Michael Meneghetti completed his undergraduate degree in 2002 at the Victorian College of the Arts (VCA), Melbourne. Majoring in Sculpture, Michael developed an interest in producing video and performance-based work quite early on in his studies. Carrying a strong influence from Science Fiction and popular culture, it was in 2001 that Michael’s love of comic books would spawn his own superhero alter ego ORI-ON. The chronicles of ORI-ON mixed performance, installation and video that continued over three consecutive years.
Michael exhibited ORI-ON work in Niagara Galleries’ Unsigned Artists 2003 as well as Hatched 2003 at the Perth Institute of Contemporary Art (PICA). Between 2003 and 2004, Michael continued his practice at Adrian Doyle’s Franklin Street initiative Blender Studios. At the 2004 Nextwave Festival, Michael collaborated and co-produced Scratch Video Project. The exhibition was a selection of Melbourne’s emerging and established video artists’ work at Kings ARI. In 2006, Michael undertook Honours back at the VCA. Over the year he produced a platform of academic research and work under the project title Gunslinger and Whore. A pastiche of Spaghetti westerns, masculinity and Australian identity, the Gunslinger and Whore project is ongoing. Michael is currently working alongside director/performer Olivia Crang and visual artist Alex Gibson in their projects X:MACHINE and Polyopticon.
