Born in 1973 in Treviso, Italy, Lara Favaretto lives and works in Turin. Favaretto’s projects are often occasions for the artist to collaborate with her audience in order to co-script magic realist scenarios that either take place in actual space or simply unfold in thought. Her sculptures, videos, performances and photographs are meeting points. They are sites where dormant ideas await trial by public improvisation, momentarily substituting ad-lib collective thought for authoritarian norms. Favaretto’s works often call for a celebration without cause around objects stripped of any possible mysticism - their banal functionality laid bare as an absurd failure that inspires tragic-comic surprise. For instance, “Twistle” (2003) is composed of a paper party whistle tied to a pressure tank that is hooked up to a timer set to release enough air to mechanically blow the whistle at regular intervals. For her 2007 Frieze Art Fair commission, Favaretto invited the Queen of England to visit the Fair and pinned the Queen’s letter of decline to the trees inside the tent in her absence. In addition, Favaretto staged the Queen’s imaginary procession by playing a soundtrack of applauses at the end of each day.

Lara Favaretto has had recent solo exhibitions at Galleria Franco Noero, Torino (2006), Castello di Rivoli Museo d’arte contemporanea, Rivoli (2005) and Galerie Klosterfelde, Berlin (2005). Her work has also been included in Où? Scènes du Sud - Espagne, Italie, Portugal at Carré d´art - Musée d´art contemporain de Nîmes, Nîmes (2007), Une Seconde - Une Année at Palais de Tokyo, Paris (2006) and Ecstasy: Recent Experiments in Altered Perception at MOCA, Los Angeles (2005). She was awarded the Premio Giovane Arte Italiana 2004-2005, Un'opera per il Maxxi in 2005 as well as the Premio Furla per l'Arte prize in 2001.

Lara Favaretto is represented by Galleria Franco Noero, Turin, and Galerie Klosterfelde, Berlin.