Piero Gilardi – Collaborative Effects 8 September 2012 – 6 January 2013 / Opening 8 September 15:00
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Press release July 2012 Piero Gilardi – Collaborative Effects 8 September 2012 – 6 January 2013 / Opening 8 September 15:00 The exhibition Collaborative Effects, devoted to the work of Italian artist Piero Gilardi (Turin 1942) will be the artist’s first solo presentation in the Netherlands. Gilardi was a formative figure in the birth of Arte Povera an art movement which would drastically change European art of the mid sixties and exerts a profound influence today. The exhibition will focus on Gilardis ‘Tappeti Natura’, but also on his theoretical work and in particular his Relational Art projects in which he combines political activism with socials goals aimed at bridging the gap between nature and society. Gilardis ‘Tappeti Natura’ suspended production of the carpets until 1990 he The exhibition focuses on work produced between 1963- began producing them as part of his interactive 1985. During this period Gilardi produced large, installations. hyperrealist sculptures from Polyurethane which he called ‘Tappeti-natura’ [nature carpets]. These carpets sought to simulate images of ideal nature and varied from intricate depictions of riversides and the floor of a cave, to forests and vegetable gardens. With these works Gilardi aimed to create an interplay between onlooker and art work, individual and environment, nature and culture. They eschewed formal composition in favour of an approach to the image and object that could be used by all. The carpets were not conceived as autonomous art objects and, despite them being displayed and sold in galleries, they could be purchased by the metre, intended as picnic rugs or wall hangings. Piero Gilardi, Rotolo di tappeto-natura sassi, 1967. Collezione Stocchi, Rome. Artist, activist, citizen and theorist In the European and American art press Gilardi became associated with the term ‘Micro-emotive art’, which critic Germano Celant would sum up as ‘Arte Povera’. In the early sixties Gilardi played a major role as a mediator Piero Gilardi, Vestito-Natura anguria’, 1967. Photo Piero Gilardi between artists in Western Europe and the United States. The artist initiative Deposito d’Arte Presente (DDP 1967- The buying public had complete freedom to use them as 1969) and the experimental exhibitions When Attitudes they saw fit. He began experimenting with these nature Become Form (1968) and Op losse schroeven (1969) owe copyings in 1965 and exhibitied them for the first time in a great deal to Gilardi as both an artists and a mediator. 1966 in de exhibition Arte Abitable bij Galleria Gian Enzo In the seventies he ceased working as an artist and Sperone in Turin. In 1967 Gilardi presented the objects started to travel, began writing theoretical analyses and with Sonnabend Gallery in Paris, the Fischbach Gallery in concerned himself with political, social and cultural issues. New York and David Zwirner in Cologne. Due to their His writings express the desire to connect his activities as success in the art world, however, the works became an artist, activist, citizen and theorist. The anchoring of ‘framed’ and, according to Gilardi, became over- one’s own activities within a consistently, well-argued identified with the sacrosanct autonomous artwork. He framework, both in theory and practice, is vital for Gilardi ultimately rejected this classification and in 1968 Press release July 2012 and can even seen as being a part of his artistic oeuvre. contextualizing Gilardis practice and thinking, including works by Ger van Elk, Marinus Boezem, Mario Merz and Michelangelo Pistoletto. The exhibition was made in collaboration with the Castello di Rivoli, Turin and, following its presentation at the Van Abbemuseum, will travel to Nottingham Contemporary in Nottingham, UK. This exhibition sits in a line of solo exhibitions at the Van Abbemuseum, alongside those of Allan Kaprow, Lee Lozano and Lynda Benglis, that seek to re-appraise artistic ouevres in light of current artistic developments. Curators: Andrea Bellini (former director Castello di Rivoli, Turin It) in collaboration with Diana Franssen (Van Abbemuseum) and www.centrostudipierogilardi.org Publication On the occasion of the exhibition, JRPRingier released a monograph on Piero Gilardi. This publication is the artist’s first extended monograph, offering an overview of his practice and ideas. The publication Includes an extensive interview between Piero Gilardi and Andrea Bellini, an essay by Diana Franssen, and an anthology of seminal Piero Gilardi, Andreotti, 1 May, Turin 1977 texts on Gilardis work. Starting in 1968 Gilardi began exploring the creativity of Van Abbemuseum The Van Abbemuseum in Eindhoven is one of the first public museums for everyday life. He sought involvement at the heart of contemporary art to be established in Europe. The museum’s collection of around social conflicts, big city neighbourhoods and psychiatric 2700 works of art includes key works and archives by Lissitzky, Picasso, institutes. He held free expression workshops in Kokoschka, Chagall, Beuys, McCarthy, Daniëls and Körmeling. The museum has an experimental approach towards art’s role in society. Openness, hospitality and psychiatric clinics in Turin and with the elderly, the retired knowledge exchange are important. We challenge ourselves and our visitors to and the physically disabled in the Aurora think about art and its place in the world, covering a range of subjects, including the role of the collection as a cultural 'memory' and the museum as a public site. neighbourhood. He co-founded the community center International collaboration and exchange have made the Van Abbemuseum a ‘Collettivo La Commune’, devoted his talent to political place for creative cross-fertilisation and a source of surprise, inspiration and movements and with counterculture youth groups made imagination for its visitors and participants. street theatre with a social message. He participated in Bilderdijklaan 10, Eindhoven, The Netherlands direct action campaigns like the NO-TAV movement www.vanabbemuseum.nl (2005-2011) against high-speed trains in the region of Opening hours : Tuesday to Sunday 11:00 – 17:00 Piemonte and demonstrated against Andreotti’s Every first Thursday of the month the museum is open until 21:00 government (1977) and Fiat director Gianni Agnelli (1980- Entrance: Adults: € 10,00 / Groups of 10 persons or more, senior citizens: € 8,00 1985). For years Gilardi and groups in fancy dress have Students; holders of the Dutch young people’s cultural pass (CJP): € 5 been part of Turin’s May 1 celebrations, always using the Every first Thursday of the month the museum is open until 21:00, entrance to the museum is free from 17:00 opportunity to respond to current political and social issues. For the editors: For more information and photographs, please visit: www.vanabbemuseum.nl/en/press Anthropological projects Or contact: Mariët Erica, Marketing & Communication As an extension of Gilardi’s counterculture activities, are Phone: +31 (0)40 238 1022 / Mail: [email protected] projects carried out in the 1980s with people from San Judas, Managua (1982), the Akwesasne Indian reservation, North America (1983) and the Barsaloy Samburu tribe, Kenya (1985). The form and content of these three anthropologically accented projects evolved in consultation with the participants, while the topics were taken from their collective cultural history. This element of Gilardi’s oeuvre will be documented in the exhibition through extensive documentary material. There also will be a selection of contemporaneous art works from the Van Abbemuseum collection, .