©Copyright 2014 Lucienne Dorrance Auz An International Firebrand: Germano Celant’s Role as Radical Critic, Innovative Curator and Contemporary Art Historian Lucienne Dorrance Auz A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy University of Washington 2014 Reading Committee: Patricia Failing, Chair Estelle Lingo Susan Casteras Program Authorized to Offer Degree: Art History University of Washington Abstract An International Firebrand: Germano Celant’s Role as Radical Critic, Innovative Curator and Contemporary Art Historian Lucienne Dorrance Auz Chair of the Supervisory Committee: Professor Patricia Failing Art History Within the field of contemporary Western art history, the careers and influence of professional art critics have attracted serious scholarly attention. The work of critics whose activities encompass an international range of artists and exhibitions, however, has rarely been examined. This dissertation provides for the first time an overview of one such person in the career of Italian art critic, historian and curator Germano Celant (1940- ), now recognized as one of the most influential interpreters of the late twentieth-century avant-garde and someone whose work aided in transforming the narrative of contemporary art history. This study provides a detailed discussion of Celant’s biography, the range of his contributions to the contemporary art world, and a historiography of his writings on “Arte Povera”, a term Celant coined to characterize the most influential group of contemporary Italian avant-garde artists. Among Celant’s initial goals in identifying this group of Italian artists was to distinguish the unique artistic research occurring in Italy from the work of American Minimalist artists who were seen by many U.S. and European critics as leaders of the avant-garde in the 1960s. In his writings and curation of exhibitions, Celant not only foregrounded the achievements of Italian and European contemporary artists, but also sought to illustrate congruencies among artists working on both sides of the Atlantic. This dissertation analyzes Celant’s efforts over the last fifty years to encourage a strong international dialogue among artists, curators, art critics and other important figures guiding major institutions. Celant has accomplished this objective in large part through his role as the Senior Curator of Contemporary Art at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York from 1989 to 2008 and currently as the Artistic Director at the Prada Foundation in Milan. Celant has furthered the careers of many influential artists who might otherwise have been overlooked because their work engages issues such as gender and identity, feminism, institutional critiques, and consumerism, and who moreover did not achieve commercial success. He has also helped to revolutionize the manner in which many contemporary exhibitions are created by rethinking the important dynamic relationship that occurs between the art object and the environment in which it is shown. Recently he has become a leader in the theory and practice of re-staging influential twentieth-century exhibitions. Because of his revolutionary approach in both his art historical writings and his curatorial practices, Celant is both controversial and broadly influential. This dissertation will review these controversies as well as his acknowledged successes in order to elucidate Celant’s range of contributions to the fields of art history, criticism and curation. TABLE OF CONTENTS Page List of Figures ……………………………………………………………………..…………...... ii Introduction ……………………..……………………………………………………………….. 1 Chapter One: Becoming a Guerrilla Warrior, 1961-1967 …………...……………………..….. 12 Chapter Two: Defining Arte Povera ……………………………………...……………………. 34 Chapter Three: Arte Povera’s Reemergence during the 1980s Return to Painting……………...78 Chapter Four: An Independent Curator: Celant’s Exhibition Career, 1988-2008........…..…….112 Chapter Five: Reenactment/Reinvention: Curating Anachronic Exhibitions in the Twenty-First Century………………………………………………………………………………………….145 Conclusion …………………………….……………………………………………………… 188 Bibliography ………………………………...……………………………………..…………. 196 i LIST OF FIGURES Please note: reproductions of the listed images have not been included in the online version of this dissertation. Figure Number 1. Germano Celant at “Arte Povera-Im Spazio,” 1967 2. Giulio Paolini, Lo spazio [The Space], 1967 3. Performance of Kordian by Jerzy Grotowski’s Teatr Laboratorium, 1962 4. Jannis Kounellis, Senza titolo [Untitled], 1967 5. Donald Judd, Untitled, 1980-86 6. Andy Warhol, Sleep, 1963 7. Michelangelo Pistoletto, Two Naked Women Dancing, 1962-1964 8. Jan Dibbets installing the white line sculpture in the sea at Amalfi, 1968 9. Jan Dibbets, Untitled, 1968 10. Richard Long shaking hands with passers-by in the Amalfi square, 1968 11. Ger van Elk spreading glue on the Arsenale floor, 1968 12. Marisa Merz, Scarpette [Little Shoes], 1968 13. Gilberto Zorio, Senza titolo [Untitled], 1968 14. Giovanni Anselmo, Senza titolo [Untitled], 1968 15. Pier Paolo Calzolari, Il filtro e benvenuto all’angelo [The Filter and Welcome to the Angel], 1966 16. Giuseppe Penone, Alpi Marittime [Maritime Alps], 1968 17. Luciano Fabro, In cubo [In Cube], 1966 18. Pino Pascali, Missile Colomba della Pace [Dove of Peace Missile], 1965 19. Giovanni Anselmo, Piccola torsion [Small Torsion], 1968 20. Michelangelo Pistoletto, Orchestra of Rags, 1968 ii 21. Giuseppe Penone, Four Landscapes, 1985 22. Jannis Kounellis, Senza titolo [Untitled], 1982 23. Jannis Kounellis, Senza titolo [Untitled], 1960 24. Jannis Kounellis, Senza titolo [Untitled], 1979 25. Giulio Paolini, Amore e Psiche [Cupid and Psyche], 1981 26. Mario Merz, Città irreale, Millenovecentottantanove [Unreal City, Nineteen Hundred Eighty-Nine], 1989 27. Giorgio Armani, Woman’s pantsuit, ca. fall/winter 1985-86 28. Robert Mapplethorpe, Jamie, 1974 29. Michelangelo, Dying Slave, 1513-15 30. Laurie Anderson, Dal Vivo, 1998 31. Laurie Anderson, Dal Vivo, 1998 32. Model of the Largo Isarco Compound 33. Carsten Höller, Gantenbein Corridor, 2000 34. Carsten Höller, Light Wall, 2000 35. Carsten Höller, Upside-Down Mushroom Room, 2000 36. Carsten Höller, The Double Club, 2008-2009 37. El Lissitzky, Proun Space, 1923 38. Vladimir Tatlin, Corner Reliefs, 1915 39. Wassily Kandinsky, Music Room, 1922 40. Theo van Doesburg, Café Aubette, 1927 41. Yves Klein, Immaterial Space, 1961 42. Lucio Fontana, Ambiente spaziale, 1961 43. Arman, Le Plein [The Full], 1960 iii 44. Allan Kaprow, Yard, 1961 45. Jackson Pollock, One, number 31, 1950 46. Daniel Buren, 14 windows minus one, 1976 47. Jannis Kounellis, Senza titolo (12 Cavalli) [Untitled (12 Horses)], 1969 48. Rudolf Schwarzkogler, Action Vienna Summer, 1965 49. Yves Klein, Leap into the Void, 1960 50. Marina Abramović, Entering the Other Side, 2005 51. Marina Abramović performing Bruce Nauman’s Body Pressure (1974), 2005 52. Marina Abramović performing Vito Acconci’s Seedbed (1972), 2005 53. Marina Abramović performing VALIE EXPORT’s Action Pants: Genital Panic (1969), 2005 54. Marina Abramović performing Gina Pane’s The Conditioning, the first action of Self- Portrait(s) (1973), 2005 55. Marina Abramović performing Joseph Beuys’ How to Explain Pictures to a Dead Ha1re (1964), 2005 56. Marina Abramović, Lips of Thomas (original performance, 1975), 2005 57. Richard Serra, Belts, 1966-67 and Splash, 1969 58. Gilberto Zorio, Trasciniamo un po’ di [Let’s drag a little of…], 1969 59. Barry Flanagan, Two Space Rope Sculpture, 1967 60. Jannis Kounellis, Senza titolo [Untitled], 1969 61. Lawrence Weiner installing 36’ x 36’ Removal to the Lathing or Support Wall of Plaster or Wallboard from a Wall, 1968 62. Alain Jacquet, Les fils électriques [Electric Wires], 1968 63. Gilberto Zorio, Torce [Torches], 1969 64. Joseph Beuys, Fettecke [Fat Corner], 1969 iv 65. Alighiero Boetti, Io che prendo il sole a Torino il 19 gennaio 1969 [Me Sunbathing in Turin, January 19, 1969], 1969 66. Michael Heizer, Depression, 1969 67. Jan Dibbets, Museum-socle with Angles of 90*, 1969 68. Ger van Elk, Replacement Piece, 1969 69. Daniel Buren, Affichages sauvages [Wild Posters], 1969 70. Robert Barry, Uranyl Nitrate (UO2(NO3)2), 1966- 71. Richard Long, A Walking Tour in the Berner Oberland, 1969 72. Marcel Duchamp, Fountain, 1917 73. Joseph Beuys, Felt Suit, 1970 74. Piero Manzoni, Merda d’artista [Artist’s Shit], 1961 75. Andy Warhol, Heinz Tomato Ketchup Box, 1964 76. Piet Mondrian, Salon of Madame B. in Dresden, 1926 77. El Lissitzky, Abstrakte Kabinett, 1928 78. Detail of the palazzo wall meeting the exhibition wall, When Attitudes Become Form, Ca’ Corner della Regina, Venice, 2013 79. Installation view of When Attitudes Become Form, Ca’ Corner della Regina, Venice, 2013 80. Giovanni Anselmo’s Piccola torsion (1968) before an interior wall within the palazzo, When Attitudes Become Form, Ca’ Corner della Regina, Venice, 2013 81. Barry Flanagan’s Two Space Rope Sculpture (1967) running between the gallery spaces of the palazzo, When Attitudes Become Form, Ca’ Corner della Regina, Venice, 2013 82. Mario Merz’s Igloo con albero [Igloo with Tree] (1968-69) within When Attitudes Become Form exhibition space with false walls and the palazzo ceiling revealed, Ca’ Corner della Regina, Venice, 2013 83. Neil Jenney, The Curtis Mayfield Piece, 1968 84. Joseph Beuys, Wärmeplastik [Hot Plastic], 1969 v 85. An outline of Joseph Beuys’ Wärmeplastik [Hot Plastic] in the 2013 restaging 86. James Lee Byars,