The death of artist Luca Sivelli of the duo Moio&Sivelli. The memory of Luigi Moio

Luca Sivelli, half of the Italian artist duo Moio&Sivelli, has died at age 52. The news was shared by his lifelong partner Luigi Moio, who recounted their first meeting as children in Amalfi, their years at the Accademia di Belle Arti di Napoli, and their transformative Erasmus in Granada followed by a move to London in 1997. In London they lived in squats and collaborated with erotic performer Maus, whose shocking performances inspired their boundary-pushing work. The duo produced a feverish two-decade body of work blending video, performance, photography, and installation, often pulling audiences into ambiguous, erotic, and destabilizing situations.

The loss of Sivelli leaves a deep void in the contemporary art world, particularly in Naples, where the Accademia di Belle Arti remembered him as an artist, teacher, and former student who moved freely across media with rare intellectual freedom. Moio described Sivelli as his soulmate, the only person with whom he felt complete and unjudged. Their work consistently pushed beyond comfort zones, using irony and play to challenge viewers, and Sivelli’s magnetic presence and uncompromising vision made him an unforgettable figure in Italian contemporary art.