Brian Eno
Brian Eno (Woodbridge, United Kingdom, 1948) has been one of the most influential voices in contemporary art and music since the early 1970s. He is considered one of the founding fathers of ambient music and generative art, exploring slowness in a hyper-dynamic world. His works — of light and music — are conceived to be observed calmly, offering immersive and intimate sensory experiences, perfect for those seeking personal reflection rather than external stimuli.
One of the most emblematic works for understanding his poetics is 77 Million Paintings, a generative software system that combines images and sounds in infinite, never-repeating variations. His Lightboxes, with subtle LED lights and constantly evolving colour gradients, create scenarios that blur the boundaries between beginning, end, and function, inviting attentive lingering in their changing beauty. Eno favours simple instructions that generate complexity: in his own words, “simple systems from which complexity arises.”
His practice spans music and light, generative painting and sound sculpture, aiming to merge space and time. His philanthropic contributions are significant: he has created therapeutic Lightboxes for hospitals (Chelsea & Westminster, Montefiore, Macmillan Horizon Centre), and between 1995 and 1997 he took part in a music therapy project for traumatised children in Bosnia via the NGO War Child, contributing to the construction of an educational centre in Mostar.
His works have been exhibited in prestigious institutions: Walker Art Center, Contemporary Arts Museum Houston, New Museum NY, Vancouver Art Gallery, Stedelijk Amsterdam, Centre Pompidou, ICA London, Baltic Centre Gateshead, as well as the Venice Biennale, among others.
Since 2018 he has collaborated with Galleria Michela Rizzo: he presented Ambient Paintings (solo show) in 2018 and a site-specific exhibition in 2020 at the Ex Birrificio.
In recent years: in 2022 he debuted the major solo show Ambient Kyoto in Kyoto, featuring 77 Million Paintings and The Ship. In 2023 he created Ships, an orchestral performance in world premiere at the Venice Biennale Musica with the Baltic Sea Philharmonic and Tom Serafinowicz, awarded the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement by the Venice Biennale 2023.
In 2024 he presents Turntable II at the Paul Stolper Gallery in London (February–March): a generative turntable that becomes a sculpture of light and colour. Also in 2024, he opens Gibigiane (April–July) at Galleria Michela Rizzo in Venice: lightboxes, lenticulars, generative tapestries, and Turntable II, for an immersion in algorithmic slowness.
In 2025, the exhibition Medium is scheduled (May–June) at the Paul Stolper Gallery, a show of prints, etchings, and books on various supports. In 2024 the documentary Eno debuts (directed by Gary Hustwit, generative software Brain One), premiered at Sundance in January 2024: the film changes with every viewing and is available from July 2024.
In January 2025, the livestream “24 HOURS OF ENO” takes place: 24 continuous hours of Eno versions, generative videos, and conversations, beginning on 24 January. In April 2025, the album Luminal, made with Beatie Wolfe, is released, followed by a second album, Lateral (April 2025).
Brian Eno received the prestigious Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement from the Venice Biennale Musica 2023, recognising him as a pioneer of digital sound and of acoustic space as a compositional tool.
