Piero Manzoni, Achrome, 1961, Courtesy Herning Kunstmuseum, Photograph Thomas Pedersen and Poul Pedesen. |
On the Work Being Made in Milan and Turin 1958-1968 |
Marcello Morandini, Struttura 7/A, 1965, Courtesy LAC Lagorio Arte Contemporanea.
Carol Rama, Bricolage, 1964, Courtesy Galleria del Ponte, Torino. |
Moderna Museet Curated by Luca Massimo Barbero, Time & Place: Milan/Turin, 1958-1968 investigates a decisive moment in Italian art, focusing on these two cities as emblematic places of birth for a new identity. The exhibition explores the shift from the "Informale" to Arte povera, in a unique selection that gives a contemporary reflection of the period. Proposing a radically new perspective, Time & Place: Milan/Turin, 1958-1968 concentrates on issues developed in this environment, such as the monochrome, the zero degree of signs, and the tabula rasa of conceptual practice. The Italian avant-garde was already recognized in the 1960s, by former Moderna Museet director Pontus Hultén, who acknowledged the leading roles held by Piero Manzoni and Lucio Fontana, who in 1967 presented a solo show at Moderna Museet. In the first section, the exhibition presents the situation “beyond the Informale,” with the birth of Italian experiences, internationally known, of formal and chromatic reduction, through monochrome and the conception of space in research beyond the surface: next to Lucio Fontana and Piero Manzoni, artists such as Enrico Castellani, Dadamaino, Gianni Colombo, Agostino Bonalumi, Paolo Scheggi, Mario Nigro, Rodolfo Aricò are represented. The second part of the exhibition has a documentary tone, presenting the moment of artistic transition from Milan to Turin, reconstructing seminal events and exhibiting sculptural objects, photographs, invitation cards, and catalogues from the period. This section also explores the importance of new sculpture as object, presenting, among others, Manzoni’s Linee (Lines) and Merda d’artista (Artist’s Shit), sculptures by Fausto Melotti and Lucio Fontana, works by Vincenzo Agnetti and Gastone Novelli together with pieces by Valerio Adami, Enrico Baj, and Lucio del Pezzo. The third part features artworks that anticipate and conflate the developments of Arte povera, an approach based on incorporating unconventional materials with a prevailing conceptual dimension. This is a crucial moment when the frame of reference is moved from post-war Milan to the pulsating social reality of Turin, and sees the emergence of future masters such as Giulio Paolini, Luciano Fabro, Michelangelo Pistoletto, Mario and Marisa Merz, Gianni Piacentino, Carolrama, Alighiero Boetti, Giuseppe Penone, Giovanni Anselmo, Giorgio Griffa, Paolo Icaro and others.
Michelangelo Pistoletto, Cane con la coda in giù, 1969, © Michelangelo Pistoletto, Courtesy Fondazione Marconi, Milano. |
Piero Manzoni, Right Thumbprint (from the Tables of Assessment), 1960, Courtesy Archivio Opera Piero Manzoni, Milan. |
