Part of the aim of this project was to help displaced peoples maintain a sense of identity through the participatory making of place.

Marina’s multi-cultural and multi-lingual background has influenced her artistic work with regards to how travel and memory affect the perception of place. Travel encompasses movement through landscape, roadscape, and cityscape, whether at the speed of a train or that of a walk. For Marina, travel is a process of discovery: of discovering the landscape at the large and small scale; of geological and anthropological discovery; of the discovery of layered histories and traditions; of artistic self-discovery. The collected sketches, photographs, and objects from these travels find their way into work that involves a combination of printmaking, photography, creative writing, bookmaking, and assemblages. With the multiple images created in printmaking and photography, Marina has made artist books, postcard series, and completed various mailing projects which reflect upon travel and displacement. Recent exhibitions include a solo show of printmaking work in upstate New York at mergesr.  Marina’s experience in multi-sensory art includes the organization and curatorial oversight of several immersive participatory performance events as well as a traveling project titled “Stories from the Edge”, which was supported by a grant from the region of Styria, Austria.

Marina has practiced in architectural firms in London, Paris, Vicenza, Aachen, and Boston, on a broad range of projects from train stations to cinemas, theatres, and housing. Her personal architectural interests revolve around the study of traditional and vernacular building, the use of materials in those constructions, and how they become a reflection of the local culture. Her scenic work includes productions at Boston University, Boston Playwrights’ Theater, BCA Plaza Theater, and site-specific work. She recently taught a workshop centered around material exploration at the TU Graz. Marina received a B.Arch degree from Cornell University and a MFA in Scenic Design from Boston University.