FRENCH PLACE is an art organisation and an incubator for critical contemporary practices. Operating as a proto–institution — situated between an art foundation and a gallery — we support experimentation, foster exchange, and offer time and space for collaboration.
Founded at 9 French Place, Shoreditch, London — FRENCH PLACE enters its next chapter in Milan, where our programme extends across exhibitions, an artist residency, and research–driven initiatives that support deep engagement with contemporary practice.
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ARIST IN RESIDENCE,
nico crisanti 09.06.26—30.09.26
Nico Crisanti,
Come piangono gli adulti? (detail), 2025 , Oil, pigments, and dry pastel on canvas, 125 × 150 cm (49.2 × 59.1 in.)
From Wednesday 9 June to Wednesday 30 September 2026, Nico Crisanti will be in residence at FRENCH PLACE as part of the ongoing residency programme conceived as a focused period dedicated to research, production, and the development of new work in close proximity to the exhibition space.
During his residency at FRENCH PLACE, Nico Crisanti will develop a new body of paintings that emerge from his ongoing investigation into the relationship among image, gesture, and material. Rooted in direct, physical engagement with painting, his practice explores the tensions between presence and dissolution, and between control and instability, through figures suspended between psychological intensity and everyday observation.
Working on raw linen canvases, Crisanti combines dust-transfer drawing, layered pigments, abrasions, and incisions, allowing traces of the painting process to remain visible. The resulting works do not function as narratives, but as fields of encounter where bodies, gestures, and surfaces retain the memory of their own making.
Developed between the studio and the city, the residency offers a period of concentrated research and experimentation, opening moments of dialogue with the public through a series of open studios that will accompany the artist’s process over the coming months.
Nico Crisanti
Nico Crisanti began painting at a very young age, developing a practice shaped by a direct, daily, and almost necessary relationship with the image. After studying Communication Design at the Politecnico di Milano, he continued his artistic research independently, combining technical study with personal experimentation. In 2011, he attended painting courses at Castello Sforzesco in Milan and later at ARCA EUAC in Coimbra, experiences that deepened his engagement with the material and process-based dimensions of painting. In 2012, he founded the Hartecore Collective, through which he organised exhibitions, installations, and live painting interventions, conceiving artistic practice as a space of encounter, movement, and collective action.
Over the following years, Crisanti embarked on an extended period of travel and research that led him through diverse geographical and social contexts for more than a decade. This experience profoundly shaped his visual language, introducing a strong attention to political dynamics, marginality, and the tensions that permeate contemporary life. He is currently completing an MA in Painting at the Accademia di Belle Arti di Brera in Milan.
Open Studios Schedule:
09.07.26, 6—8PM
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