Manos. is a co-curated project led by Italian artist Andrea Istvan Franzini, working under the collective name Manos.Manos.Manos, originally developed as an expansion of the collaborative art initiative Platform for Shared Praxis by Australian and Tokyo-based artist Jesse Hogan.
The artists first met in Milan in 2020. A simple exchange of contacts soon turned into discussions about possible collaborations between Sydney, Milan, and Tokyo. The idea materialized in 2023 when Andrea Istvan Franzini was invited to exhibit at the Sydney edition "Cloud & Toe" at KNULP Gallery.
Over the next two years, the paths of Manos/Andrea and Platform for Shared Praxis/Jesse Hogan continued to intertwine, resulting in the co-curation of several exhibitions: ESCAPE STRATEGIES in Milan (2024), DOUBLE FICTIONS in Tokyo (2024), PORTS, AIR, FOR, MUSIC also in Tokyo (2024), and most recently in April 2025, u.f.f.u. utopia feeling feeding utopia across various venues in Tokyo, in collaboration with curator Ryota Kawaguchi of {}(Cacco Tokyo).

The entities involved in this triangle are united by a common goal: to create an evolving, nourishing system of artistic dialogue grounded in collaboration and idea exchange. In particular, Shared Praxis “aims to build better social relations by maximizing the contextual relationships of art, its connectivity and, in a sense, its social value — using exhibitions as platforms for international dialogue and exchange.” Meanwhile, the collective {}(Cacco Tokyo) “cultivates a new kind of ‘family’ based on the themes of anonymity and collective knowledge through social media, composed of an undefined number of members. The use of the Creative Commons license as a logo is intended to open-source the rules, mannerisms, and grammar of contemporary art.”

From this shared vision, their group exhibitions have not only challenged the identification of participating artists but also our approach to and perception of the artwork itself.

In the curatorial notes of the latest show, u.f.f.u. utopia feeling feeding utopia, a reflection on Michael Fried's essay "Art and Objecthood" introduces a discussion around the boundary between "Present" and "Presentness", asking questions like:
“We challenge the idea of visual presence. Are you seeing more than I am? Can both seeing and feeling be equally felt? Though born from my perception, is the sense of presence in space — the feeling of a presence, almost like an entity — just a physical sensation, the power space can exert? Is the present, on the other hand, timeless? Transcendent and beyond the everyday, the delivery of that one moment?”

In Double Fictions: The ‘Double Reality of Things’ (2024), a collective exhibition featuring Jesse Hogan, Andrea Istvan Franzini, and seven other international artists, the curatorial focus was the “shifting of reality and meaning that occurs when artists create multiple reproductions or copies of objects. [...] A ‘Double Fiction’ here suggests that the same story told twice produces two different versions/scenarios — and thus two different truths. A journey from the real to the false and back again.”

PORTS, AIR, FOR, MUSIC brought together artists Nataliya Chernakova, Robin Waart, Marco Strappato, Andrea Istvan Franzini, Shuto Mizukami, and Aoi Michimae in a group show that "floated" between meanings and absurdities. The title emerged from four random words taken from a conversation between Franzini and Michimae of {}(Cacco Tokyo), triggering a chain reaction of seemingly nonsensical terms. This was defined as "insect communication": a collection of small misinterpretations — not divisive, but as Franzini puts it, “a kind of multi-centrality which, in such a divided time of war, I believe is essential to recover.”

Reviewing this brief yet intense journey, one gets the sense of a movement aimed at building community — a place where art is made together, blending forces and “removing ego hierarchy between bigger and smaller artists,” as Franzini states.He continues:
“Just the other day, I was thinking about constellations — how humanity has always needed to connect groups of stars with imaginary lines in the night sky, assigning them names, shapes, and symbols. Perhaps it’s no coincidence that our brain’s perceptual processes work in the same way: whenever we encounter something new, raw data flowing from our senses is connected to the wealth of past experiences, to memories of all the people, places, and things we’ve come across.
Only through this matching of sensory input with stored experience can we name things and imagine how they relate to everything else.

The artist’s task is built on these same principles: making the invisible visible, evoking, suggesting, revealing the web of connections between events, people, and places across space and time.
In these processes, there’s little room for raw facts, technology, or personal attachments. What’s needed is to go to the heart of the matter — to reach the primal instincts that shape and govern humanity. We must continue asking the unanswerable, seeking the true meaning of our existence, treading the playground of philosophers and spiritual seekers, and discovering new vantage points.”

That’s why the name Manos — not just "many hands", but also short for hermanos, the Spanish word for "brothers".