R DIO SICK 1 / 2009

Electric Repair Enterprise An Artissima production

Art will once again take us learnt by heart and recited, as an entertainer or a Artissimahawker might do – who makes the theatrical ARTISSIMA 16 on innovative and unforeseen event. The script is considered in a certain way The International Fair of Contemporary Art in Torino journeys, helping us to believe subordinate, for the performance needs to be seen Lingotto Fiere, 6–8 November 2009 and experienced in its totality. Word as ecstasy – in the power of change. stripped of its own meaning – loses its traditional PRESENT FUTURE p. 2 communicative value and becomes an independent A great springboard to fame for A new model signifier, the aura of a sound perceived as oblivion. the younger generations Artissima is celebrating its sixteenth birthday in In this sense, Bene talks of “blinding the ears”. And 2009. This is a fair that has been able to constan- it is to this idea of the theatre as a “non-place” or as CONSTELLATIONS p. 4 tly renew itself, showing that it is both a top-qua- a “place of all”, of theatre as “gesture”, that we are Installations, sculptures and large works lity market event and an original and diversified dedicating these five days in Turin. cultural occasion. The last two events, which were highly appreciated by collectors and galle- Michelangelo Pistoletto ACCECARE L’ASCOLTO / p. 5 ries, as well as by the public and the press, helped This initiative is also a tribute to Michelangelo BLINDING THE EARS give a decidedly new look to the fair Artissima Pistoletto who, right here in Turin over forty years Action, behaviour, performance, has now become. It is a credible window on the ago, first created a work that made a decisive shift instant theatre in Turin contemporary world, and on art in the making. It from the world of objects into that of the aesthetics is extremely selective in terms of the quality of of relationships. From his first famous mirror- ARTISSIMA CINEMA p. 13 its galleries, and it is quite exceptional in terms of paintings (1961-62), which placed the observer Black Curtains. Art, theatre and cinema the cultural statements it makes. To such an ex- and the real dimension of time directly in the tent that the Turin fair is creating a new model of work, through to the experiences of the “Lo Zoo” ARTISSIMA VOLUME p. 13 economic and cultural organisation. This is the group (1968) and street theatre with the Uomo The section of the fair entirely ultimate significance of the work we have been ammaestrato and the Teatro baldacchino (1968), devoted to music creating in recent years. Pistoletto is the creator of one of the most radical and complex artistic experiences in the second half An Accessible Fair of the twentieth century. As part of our programme, In view of the current difficult economic circum- Pistoletto will be staging his legendary Anno Uno stances, we have decided to reduce the cost of our at the Teatro Regio on Friday 6 November. The stands to € 210 per square metre. This makes Ar- work was put on for the first time in 1981, at the tissima one of the least expensive international- Teatro Quirino in Rome. Using non-professional level fairs, and it is certainly one of the most actors – the inhabitants of the village of Corniglia interesting in terms of value for money. This is be- in Liguria – Pistoletto tells the history of mankind, cause Artissima is meticulously organised, from from Cain and Abel right through to the discovery its VIP programme to its cultural events, its rela- of the moon. In Turin, Michelangelo Pistoletto will tionships with gallery owners, and its logistics in be showing a new version of Anno Uno, updating general. With its special sections for emerging art, the history up to the present day. The title of the such as Present Future and New Entries, and the event is Terzo Paradiso, the paradise that, in the museum-type exhibition of Constellations, and Turin-born artist’s view, artists and poets are called with its cinema and new programme of events in upon to create on Earth. city theatres, Artissima is an absolute must for all true art lovers. The Programme During the Artissima week – from Wednesday The Theatre Project 4 November to Sunday 8 – an extraordinary For the first time, this year Artissima will be con- group of international artists will be working in centrating its ancillary cultural projects on a single four famous Turin theatres: the Teatro Regio, the great thematic programme. This will be a non-stop masterpiece of the Turin-born architect Carlo five-day event devoted entirely to the interaction Mollino; the Teatro Carignano, a splendid 18th- between the visual arts and the theatre. The idea is century Italian theatre; the Cavallerizza Reale, and to work on a borderline area, on the frontier bet- the Teatro Gobetti. We have decided to invite artists ween “non-theatre” and “theatre”, a realm that is to of different generations to Turin, but in all cases a large extent still unexplored, or that has been ex- they will be key figures in this world of interaction plored only sporadically. It is, we believe, an extre- between the visual arts and the theatre. They will mely inspiring project, not just in historical terms include Spartacus Chetwynd, Cao Fei, Gelitin, but also in the light of what is currently going on in Matt Mullican, Pablo Bronstein, Jim Shaw, Tris the world of art. Ever greater attention is now being Vonna-Michell, and others. paid to performances and happenings, and to all All the events, from plays to performances, those ways in which body and space interact, en- concerts, and tableaux vivants, will be world croaching upon the world of dance and theatre. premieres. A full calendar of events will soon be Some examples that might come to mind are the coming up on our web site, where it will be pos- fantastical and surreal processions of Spartacus sible to book tickets for the shows. Chetwynd, or Gelitin’s grotesque and chaotic thea- The interaction between the visual arts and the tricality, Tino Sehgal’s “constructed situations”, theatre will also be the focus of Artissima Cinema, Pablo Bronstein’s elegant choreographies, and which will be bringing an interesting programme much more besides. of videos and historic documentaries to the fair. We look forward to seeing you in Turin for this Accecare l’ascolto / Blinding the ears quite extraordinary week in November, convin- The title of the project “Accecare l’ascolto / ced as we are that, especially in difficult times like Blinding the ears” draws inspiration from the those we are living through now, contemporary theatre of Carmelo Bene. The great Italian actor art can offer an invigorating change of perspec- fought against the entire tradition of middle-class tive. Once again, art will take us on innovative theatre, against its naturalism and against written and unforeseen journeys, helping us to believe in theatre. In other words, Bene refused so-called the power of change and of the imagination. “director’s theatre” and made the actor the theatre’s highest artificer. And it is precisely the author, and Andrea Bellini his writings for the stage – rather than a script to be Director of Artissima RADIO SICK Present Future p. 2

2008

Alberto Tadiello, T293, Naples; Stephen G. Rhodes, Overduin & Kite, Los Angeles. Right: Mateo Tannatt, Marc Foxx, Los Angeles. Photo Giancarlo Giannini.

A LOOK AT THE ARTISTS IN THE PAST EDITION …

The young Sara Barker, who for Present Future Wouter Feyaerts, represented by the Transit After Present Future 2008, the American Nathan After taking part in Present Future 2008 with the 2008 showed a new group of sculptures at the gallery in Mechelen, showed his Manu Militari at Hylden, who was represented at Artissima 15 Rivington Arms Gallery of New York, Carter stand of the Mary Mary Gallery of Glasgow, at Artissima 15, a series of sculptures made of by Art : Concept of Paris, held his Still Now Mull’s works were shown in the Dogtooth & present is holding the solo The Actuality of the recycled materials assembled with garishly Again solo display at the Johann Koenig gallery Tessellate group exhibition curated by Michelle Idea exhibition at Modern Art gallery in London. coloured adhesive tape. In 2008, the Belgian artist in Berlin, and took part in the Delusionarium 4 Cotton and Emma Robertson at The Approach E2 She will be taking part in a show at FOUR in took part in The Urban Tendency, an exhibition group exhibition put on by the artist Jesse Benson in London. He has also just finished the A Twilight Dublin in August, and in a group exhibition at the project that brought together the Low Countries in three galleries in Los Angeles. In May 2009, he Art group exhibition at the Harris Lieberman Ville du Parc Centre d’art Contemporain in and Great Britain, combining design, architecture, will be opening a solo exhibition at Richard Telles Gallery in New York, which investigated how Geneva in December. The English artist has won and contemporary art at Westminster University, Fine Arts in Los Angeles, and will be taking part artists who work with photography approach the a Fine Arts scholarship to the Accademia London. He also put on solo exhibitions: from in a group exhibition at the Andrew Kreps gallery new techniques offered by the medium. At present Britannica di Archeologia, Storia e Belle Arti in Pocketroom to Antwerp and HOE DAN OOK at in New York. he is exhibiting in the Phot(o)bjects group display Rome for the February-April 2009 trimester. the Transit gallery. at the Presentation House Gallery (PHG) in Justin Matherly, who was at Artissima 15 with Vancouver. Sophie Bueno-Boutellier, who was at Artissima For Present Future 2008, Rolf Graf created a site- the Dispatch gallery of New York, just finished 2008 with the Cardenas Bellanger gallery of Paris, specific work with Albenga pumpkins at the stand the I Know Nothing of the Weather When I Know Lisa Oppenheim, who was at Artissima 15 with recently exhibited at Circus in Berlin in the Ohne of the Ruzicska/// Weiss gallery of Düsseldorf. The it is Either Raining or Not Raining group the Harris Lieberman Gallery of New York, has die Anwesenheit von Abwesenheit kein Nichts Swiss artist has recently exhibited his works in the exhibition curated by Gabrielle Giattino at the just terminated the group exhibition at Francesca group exhibition, with David Heitz, Peter Lober Bewegter Stillstand group show at Kunstmuseum Feldman Gallery + Project Space in Portland. Minini’s in Milan and the solo Kats, Nerves, and Filipa Raposo. Chert gallery and Circus Solothurn, in Germany. Works by the American artist, who graduated Shadows & Gin exhibition at the Anton Kern gallery, Berlin, will host her solo exhibition Calen- from Hunter College in New York, will also be on Gallery in New York. She also curated the Twilight drier de l'âme: expiration et inspiration in May. Stef Heidhues, at Artissima 15 with the Grunert show at the Hi, Low and In Between group Art group exhibition at the Harris Lieberman gallery of Hamburg, recently took part in Minton’s exhibition at Grimm Fine Art in Amsterdam. Gallery, which will be devoting a solo show to her After Present Future 2008, where his Oracle Playhouse, a visual jam-session group performance in September. Also in 2009 she will be taking part video installation was shown at the stand of the put on by Caravan, a travelling gallery specialised After appearing in Present Feature, Phillip Metten, in a group exhibition at the Giò Marconi gallery in carlier | gebauer gallery of Berlin and purchased in site-specific projects in Berlin. In 2009, the who was represented at Artissima 15 by the Annette Milan. In 2008 she was awarded the Visual Arts by FRAC, the Regional Contemporary Art Fund artist’s works were shown in the Diesseits der De Keyser gallery of Antwerp, created the stage prize for young emerging artists by the Rema Hort of Piedmont, Sebastian Diaz Morales showed Alpen: Hunger Jenseits der Alpen: Durst group design for the A Snare is a Bell concert by the Mann Foundation. his The man with a bag at the Dans la nuit, des exhibition at Klaus Winichner in Berlin, together musician Eric Thielemans. In the month of April he images group exhibition, a large-scale event with Present Future artist Sophie Bueno-Boutellier. is exhibiting at the Museum of Fine Arts in Ghent, devoted to the visual arts at the Grand Palais and from June to September he will be putting on in Paris. In 2009 the Argentinean artist will be a solo exhibition at Museum Z33 in Hasselt, taking part in a number of group exhibitions, Belgium. This will be followed by the Lightlab including Animated Paintings at the Centro Cultural group exhibition at SMAK, Ghent. In 2010, the Tijuana, in Mexico, and Vista / Visual Tactics at the Annette De Keyser gallery will be putting on a solo Centro Andaluz de Arte Contemporaneo, Seville, show of his work. and at C3, Center for Culture & Communication, Budapest. RADIO SICK Present Future p. 3

Kristof Van Gestel, who showed his works at the Fair with the Tatjana Pieters/One Twenty gallery of Ghent, is currently attending a Visual Arts course at the Academy of Fine Arts in Ghent (KASK). He will be engaged in the G08 group exhibition at the Verbeke Foundation in Westakker, Belgium, until May.

Torbjörn Vejvi who, at the stand of the Raucci/Santamaria gallery of Naples, displayed a minimalist shelf at Present Future 2008, with objects inspired by everyday life and small replicas of his previous works reconstructed by hand, recently terminated a group exhibition at the Sundays Gallery of Los Angeles, curated by Eli Langer.

The Belgian Freek Wambacq, who was in Present Future at Artissima 15 with the Elisa Platteau gallery of Brussels, went on to hold the Rocaille, Gereedschapskist, Le Vase-entrepôt solo exhibition at the Netwerk Centre for Contemporary Art in Aalst, Belgium. He has recently finished the Pro forma group exhibition at the Kuenstlerhaus Dortmund, and a solo exhibition at Elisa Platteau’s. Also in 2009, he will be involved in the public Stadium I project at City Park in Aalst.

While also taking part in Present Future 2008, Alberto Tadiello, who appeared at Artissima 15 Mateo Tannatt won the prestigious “illy Present Stephen G. Rhodes, who was represented by the with the T293 of Naples, also took part in T2 – 50 Future 2008” Award for his work entitled Fabrique young Overduin and Kite gallery of Los Angeles, lune di Saturno, the Triennale d’Arte Contemporanea Metallique – Demon Theory <-:, which was featured in Prospect. 1, the contemporary-art biennial di Torino curated by Daniel Birnbaum. The Italian shown at the stand of the Marc Foxx gallery of Los of New Orleans directed and coordinated by the artist won the “Premio Giovane Emergente Angeles. After Artissima, the American artist held New York curator Dan Cameron. In 2009 he will be Europeo Trieste Contemporanea” in 2008, and a solo exhibition at the gallery. Tannatt is also the putting on solo exhibitions at Vilma Gold in London, the seventh “Premio Furla” in 2009. Tadiello owner of the PAULINE gallery, which he set up in Isabella Bortolozzi’s in Berlin, and at Misako & has also taken part in a residence programme at his Hollywood flat. For a number of years he has Rosen in Tokyo. He will also be exhibiting in the the Dena Foundation for Contemporary Art in been putting on exhibitions here with artists such Second Nature: The Valentine-Adelson Collection Paris (October-December) and in the L’immagine as Nathan Hylden and Carter Mull, both of whom group exhibition at The Hammer Museum in Los sottile 03 group exhibition at the Galleria Comunale have been invited to Present Future. In 2008 Angeles, and in The Generational. Younger than d’Arte Contemporanea in Monfalcone. he graduated as a Master of Fine Arts at the Jesus at the New Museum in New York. University of California.

2009 THE NEW EVENT...

Present Future, a great springboard to fame for the JIMENA ACOSTA ROMERO, independent SIMONE MENEGOI, independent curator and The overall coordination of the section is in the younger generations, has always focused on the curator, lives in Mexico City. She was the curator critic, lives in Verona and Milan. He is a con- hands of Aurélie Voltz. most advanced research in art, offering collectors of Lado B (2004-2007), a project room at the Museo tributing editor to the European Kaleidoscope and the public a unique opportunity to discover Universitario de Ciencias y Artes (MUCA), UNAM free-press, and contributes to Flash Art. He is During the Fair, a Jury of international curators the emerging names on the worldwide contempo- in Mexico City. In Spring 2007 she was part of the also responsible for the visual arts programme of and critics will be examining the works on show rary-art scene. young curators residency at the Fondazione San- the Associazione Culturale Interzona (Verona). and they will award the “illy Present Future” In 2009 Artissima will be once again adopting dretto Re Rebaudengo in Turin, Italy, and as result From 1997 to 2003 he worked in the field of con- Prize to the most interesting artist. In 2008 the last year’s decision to give Present Future a space of such curated Inscriptions. She recently co-cu- temporary art mainly as a journalist: as an editor Prize was won by the American Mateo Tannatt, of its own in the Fair pavilion with a curatorial- rated with designer Emiliano Godoy Transit Cases: for Tema Celeste and Il Giornale dell’Arte, with who was represented by the Marc Foxx Gallery style exhibition. The artists will be showing their Chairs from Mexico (a traveling exhibition currently a number of art and design magazines, and with in Los Angeles. works in a specially studied and arranged area, touring Europe) and Criteria (a group show on sus- the daily Corriere della Sera. Since 2005, he has which will offer a unique tour in order to encour- tainability) exhibited from January to February 2009 put on exhibitions and edited catalogues for pri- This year the Jury consists of: age dialogue between the works of art. At the at Averill and Bernard Levinton A+D Gallery at Co- vate galleries and non-profit venues in Italy. centre of this section there will be a lounge area, lumbia College Chicago. She also curated Las líneas From 2006 to 2008 he wrote the “Focus” column JENS HOFFMANN, director of the CCA Wattis where gallery owners and the public will be able de la mano, which was part of the inaugural set of in Mousse Magazine. In 2008 he was the resident Institute for Contemporary Arts, San Francisco to meet and talk. exhibitions at the Museo de Arte Contemporáneo curator at La Galerie (Noisy-Le-Sec, Paris), The artists and their galleries are invited to Pre- (MUAC), UNAM, Mexico City, on view from No- where he put on the Fables du doute exhibition. HANS-ULRICH OBRIST, co-director of ex- sent Future by a team of international curators, vember 2008 to March 2009. He has recently curated a solo exhibition of works hibitions and programmes, director international and they are selected on the basis of their site- by Emanuele Becheri at the Museo Marino programmes, Serpentine Gallery, London specific projects. ADAM CARR is an independent curator and Marini (Florence). The committee of curators, which is already at writer currently based in London. Previously, he ALEXIS VAILLANT, independent curator and work searching for 16 young talents throughout has worked for institutions including Institute of AURÉLIE VOLTZ is an independent curator, critic, co-founder of the Toasting Agency, which the world, this year consists of: Contemporary Arts, London, and Kadist Art based in Berlin. From 2001 to 2006, she co-di- curates exhibitions and art projects, Paris Foundation, Paris. He has curated a number of rected the non-profit space Public> in Paris. In exhibitions including Out Of Sight (Proyectos 2007 she curated the show Double fond on the Monclova, Mexico City, & T293, Naples); booth of The Fair Gallery in Frieze Art Fair, the Library (Uovo Open Office, Berlin); THE trilogy L’homme nu in Maison Populaire, Mon- STORE (Tulips & Roses, Vilnius); With Out treuil including an edited catalogue and the per- (Yvon Lambert, Paris), Some Time Waiting sonal exhibition of Leonor Antunes in Barriera, (Kadist Art Foundation, Paris); EN ROUTE: VIA Turin. In 2008, she was guest curator at Musée ANOTHER ROUTE (Moscow-Beijing); Post de l’Objet in Blois with Le révolver à cheveux Notes (ICA, London), among many others. blancs. Her last projects include a solo show of Forthcoming exhibitions will include: In Print Marie Denis at La Maison Rouge, Paris and she (e-flux, New York); This Exhibition & This Ex- currently works on an exhibition with the collec- hibition Two; 1st and Last Show. He has been a tion of the CAPC, Bordeaux in 2010. She regu- contributing writer for numerous magazines and larly contributes to Flash Art International and The Present Future section is realised in collaboration exhibition catalogues and he is editor of Archive 02. She is as well a member of the curatorial with illycaffè, partner of Artissima for this project Journal, upcoming from Archive Books. board of Artist Pension Trust in Berlin. since 9 years. RADIO SICK In the fair p. 4

CONSTELLATIONS Installations, sculptures and large works by fa- The Constellations works will be shown in a mous and emerging artists. The artworks for this museum-type exhibition, in a large area by the section of Artissima will be selected from those entrance to the fair. Last year, Constellations submitted by the galleries taking part in the fair by showed 11 works selected from more than 80 a committee consisting this year of: submitted.

HEIKE MUNDER has been director of the Mi- gros Museum für Gegenwartskunst in Zurich since 2001. In 1995 she co-founded the art associ- ation Halle für Kunst in Lüneburg and held the post of artistic director until 2001. In addition to her curatorial work in institutions, Heike Munder has held teaching posts at the Universität Lüneb- urg, Goldsmiths College in London and the Uni- versity of Bern and has worked as a co-curator for several different projects, such as Disfunctional Places in Belgrade, 2001; Open House in Luxem- burg, 2002; the biennial in Bamako, Mali, 2003; “Identity Troubles” in Lüneburg, 2004 and New York, 2005. Since 1995, she contributed to a wide range of art publications, magazines and books, and she is the editor and co-author of various cat- alogues (“The Future Has a Silver Lining - Ge- nealogies of Glamour”; “Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered – Spatial Emotion in Contemporary Art and Architecture”; “When Humor Becomes Painful”; “Art & Language”; “Mark Leckey”; “Rachel Harrison”; “Gianni Motti” (…). NEW ENTRIES MIHNEA MIRCAN, is an independent curator based in Bucharest. At the National Museum of New Entries is the special section for young galleries which have been working Josephine Meckseper, Elizabeth Dee, New York. Photo Karla Contemporary Art he has curated, among other Guajardo; Tania Bruguera, FRANCOSOFFIANTINO, Turin. for no more than five years, and which are taking part in Artissima for the first projects, the exhibition Sublime Objects, the Photo Sergio Camelo Ortiz time. Last year New Entries presented 19 galleries from 10 countries: a selection Under Destruction series of interventions (with of some of the newest and most interesting names in the contemporary art world. Christoph Buchel & Gianni Motti, and Santiago During Artissima, an international Jury will assign the Guido Carbone Award Sierra), as well as mid-career surveys of the artists to the gallery considered to be most noteworthy in terms of its search for and Jaan Toomik and Sean Snyder. He was the curator promotion of young artists. of Low-Budget Monuments, the Romanian Pavil- In 2008 the Award was won by the gallery BALICEHERTLING, Paris. ion at the 52nd Venice Biennial (2007), and his in- vestigation of the conditions and possibility of This year’s Jury consists of: rethinking the contemporary monument lead to PATRIZIA SANDRETTO RE REBAUDENGO, president Fondazione Sandretto the reading “Memosphere”, co-edited with Meta- Re Rebaudengo, Turin haven, and to the project “Since We Last Spoke ANDREA VILIANI, director Galleria Civica di Arte Contemporanea, Trento about Monuments” at Stroom Den Haag. He con- MARC-OLIVIER WAHLER, director Palais de Tokyo, Paris tributes regularly to international publications, LAURA VIALE, artist, a permanent member as representative of the Organ- having recently written for monographs of Plamen ising Committee of the Award, Turin. Dejanoff, Mircea Cantor, Deimantas Narkevicius and Jonas Staal.

YOU DON’T NEED TO BE RICH TO BE A COLLECTOR!!! THE STORE Curated by Adam Carr THE STORE thus makes available artworks by artists whose work is usually conserved for a select Picking up from where it previously took place few in private galleries or art fairs and, in doing so, (Gallery Tulips & Roses, Vilnius in 2008), THE it provides a new experience not only at STORE takes as its starting point its intended commercial art fairs but also in terms of exhibition location – Artissima, Turin – and its occasion – a visits as a whole. Interestingly, by purchasing the contemporary art fair – to constitute a celebration goods on offer – selecting a pair of keys or a poster of the art object while aspiring to provide critical rather than a slice of a cake or a napkin, for reflections on the way it operates in the eyes of example – viewers will in effect be curating their the art market. Both creatively and ironically, THE own shows, which they can take away with them. STORE sets out to address, challenge, and offer This shifts the role of the spectator towards that of light relief to those current-day forces which are consumer and active participant and, in response placing such pressure on worldwide economies to their activity, THE STORE will be subject to and, in turn, on the art market. perpetual change, order, and reorder – altering both All of the artists included in THE STORE have its form and meaning. THE STORE will be housed been invited to participate with works that will be in a purpose-built construction that will take up and available to the general public. The result is an play on aspects synonymous with a store, and its inventory of artwork by over 30 international associated design elements will do so as well. artists, as well as projects curated by other people. With works by over 30 international artists, All these works can be purchased at relatively low including Jason Dodge, Claire Fontaine, Ryan prices or can be taken away for free. Vitally, all Gander, Liam Gillick, Loris Gréaud, Henrik of the pieces included are premised on, or Plenge Jakobsen, Gabriel Kuri, Jonathan Monk, contain characteristics of, the liberal and open- Dexter Sinister, Mario Garcia Torres, as well as ended conditions by which they are available. projects by others.

Daniele Balice / Alexander Hertling. Photo Sergio Camelo Ortiz POSTER:Layout 1 28.04.2009 11:32 Uhr Pagina 1

Accecare l’ascolto Aveugler l’écoute — Blinding the ears ACTION, BEHAVIOUR, PERFORMANCE, INSTANT THEATRE IN TURIN

Teatro Regio. Photo Cavallo, Courtesy Museo Casa Mollino POSTER:Layout 1 28.04.2009 11:32 Uhr Pagina 2

Pablo Bronstein, Neo Baroque Ballet, 2006, performance still, Contemporary Art Center, Cincinnati. Courtesy of the artist, Herald St, London and Galleria Franco Noero,Turin RADIO SICK Accecare l’ascolto / Blinding the ears. ACTION, BEHAVIOUR, PERFORMANCE, INSTANT THEATRE IN TURIN p. 5

Accecare l’ascolto Aveugler l’écoute — Blinding the ears ACTION, BEHAVIOUR, PERFORMANCE, INSTANT THEATRE IN TURIN

Concept and curatorship: Andrea Bellini Chief curator and general coordination: Yann Chateigné Tytelman Curators: Andrea Busto, Adam Carr, Luigi Coppola, Ilaria Gianni and Cecilia Canziani, Simone Menegoi, Davide Quadrio and Defne Ayas, Francesco Stocchi, Aurélie Voltz

… And all the Men and Women merely Players. Art and Theatre: Another Story Spartacus Chetwynd, collage pages from different program booklets from 2006. Courtesy Massimo De Carlo, Milan by Yann Chateigné Tytelman Every curatorial project needs to be approached This new project for Turin comes in the wake of Tate Modern in London, which put the spo- as though it were an inquest. Not just to discover A Theatre Without Theatre, an exhibition I had tlight on recent works by fifteen contemporary The West has done nothing but a criminal’s identity, but rather as a method to curated together with Bernard Blistène in 2007- artists, such as Rita McBride, Catherine Sullivan, strive to erase the stage. detect a certain number of clues, linking together 08 at MACBA in Barcelona, and then at the Jeremy Deller, Geoffrey Farmer, Trisha Donnelly Antonin Artaud a series of events, and shedding light on works Museu Berardo in Lisbon. We had chosen a ba- and Andrea Fraser. These two exhibitions fo- devised as though they were riddles. When An- sically historical approach in this case, but in cused on a series of experiences bridging the drea Bellini asked me to coordinate a project for Turin we need a more direct perspective. And in- gap between art and theatre, and – like all pro- Artissima, focusing on the present-day relation- deed, the exhibition had been thought of as a jects of indistinct status – they “threatened”, ship between art and theatre, all I knew of Turin sweeping overview that aimed to tell the “other” in the words of Fried, the divisions establi- came from just a single, short walk in 2003. This history of modernity. Revolving around the issue shed by Modernism and made a distinction was when I went to meet Michelangelo Pisto- of the “place of the subject”, the exhibition started between space-related and time-related arts, letto at Cittadellarte, his Biella-based founda- out from Michael Fried’s famous article, “Art and as Greenberg, and Lessing before him, had tion. In my mind, Turin was nothing more than Objecthood”, which was published in Artforum in pointed out. “What lies between the arts is a place with a complex history, the traces of 1967. This article denounced the “theatrical” drift theatre”, said Fried. which could be felt almost physically. My con- of twentieth-century “literalist” – or Minimalist – flicting memories were based on parallel stories works (from Futurist manifestos on the theatre and unexpected intersections between past, pre- through to Mike Kelley, Dada anti-theatre and sent, and future, in a combination of classicism, James Coleman, the Constructivists and Minimal baroque, and avant-garde. A place of unusual Art, Beckett and Nauman, and so on). images, popular culture, and esotericism, within which the theatre seemed appeared to be the Similar questions were at the centre of the World ideal means for breaking into this world and for- as a Stage exhibition, organized a few months ming some preliminary speculations. later by Catherine Wood and Jessica Morgan at RADIO SICK Accecare l’ascolto / Blinding the ears. ACTION, BEHAVIOUR, PERFORMANCE, INSTANT THEATRE IN TURIN p. 6

Joanne Tatham & Tom O’Sullivan, Think, Think-Thingamajig; what do Marginalia you represent? Performance per Art Now Live, Tate Britain, December 9, 2006. Right: Tris Vonna-Michell, Tall Tales and Short Stories, 2007. These two inaugural projects are the opening Dada anti-theatre, the Total Theatre of Fluxus and Playground Festival, STUK, Leuven (BE), November 2007. Photo moves in a game played on the theatre chessbo- Ben Vautrier, Discrepant Lettriste Theatre and Bernaerts Liesbeth ard. Let’s move a little forward now…This Jerzy Grotowski’s para-theatre are just a few “other” history takes shape on the fringes of an names in an endless list of neologisms; these labels art looking continuously at an “other” place, at may be a bit confusing, but they all have a common margins and fields connected to art itself; it also denominator: these theatrical forms do not want to highlights the key role of the so-called “popular” come out of the theatre; instead, they aim to ex- theatrical models as a point of reference for dif- plore virgin lands where reinventing is possible, ferent experiences able to (de-)define a “non- they are aimed at “a quest for an infant theatricality, theatre”. It does so in order to shuffle the cards the will to make an almost tangible space visible of art and performance, providing that we can and readable […], that is the play of our life”, in still make such a distinction. As from 1912, Rus- the words of theatre critic Bernard Dort.2 Unlike sian Constructivist Vsevolod Meyerhold’s mul- Fried’s amalgams, these works draw a clear-cut timedia experiments were being inspired by the difference between the notions of theatre (as esta- concept of “trade-fair theatre”. In 1914, the Ita- blished by a series of conventions) and theatricality lian Futurist Filippo Tommaso Marinetti wrote (which call for an essentialist definition capable of “Down with tango and Parsifal!” and, in 1916, bringing them into question). Antonin Artaud him- Hugo Ball recited phonetic poems in the name of self was fascinated by Balinese theatre when he Dada at the Cabaret Voltaire, dressed up as a wit- first saw a performance during the colonial exhibi- chdoctor and inciting his audience to “beat the tion of 1931, and such fascination made him call drum until literature disappears underground”. for the essence of a “theatre of cruelty” which is also a theatre of crudeness, mainly focused prima- The “resounding NO to many events in present- rily “on the show and in the show”. day theatre” mentioned by Yvonne Rainer in the ’60s and coming from uncharted territories (such as the use of non-dancers on stage) is, in the words of Patricia Falguières, “a need felt by all Antonin Artaud calls for the essence of a the historical avant-gardes. [...] The breaking with either dramaturgic temporality or frenzied lingui- stic phonetisation entails onomatopoeia and glos- “theatre of cruelty” which is also a theatre solalia, as well as the emergence of mime and puppet shows, the use of eccentrism and the gro- tesque, the promotion of circus and variety shows”, all of which take place “in the name of of crudeness, mainly focused primarily the ‘theatricality of the theatre’”.1 “on the show and in the show”. RADIO SICK Accecare l’ascolto / Blinding the ears. ACTION, BEHAVIOUR, PERFORMANCE, INSTANT THEATRE IN TURIN p. 7

Likewise, those artists who willing to perform look, make an attempt to “see”, as in a card them are obliged by these works to devise a spe- game, for the sake of seeing what happens to the cial stage, a mirror-like exhibition rule based on site (to sight, to use Robert Smithson’s pun), the a game stemming from different parameters that theatre (theatron comes from the Greek verb influence the way they are made visible. Two ap- meaning “look, gaze at”) by means of the show parently contrasting exhibitions have recently put (spectaculum comes from the Latin verb spec- forward some hypotheses. The first one, La Mon- tare meaning: “see, look at”) through the prism naie Vivante (Living Currency), arranged and cu- of art. A “theatre of the non-theatre” in the name rated by Pierre Bal-Blanc (Studio Micadanses, of the theatricality of the theatre, in order for the Paris, STUK Kunstencentrum, Louvain, Tate artists to get the theatre working, as well as to Modern, London, 2006-08), displayed a series of promote a “reversal of values”, appealing to the temporal works by artists and choreographers wi- history of the theatre as a celebration, of celebra- thin a limited time, as in a theatrical approach tion as theatre. Reversal, if not “revolution”: an (without exceeding the 72-hour limit), and all fo- exhibition is not a show, the show is an exhibi- cusing on the themes of the tableau vivant and tion. Let’s make a bet, once again: the higher the freeze frames, in order to transform the stage into number of constraints, the greater the freedom a space where non-relational works could be stemming from them. All we need, regardless of shown (from Lawrence Wiener, Franz Erhard the dissoluteness we are dealing with, is to find Walther, and David Lamelas to Santiago Sierra, where to let it go. Roman Ondak and Prinz Golam). The second exhibition, conceived by the artist Tino Sehgal in 2006 at the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam, fo- cused on the relationship between the work and A “theatre of the non-theatre” the floor of the exhibition space, from Rodin’s Theatron abolition of the pedestal to the staging of the li- ving body in the museum performed by Sehgal in the name of the theatricality Art institutions have rarely been able to reveal the himself, with references to Carl Andre and Dan key role of such ephemeral, clue-based, temporal Graham, to turn this constrained place, the white of the theatre, in order for the works, maybe because they entail some essential cube, into a theatrical space. – and risky – thinking on how to expose expe- rience. These works have always turned every The theme I have been asked to think about leads artists to get the theatre working. space, from museums to galleries and streets, into to a considerably different approach. It suggests theatre stages where different ways of relating to a comparison between different “non-theatrical” these works can emerge, without neglecting any experiences (that is to say, stimulating the debate frontier in the name of some kind of “transversa- about a show freed from all theatrical conven- lity”. Instead, these artists work on such frontiers, tion) deriving from art, music and acting, and the playing with and making fun of them in order to deeply constrained space of “Italian-style” thea- push them away and to keep inventing their own tre. It is not about turning the theatre into an exhi- medium. They invent and create their own tools to bition place or the exhibition space into a theatre, deal with one of the most taboo issues in the con- for it is more about thinking of the theatre as a temporary age (often outside traditional exhibition place to be used as it is: a place for shows with venues): the fact that its true reality, and one of its its own codes, customs and performances. And obsessions, is the show - with all the many impli- it is also about making the results visible in an cations of this term. Just as if art, having become experimental way – in the artistic and scientific one of the places of contemporary entertainment, sense of this term. In a way, it is a matter of choo- could not allow itself such a critical self-analysis. sing a profoundly literal method: have a close RADIO SICK Accecare l’ascolto / Blinding the ears. ACTION, BEHAVIOUR, PERFORMANCE, INSTANT THEATRE IN TURIN p. 8

Anima

Today, artists’ investigations always take place Today, the theatre is also a place where the far from safe, beaten tracks. Theatricality im- many tensions between history and the present plies a series of issues about what constitutes can be staged. It is a place where the observa- a show, and the answers are always to be tion of popular rituals is enriched with various found in the vast set of customs introduced by references to avant-gardes in order to juxta- popular culture, and considered as a whole in pose, mix and make them clash, so to get to their ritual, fascinating, regulated and distur- their living dimension. Tris Vonna-Michell’s bing dimension. From Dan Graham’s Rock My storytellings, for example, stages his (non) re- Religion (1984) (dealing with rock and festi- lationship with the poet Henri Chopin, while vals) to Mike Kelley’s projects, including his occupying the exhibition space to make it the recent, outstanding Day is Done (based on dif- temporal place of the performance. Joanne Ta- ferent performing rituals), to Jeremy Deller’s tham and Tom O’Sullivan make slapstick a interest in various folk performances, an an- performance model while referring themselves thropological approach to the theatre – charac- to Oskar Schlemmer’s Stick dance. In her li- terized by a reflexive conscience, almost 50 ving pictures, Ulla von Brandenburg puts to- years after the first experiences of the historic gether pop music and modernist compositions, avant-gardes – works on the subversive poten- abstractionism and colours, while Pablo Bron- tial of such mass practices while unveiling stein continues to compare avant-garde and their irremediably mimetic structures. Geli- classicism, modernism and post-modernism. tin’s provocative participative performances, between pop activism and references to Actio- From Jim Shaw’s performances, filled with nism, express today’s contradictions while strange and disturbing accessories, to Spartacus trying as hard as possible to lead them to a Chetwynd’s monstrous dresses, through to pictu- Dionysian madness. res of scrawny models worked by Harald Thys and Jos de Gruyter, the body becomes an effigy, objects bring to life and reveal the magical dimen- sion of the theatre. From Matt Mullican’s perfor- mances under hypnosis to Philippe Parreno who, in The ultrasonic scream of the squirrel, held his first performance with ventriloquist Ronn Lucas, who turned the artist into his puppet, to David Askevold and Mike Kelley’s interest in paranor- mal phenomena, poltergeists and ghost photos, magic is a construction, a technique (illusionism) and an apparition, a mystery (mysticism). Pierre Klossowski: “As the point is to know if modern artists, just like ancient magicians, speculate on ways of enchanting the universe, […] it takes into account the impossibility” of creating a soul “by their own means […] and that the artist has to join forces with the demon first […] in order to create an ‘animated’ idol (we would say: a visual object able to have a moral effect on the viewer)”.3

There is a mystery taking place behind the fourth wall that separates us from the stage, a mystery we identify with even though we clearly perceive the difference that radically excludes us from it. The forms that we perceive as living ones and that we stick completely to at the exact moment of the per- formance, the ones that modify us, could be no- thing but the reflections that fascinate us. From the mirror works by Michelangelo Pistoletto at the be- ginning of the ’60s to the seminal work Perfor- mer/Audience/Mirror by Dan Graham in the mid ’70s, the artwork is a mirror in front of the vie- wers, who see themselves watching. It is a type of theatre where we are sitting, in front of an ongoing performance, in front of ourselves and therefore in front of the world as a performance asking us to take part in it. Still, did Carlo Mollino not place a double mirror at the entrance of his home, a thea- tre of memories he never lived in? Who is the re- ceiver of such attention? Is it the spectator becoming an actor on stage? Or is it time itself, in order to “give it back its image and its effigy”?4

NOTES 1. Patricia Falguières, “Playground”, in A Theatre without Theatre, YANN CHATEIGNÉ TYTELMAN is Head of p. 30-31, exhib. cat., Museu d’Art Contemporani de Barcelona; Programs at CAPC Museum of Contemporary Art in Fundaçao de Arte Moderna et Arte Contemporanea / Collecçao Bordeaux, France where he develops since 2007 an active Berardo, Lisbon, 2007 research-based program of exhibitions, events and 2. Bernard Dort, “Du nouveau à l’ancien”, in Théâtre en jeu. Es- sais de critique, 1970-1978, Paris, Editions du Seuil, 1979, p. 25. publishing. He has been researching, curating, writing, 3. Pierre Klossowski, in response to André Breton’s Enquête in teaching and publishing, crossing live and visual arts, L’Art magique, first published in 1957 by Amis du Club Français music and popular culture since the early 2000s. As a du Livre, republished in collaboration with Gérard Legrand, curator, he used to work at the Pompidou Center and the Paris, Adam Biro / Phébus, 1991, p. 296. French Ministry of Culture, and organized several solo 4. “The purpose of playing, whose end, both at the first and now, was and is, to hold, as ‘twere, the mirror up to nature; to and collective independent curatorial projects on singular show virtue her own feature, scorn her own image, and the very cross-disciplinary subjects such as the relations between age and body of the time his form and pressure”. William art and theater (A Theater without Theater, Macba, Shakespeare, Hamlet, III, II Barcelona / Museu Berardo, Lisbon, 2007-2008), visual arts, cinema and music in the French psychedelic scene (IΔO. Psychedelic Explorations in France, 1968-∞, CAPC, Bordeaux, 2008-09), art, design and architecture and the exhibition as a living place (Ultramoderne, Halle Paul Wurth, Luxembourg, Passerelle, Brest, 2007-08), the re-invention in contemporary art (Début de Siècle, Rochechouart, 2007), or the wunderkammer as a model (Hradacany, La Générale, Paris, 2006). He wrote several essays, articles and reviews in various exhibition catalogues and magazines and edited books as well as he ran independent fanzines like “The Flesh”. In 2006, he founded the publishing house it :paris. He is currently Gelitin, Nasser Klumpatsch, Sofia, Bulgaria, 2004. Courtesy of the preparing a collective research-based exhibition Insiders. artist and Galleria Massimo De Carlo. Michelangelo Pistoletto, 1970, Teatro Uomo, photo Paolo Mussat Sartor. © Mike Kelley, Know-hows, usages, practices (CAPC, Bordeaux, Courtesy Gagosian Gallery. Photo Fredrik Nilsen October 2009). RADIO SICK Accecare l’ascolto / Blinding the ears. ACTION, BEHAVIOUR, PERFORMANCE, INSTANT THEATRE IN TURIN p. 9

A project by Cao Fei UTOPIA OF UTOPIAS: THE PLEASURE OF REWRITING REALITIES DEPART FOUNDATION

Introduction by Davide Quadrio and Defne Ayas kitsch-inflected sets is what has continuously Ms. China Tracy, Cao Fei’s avatar, will play the The Depart Foundation is an emerging organi- fascinated Cao Fei, who has continuously been lead role in the performance, accompanied by zation dedicated to the discussion, exhibition exploring the potential of the operatic medium. other actor-avatars on screen, and on stage, who and production of art as an integral part of our (Please refer to her theatrical stage production will be wearing highly imaginative costumes daily lives. As its name suggests, the Founda- As part of the Artissima 16 Theatre Project, PRD Anti-Heroes (2005). designed by the artist for RMB City and spe- tion sets itself apart from other arts organiza- Arthub, a foundation serving China and the rest Cao Fei’s concept of performance in RMB City cially made for this unique presentation. tions by focusing on contemporary artists of Asia, has invited the artist Cao Fei to create a will make clear reference to the aesthetics of As both a real and virtual stage, the theatre and whose work departs from obvious precedents, special live performance based on her RMB City “Yang Ban Xi” but putting it into a contempo- RMB City will provide a place for discussion forging careers that are separate from the main- project – an experimental city and community in rary perspective with iconic styles and move- about the past, the present, and the future, with a stream. As part of its mission, the Foundation is the internet-based virtual world of Second Life, ments that have now become “classic” and new formula that combines an extraordinary building a collection of both established and and to continue her investigation into digital fan- highly symbolic. Cao Fei will use the RMB show with live interaction between the virtual emerging artists and participates in exhibitions tasyscapes and the physical world. City and its multi-venue nature for an experi- world (the present), the “Yang Ban Xi” opera with and symposia in order to present the work to as For this new live work to be presented in Turin, mental theatrical stage and instead of solely its encoded language (the past, but still compre- wide an audience as possible. Reflecting its de- Cao Fei embarks on the challenge of not only recreating the old performance techniques in hensible to the generation of Chinese who grew dication to not only the exhibition but also the creating new chapter of RMB City but also the virtual space of RMB City, she will create up with this mythology) and a reinterpretation of practice of art, Depart is planning a campus of working with avatar-actors and various staging a new kind of a “RMB Yang Ban Xi,” a non- this work in constant evolution (the future). gallery and studio spaces in Grottaferrata, out- elements to create a new drama based on the linear, partially interactive drama that will Cao Fei’s project, produced by Depart Founda- side of Rome. This dynamic enclave of new and “model dramas” (“Yang Ban Xi”) of the Cultural contain some of the classic Yang Ban Xi char- tion in collaboration with Artissima and Arthub, historic buildings will house an artists-in- Revolution period. “Yang Ban Xi” were the only acters and elements now complemented by our will be presented also in New York by Performa residence program, and boldly embody the Foun- politically-approved form of performance at the contemporary reality. Various characters will 09, the third Biennial of Visual Art Performance, dationʼs commitment to integrating art practice time, as traditional opera was banned by Mao interact, through dialogue, song, and dance, which takes place in November, as does Artis- into the public sphere. Depart’s board of advisors Zedong’s wife, Jiang Qing. They were series of creating spectacular tableaus in the different sima. This collaboration will highlight and give includes Mario Cristiani, Founder of Galleria propaganda productions (movie musicals, bal- locations and will bring to life various plots even greater emphasis to the “work in progress” Continua, San Gimignano, and President of the lets, operas) that were later adapted to cinematic (dances, movements, and symbols) that are nature of the artist’s work, and its challenge to Foundation “Arte all’Arte” and Russell Fergu- form, thereby becoming more entrenched into taken from daily life. Considering the dynamic reconcile the virtual online world with a physical son, Professor and Chair, UCLA Department of the visual and symbolic imagination of a certain and interactive nature of Second Life, the audi- performance stage. Art, Adjunct Curator, Hammer Museum. era of Chinese history. Their integration of ele- ence will also be able to explore and experience The foundation will make its debut with the ments of the then-banned Chinese traditional the specially-created Yang Ban Xi environment show NYMINUTE, 60 artists on the New York opera, ballet, propaganda songs, and popular in Second Life via personal computers, and/or scene, curated by Katy Grayson and organised music, featuring ballerinas pirouetting with rifles via specialty computer-access terminals, and at the Macro Future in Rome from September and male proletariat dancers executing landlords interact with performers through customized 18 to November 15, 2009. rendered in boldly-coloured costumes against avatars, creating a large online performance space. Info: www.departfoundation.org.

The social meaning of art “Accecare l’ascolto / Blinding the ears” project is made possible by support and collaboration of Palazzo Infinito dell'Arte

Using art to create a different form of relationship between areas with a greater wealth of economic and technological resources on the one hand, and those that are richer in natural resources on the other, while respecting differences and creating mutual understanding, interchange, and consensus through dialogue. It was with this spirit and these objectives in mind that Palazzo Infinito dell’Arte SpA and Fondazione Villaggio Infinito dell’Arte were set up. The project involves the creation of a series of habitable sculptures in a number of cities around the world, creating a network of contacts and links with villages that have been left on the margins of globalisation. These are residential facilities to which contemporary art will give form and content. The first habitable sculpture will come from the encounter between an ar- chitect and a great artist. It will be placed in the Fondazione Villaggio In- finito dell'Arte, along with several other sculptures and installations. Together with its art activities, the foundation's mission will be to invite the artists involved to create art villages in various parts of the world, in coo- peration with humanitarian and philanthropic organisations. The first of these villages will be made in collaboration with the Grameen Bank and its founder, the Nobel Peace Prize laureate Muhammed Yunus.

Michele di Giuseppe, President, Palazzo Infinto dell’Arte SpA Mario Cristiani, President, Fondazione Villaggio Infinito dell’Arte

Michelangelo Pistoletto, 1970, Teatro Uomo. Photo Paolo Mussat Sartor. RADIO SICK Accecare l’ascolto / Blinding the ears. ACTION, BEHAVIOUR, PERFORMANCE, INSTANT THEATRE IN TURIN p. 10

from the interior of the ancient (1856) Teatro Vit- torio Emanuele, which Mollino transformed into the RAI Auditorium of Turin in the early 1950s. In his “Casa del riposo del Guerriero”, as he liked to refer to it when talking with friends, Mollino me- ticulously created the most esoteric and silent of his theatres. Even though complete in every detail, the house was devoid of any trace of life and re- mained uninhabited, sharing the destiny of an Egyptian pyramid or the home of Hades.

In a letter he sent on 18 April 1973 to Giuseppe Erba, director of the Teatro Regio, he writes: “In this... late maturity of mine, just as the high-ran- king Chinese has his mausoleum prepared before his death, I am preparing a corridor at home. It is a sort of sunset boulevard with the photographs and all the other memories of my life arranged in succession: all of them beautiful, or almost.” The “Casa del Guerriero” is tucked away on the first floor of an ancient villa that gives onto the Po River and the hills, and it contains constant and majestic references to nature. The terrace opens up over the river, while mirrors perfectly reflect the hills. In his description of La Rotonda, Palla- dio appears to describe Mollino’s work to perfec- tion: “... on the one hand it is bathed by the navigable River Bacchiglione, and on the other it is surrounded by the most delightful hills, which make it appear as a very large theatre” and, as Luca Trevisan writes, “The Villa [La Rotonda] merges into the landscape and the landscape into the villa. Architecture, the intellectual and mate- rial creation of man, enters nature and vice versa. A centrifugal force is counteracted with equal energy by a centripetal one, with an interpenetra- tion of planes and spaces that I believe has never been equalled in terms of balance and harmony.”

This hermeneutic lead-in to the raising of the cur- tain in Teatro Regio is intended to help under- stand the brainchild of this complex designer. Its architecture lives on inspiration and light, colour and transparencies, rather than on massive walls and grandeur. The unwitting tourist wandering Mollino’s Theatrum around Piazza Castello in Turin, looking for the theatre with guidebook in hand, would be forgi- ven for suspecting a printing error or some unti- mely demolition (along with the famous case of Private setting, royal stage the Società Ippica). The theatre is nowhere to be seen. In actual fact, the finest Mollino has mana- ged to strip the building down, in perfect har- mony with the restrained spirit of Turin, and create a theatre with no façade, for it crouches down behind the rooftop of Alfieri’s eighteenth- century construction in Piazza Castello. A “rather feeble” building, writes Mollino, but “restored By Fulvio Ferrari, curator Museo Casa Mollino, Turin with Chinese diligence”.

Architects live by virtue of the iron and stone that Like Palladio, Mollino disappeared one August, Between 1936 and 1962, Mollino made four in- To fully appreciate how well it is in keeping with give concrete form to their constructions. All the in the same way that Luca Trevisan describes the teriors with the functions of a theatre for himself. the elegance of Turin, which has a tendency to rest, as Mollino says, “is café talk”. The architect disappearance of the earlier architect: “... sud- The first three belong to a peculiar genre, being conceal all, one need just look at the sibling is an artist who never gets his hands dirty with denly, in unclear circumstances. ... Most of his reserved for a single demiurge – himself – wor- Piazza De Ferrari in Genoa, which is devastated the creation of his own work; he oversees its friends, colleagues, patrons, and acquaintances king with a camera and for scores of supernume- by the scenery tower of the Carlo Felice theatre. completion, making sure it perfectly coincides were out of town for the summer (many were raries: the women he portrayed in his “performed The “gondola” of the Regio, with its inner façade with its creator’s idea, and he does so by direc- on vacation at the time)”. After the same “hasty portraits”. The first of these places was “Casa made of glass and its lissom sides of star-studded ting the work of countless others: masons, mar- funeral rites with little participation... the curtain Miller”, which was explicitly dedicated to the ac- brick walls, is striking on the inside for its space, ble cutters, blacksmiths, and engineers, through came down on the earthly existence of a man, but tress and literary personality Alfonsina Miller, or rather emptiness, and for its colours: white and to electricians and upholsterers. the spotlights still shine brightly on the cultural who belongs solely to the world of a novel by vermillion, and gold for the metalwork. Having heritage left by the architect, bearing witness Mollino. The last was referred to, in a swift caprice brilliantly arranged the foyer in the ancient buil- The parallel between architects and stage direc- to the value of his indescribable performance jotted down on a notepad, as “Teatro Gianduia”. In ding in Piazza Castello, the theatre is thus freed tors runs into a further degree of complication in in stone.” these closed worlds he admitted a single star: from this cumbersome space and so consists sim- Mollino, for he was also the director of the per- woman. In the portraits that Mollino designed, ply of the hall and its points of access. Piranesi formance of his own existence. He carefully ar- Both theoreticians (Palladio’s “I Quattro Libri made, and retouched, we can now see the thou- must be mentioned here, for only his Prisons ap- ranged a performance during his life, and even dell’Architettura”, Mollino’s “Architettura. Arte sands of women, ever different, ever the same, pear to achieve a complexity of staircases, wal- arranged one for posterity, leaving within what e Tecnica”) had in common the fact that they had who together form a single Opus by the artist kways, balconies and views comparable to the was essentially a void all it took to respond to the received a commission for a theatre as the final Mollino. The work he had to construct the three gracefulness that Mollino manages to create in fundamental question: who was Carlo Mollino? work of their career (Palladio’s Teatro Olimpico theatres for was indeed (his) woman. his. The slender structural pillars in metallised His friend Mario Roggero writes: “It might al- for the Accademia Olimpica in Vicenza; Mol- gold are part of a system of bridges and star-sha- most be said that, with the fierce defence and the lino’s Teatro Regio for the City of Turin) and The fourth interior, the “Casa” in Via Napione, ped shelving made of concrete slabs that are cur- reserve of a freely chosen solitude as a way of both of them built two residences inspired by a took shape in the 1960s, when the Teatro Regio ved to create the ceiling of the whole entrance, life and of total commitment to his work, Mol- “symbolic message” (Palladio’s La Rotonda, the in Turin was being built, and the two shared both forming a truly pleasant grid-like composition. lino displayed these partial images of himself on home-temple that appears to raise its patron, the a number of artisan enterprises (Catella and Tar- Moving staircases with glass sides and a mirror every occasion. And, it might be said, each in its prelate Paolo Almerico, to the heavens, and Mol- tufari) and a couple of mass-produced furni- finish below contribute to the suspension, which own way. This was so that the superficial and oc- lino’s house in Via Napione – now Museo Casa shings designed by Saarinen and by Borsani. is also psychological, of this entrance area. It is casional observer might be content with what he Mollino – which appears to have been made as a Once again a theatre came with four large doors reached from the arcades in Piazza Castello was shown, without attempting to go further or personal, other-worldly domain). A theatre con- which, in the Via Napione residence, were tran- through a gallery and a series of twelve glass do- deeper into the matter.” structed, and a theatre of life, one might say. sformed into courtly pier-mirrors. They came orways, which are separated by granite partitions RADIO SICK Accecare l’ascolto / Blinding the ears. ACTION, BEHAVIOUR, PERFORMANCE, INSTANT THEATRE IN TURIN p. 11

with surprising oval openings. Let us not forget, Later on, while drafting his presentation of the however, that Mollino the artist is at one with theatre to the press, he wrote to his friend Mario Mollino the engineer: the entrance gallery (now Roggero: “joyfully walking on eggs, I have given ill-advisedly sealed off) was designed to allow to each his own: in other words, without leaving cars and taxis into a covered area so they could room for resentment – and I’m proud of this feat take the public to the theatre. The twelve door- – I have denounced the boorishness and grote- ways attenuate the flow of people, preventing the squeness that have accompanied me though all crowding that occurs around traditional single en- the years I have been working on the theatre.” trances. The whirring moving staircases (now inexcusably out of use) each carry over a hundred people per minute. Each connecting bridge pre- P.S. The awarding party who chose Carlo Mol- selects and leads only the public for that particular lino for the design of the Teatro Regio, and who entrance level of the hall, preventing gridlock on defended his work, was Giuseppe Grosso, the the ground floor. It does so with the help of 600 mayor of Turin. Like Mollino, he died just as the metres of fluted railings with metallic gold finish. theatre was coming into the world, in 1973. Still on the subject of functional aspects, I can tell you that the acoustic ceiling of the hall (1550 seats) is just 4 centimetres thick and it is on it alone that the 37 balconies with 236 seats appear to be suspended. I can also arouse envy in artists, who are well aware of the problem, by revealing that the doors of the lifts for stage materials are eleven metres tall - a minor miracle of enginee- ring. Who could guess the number of sanitary- ware items in the Regio? There are 600.

“The bay of the hall could more or less be like- ned to a shape midway between an egg and a half-open oyster, in which the hinge of the valve is the stage.” This is how Mollino presented the interior of his theatre, which curves in all direc- Teatro Regio – Left: Courtesy Teatro Regio, Museo Casa Mollino. Above clockwise: Photo Gonella, tions, making it difficult to perceive what appears Courtesy GAM and Museo Casa Mollino; Photo Cavallo, Courtesy Museo Casa Mollino; Fulvio Ferrari, to be an indefinable space, alienated by the chro- Photo Angela Bergling for A&W Architektur & Wohnen (D), Courtesy Museo Casa Mollino; Photo matic vibration impressed upon the ceiling by Gonella, Courtesy GAM and Museo Casa Mollino Mimmo Castellano’s “psychedelic” decoration. The spatial ambiguity of Gino Sarfatti’s lumi- nous cloud, which uses 1762 lamb bulbs, also in- creases our sense of disorientation, leaving us with the sole, vivid focal point of the stage as the synthesis of all that is around us: architecture and theatre. Deep in this limbo, which is added to by a peculiar divisionist-like effect created by the vermilion and by the crimson of the upholstery, the spectators themselves become the theatre and it is they who complete Mollino’s work. From its creator, the building extracted “over a hundred kilos of designs” with the “unseemly screams of a wounded mother”. RADIO SICK Accecare l’ascolto / Blinding the ears. ACTION, BEHAVIOUR, PERFORMANCE, INSTANT THEATRE IN TURIN p. 12

Accecare l’ascolto Aveugler l’écoute — Blinding the ears ACTION, BEHAVIOUR, PERFORMANCE, INSTANT THEATRE IN TURIN 4—8 NOVEMBER, 2009 TEATRO REGIO, TEATRO CARIGNANO, TEATRO GOBETTI, CAVALLERIZZA REALE

Preliminary Programme

avant–première Antonio Rezza / Flavia Mastrella

Pablo Bronstein Spartacus Chetwynd Steven Claydon Cao Fei Gelitin Cary Loren Matt Mullican Michelangelo Pistoletto Jim Shaw Joanne Tatham / Tom O’Sullivan Harald Thys / Jos De Gruyter Nico Vascellari Tris Vonna-Michell Bedwyr Williams

The programme will include as well a number of concerts and music performance.

Advance tickets will be available for purchase on Michelangelo Pistoletto, Bello e basta, 1970, Teatro Uomo, Milan. Photo Paolo Mussat Sartor our website www.artissima.it from October 2009.

Photo Cavallo, Courtesy Museo Casa Mollino Photo Giorgio Sottile. Courtesy Teatro Stabile, Turin Photo Michele D’Ottavio. Courtesy Teatro Stabile, Turin Photo Gianni Ferrero Merlino. Courtesy Teatro Stabile, Turin

TEATRO REGIO TEATRO CARIGNANO TEATRO GOBETTI CAVALLERIZZA REALE

The original, historic Teatro Regio, which was Designed by Benedetto Alfieri with 84 boxes and The building that houses the Gobetti theatre was The buildings that now constitute the Cavalle- commissioned by Charles Emmanuel III of three groups of seats in the pits, candleholders built between 1840 and 1842 by the Accademia rizza Reale (literally, the “royal riding school”) Savoy and built by Benedetto Alfieri in 1740, and stuccowork highlighted in gold, the theatre Filodrammatica to a design by the architect were part of an imposing city-planning project was destroyed by fire in 1936. The new theatre, was originally opened in 1753. In 1786, it was Leoni. It was opened on 21 January 1842 in the commissioned by Charles Emmanuel II of designed by the architect Carlo Mollino and the destroyed by fire and a new building was erected presence of Prince Victor Emmanuel II, with the Savoy. The Cavallerizza was built between 1740 engineer Marcello Zavellani Rossi, opened in with four rows of boxes. In 1845 the painter performance of a tragedy by Carlo Marengo and and 1741 to a design by Benedetto Alfieri for the 1973 with Giuseppe Verdi’s I Vespri Siciliani, di- Francesco Gonin decorated the ceiling of the hall a comedy by Eugène Scribe. It was at Teatro Go- Military Academy, and it retained its function as rected by Maria Callas and Giuseppe Di Stefano. with a Triumph of Bacchus. One of the city of betti that the Italian national anthem was played a services area for the royal palace and for the The hall is shaped like a half-open shell, with its Turin’s historical masterpieces, the Teatro Cari- for the very first time. The theatre has been re- command centres of the Savoy state until the end lines focusing visually on the stage. The stalls, gnano is also one of the most illustrious in Italy stored over the past decade with a complete over- of the nineteenth century. It was used for eque- which were restored in 1996 to improve the in terms of the artistic and cultural events it has haul of all its safety systems. The new hall was strian exercises, as stables and a riding area, and acoustics, consist of 29 sloping rows with the hosted. In 1751 a long cycle of performances was opened in 2001 with a play by Luigi Pirandello, for housing carriages. Towards the end of the last seats almost entirely upholstered in red velvet, put on by Carlo Goldoni’s company, in 1884 directed by Massimo Castri. century, the City of Turin acquired the entire area with the exception of the backs which, like the Eleonora Duse achieved her first triumph with to be restored – the royal riding school, the long walls and floor, are in beech wood. Around the Giovanni Verga’s Cavalleria Rusticana, and in Via Rossini 8 – 280 seats wing, the short wing, and the guardroom – entru- rim of the hall, the dress circle consists of a ring 1886 it was here that the young Arturo Toscanini sting it to the Teatro Stabile di Torino. of 31 balconies sloping downwards, and a huge made his Italian debut. In February 2009 the chandelier up above tumbles down in a stunning theatre was reopened to the public after thorough Via Verdi – 200 seats cascade, filling up a vast area of the dome. The restoration, which showed off the eighteenth- foyer is arranged on three levels linked by ellip- century architectural features to their best advan- tical staircases, with various areas characterised tage, after they had been modified over the years, by the predominance of red and bare architectu- with new services and facilities suitable for mo- ral elements. dern-day use.

Piazza Castello 215 – 1600 seats Piazza Carignano 6 – 890 seats

Artissima wishes to thank Fondazione Teatro Regio and Fondazione Teatro Stabile di Torino for their kind collaboration. POSTER:Layout 1 28.04.2009 11:32 Uhr Pagina 2

Pablo Bronstein, Neo Baroque Ballet, 2006, performance still, Contemporary Art Center, Cincinnati. Courtesy of the artist, Herald St, London and Galleria Franco Noero,Turin POSTER:Layout 1 28.04.2009 11:32 Uhr Pagina 1

Accecare l’ascolto Aveugler l’écoute — Blinding the ears ACTION, BEHAVIOUR, PERFORMANCE, INSTANT THEATRE IN TURIN

Teatro Regio. Photo Cavallo, Courtesy Museo Casa Mollino RADIO SICK In and outside the fair p. 13

IN THE FAIR ARTISSIMA CINEMA BLACK CURTAINS ART, THEATRE, CINEMA

by Yann Chateigné Tytelman By making it possible to “magically” restore a living presence, like many works that appeal to us today, it blended funfair attractions with the Artissima will be hosting an intense programme most elaborate intellectual constructs, and pure of screenings in the “Accecare l’ascolto/ Blinding entertainment with the most advanced forms of the ears” project at the fair. Curated by RoseLee experimentation. This concept has never ceased Goldberg, the performance historian and director to obsess both art and the theatre, and indeed the of Performa, and by Yann Chateigné Tytelman, very model of film entertainment – the cinema the selection will give free rein to a number of in- with its stage derived from that of playhouses – ternational curators, who will be invited to present has increasingly shifted towards the idea of the an audiovisual of their choice, accompanying it black box, which is that of modern theatres, and with an original critical comment. This collective now a feature of many contemporary-art shows. presentation will involve a series of screenings, At the fair, we shall be putting on a three-day to be shown on all three days of Artissima, crea- programme of non-stop screenings, meetings, ting a continuous exploration of the interaction and debates, in order to explore this theme. The between art, theatre, and the cinema, with art vi- key aspect of the project is the importance of the deos and films, full- and medium-length films, se- cinema and of audiovisual media in the dialectic lected sequences, and rare items. between art and theatre: from the audio-video re- Indeed, cinema lies at the point of encounter bet- cording of live performances to cinema concei- ween art and theatre. From the first screens that ved of as theatre right from the outset, as well as appeared on the stages of the Russian Construc- art films and videos that take up this theme. For tivists through to the most recent video installa- three days there will be screenings every hour for tions, which increasingly blur the borderline the entire opening time of the fair, from noon to between bodies in the flesh and bodies on film, 8 p.m., in a real cinema auditorium designed for with their reflections and otherness, and their the occasion. Each projection will provide a cu- presence and absence, the contrast between thea- rator or an artist absolute freedom to present and tre and cinema gives us a close-up look of the comment on the film chosen. The screenings will shift in the boundary between reality and repre- give an opportunity to investigate the vast range sentation, and between body and image. At the of artistic work carried out in the theatre and in same time, other mechanisms bring this the visual arts, in dance and poetry, in cinema stage/screen relationship actively into play, as the and, of course, in video art. It will reveal the ever-shifting frontier between stage, actor, and countless interconnections between the various audience, work and spectator. sectors and highlight the relationships between The increasing emergence and development of three essential elements: the stage, the screen, audiovisual media is leading to another revolu- and the body. tion, brought about by their ability to record and As Dan Graham has shown, an expression of the restore what is alive – and this is the very essence notions of theatre, cinema, and power leads to a of theatre. Many works can only be seen through contrast between two different ways of posing film, which in some cases takes the place of the the question of the place and role of the spectator. original action and becomes the work of art itself. The audiovisual works produced by artists, who Project curated by Yann Chateigné Tytelman often come more from the area of contemporary and RoseLee Goldberg. art, dance, or music than from the theatre, appear as though they were somehow in a mirror. They are like forms of an undefined state that move theatre towards the cinema, and this is something that should be taken into account in a context which, in its broadest sense, includes works of art, cinema and theatre. The cinema is not alien to this debate. Ever since it was first created, cinema has posed the que- Dan Graham, Performer/Audience/Mirror, 1977. Performer, mirror stion of theatricality, even though it has many OUTSIDE THE FAIR positioned parallel to the frontal view of the audience, audience. Courtesy Marian Goodman Gallery, New York/Paris sources of inspiration, from popular and erudite culture, dreams and the intellect, burlesque and ARTISSIMA FUMETTO valour. Created by W.K.L. Dickson in 1894, the “Black Maria” was a dark and complex building After the two highly popular exhibitions devoted to the well-established devoted entirely to early cinematographic works. GIPI and the promising young comics talent Michelangelo Setola, this It brought into the same studio a whole range of year’s Artissima Fumetto will be featuring the Canadian artist, singer, performances: a man sneezing, a ballerina imita- and performer Geneviève Castrée, who will be making her debut in Italy. ting Loïe Fuller, the movements of animals, cir- In Turin, Geneviève Castrée will be presenting a selection of her most cus clowns, or Indians performing a Ghost Dance. significant watercolours, panels, and drawings, and she will be staging a live musical performance for the opening evening of the exhibition. This will provide an ideal introduction to the cultural programme of Artissima 16, which this year is devoted to the relationship between the visual arts and the theatre: performance, action, and instant theatre. OUTSIDE THE FAIR The exhibition will be made possible by the collaboration of the Chamber of Commerce of Turin, which has been sponsoring Artissima Fumetto ARTISSIMA VOLUME since 2007, and which will be hosting the event in its magnificent head- IN THE FAIR quarters in Palazzo Birago. Devoted entirely to music, this section of the fair will be staging a series of live performances ASCOLTA CHI SCRIVE / GENEVIÈVE CASTRÉE was born in Quebec in 1981, and lives and and concerts as part of the “Accecare l’ascolto / LISTEN TO THE WRITER works in the state of Washington (USA). She has been drawing and crea- Blinding the ears” project in theatres around the ting comics since she was fifteen. After contributing to many fanzines, her city. There will also be special musical events Again this year, Artissima will be putting on Listen first works were published in the poetry journal l’Oie de Cravan. To date, and DJ-sets in two “après Artissima” evenings at to the Writer, the programme of guided tours for she has published four books: “Lait Frappé”, “Roulathèque Roulathèque Circolo Esperia. the broader public, which was greeted with great Nicolore”, “Pamplemoussi” and “Die Fabrik” (published in Germany by The programme will be curated by Guillaume interest and acclaim at the previous events. Reprodukt). In 2006, some of her works were shown in the Telling Tales: Sorge / Dirty Sound System, one of the most Critics and journalists from leading national pu- Contemporary Women Cartoonists exhibition curated by Dan Nadel in representative exponents of the electronic scene blications will be accompanying the public, hel- his gallery. In 2008 she held her first solo exhibition in New York, at the in France, and by Yann Chateigné Tytelman, the ping them discover contemporary art and the Fair, Adam Baumgold Gallery, where she showed her drawings for “Tout Seul coordinator of the theatre project. on a totally free and individual tour. Visitors will dans la Forêt en Plein Jour. Avez vous peur?”, 2007, a book on war and Some of the most innovative and experimental be able to book their own “personal” visit. conflict, and the darker side of modern life. Geneviève is also a singer and international artists, whose works cross the bor- performer by the name of Woelv, and as such she has been on tour in ders between the visual arts, music, and theatre, countries throughout the world. She also made two vinyl records for will be invited to present projects created exclu- her books “Pamplemoussi” and “Tout Seul dans la Forêt en Plein Jour”. sively for Artissima. Castrée has contributed to a number of magazines and has taken part in exhibitions in Canada, the United States, Japan, France, Britain, Slovenia, and in Scandinavian countries. RADIO SICK New New New p. 14 NEW NEW NEW

REDUCED COSTS NEW SELECTION A NEW CATALOGUE A NEW AWARD COMMITTEES OF INTERVIEWS In view of the difficult international economic The members of the Board of Directors and the After the great success of the 2008 edition, Artis- Artissima 16 announces a new award for a young situation, Artissima has decided to assist its ex- Consultative Committee of the 2009 Fair, who sima is continuing the editorial project that started artist with one or more works in a gallery stand hibitors by further reducing the costs of exhibi- will be selecting the galleries for the Main sec- up last year in cooperation with the JRP Ringier taking part in the forthcoming Fair. tion stands. This year the cost will be € 210 per tion and the New Entries section of Artissima 16, publishing company. This included the publica- The Ettore Fico Prize, instituted by the Fonda- square metre. are as follows: tion – along with the traditional Fair catalogue zione Ettore Fico of Turin, amounts to €15,000. and the Present Future catalogue – of a special It will be awarded to an artist for the most di- Board of Directors volume of interviews with a select group of inter- stinguished research and for the most innova- Olivier Antoine, Art : Concept gallery, Paris; national collectors. tive use of new forms of expression to achieve Isabella Bortolozzi, Isabella Bortolozzi gallery, This year the special volume will contain a series a “pictorial” aesthetic. Berlin; Ulrich Gebauer, carlier | gebauer gallery, of exclusive interviews with emerging and al- The work, or works, that are purchased will be- Berlin; Mario Cristiani, Continua gallery, San ready established gallery owners throughout the come part of the inalienable collection of the Gimignano, Beijing, Le Moulin; Elizabeth Dee, world, from Europe and the United States, the Fondazione Ettore Fico and will be given on loan Elizabeth Dee gallery, New York; Darren Flook, Middle East and Far East, Central and South to FRAC, the Regional Contemporary Art Fund Hotel gallery, London; Franco Noero, Franco America, with pictures of the galleries’ most re- of Regione Piemonte. Furthermore, in 2010 the Noero gallery, Turin presentative works. successful artist will be given the chance to put It will be a truly unique source of information on a solo exhibition, with the publication of a ca- Consultative Committee and understanding for professionals and experts talogue, in Villa Giulia, CRAA (Centro Ricerca Giuseppe Dalle Nogare, Bolzano; Marc e Josée in the sector and, especially, for the younger ge- Arte Attuale) in Verbania. Gensollen, Marseille; Maurizio Morra Greco, nerations who are entering the world of art and The jury that is to select the winning artist during Naples; Renato Preti, Milan collecting for the first time. Artissima 16 will consist of Ines Fico, President Nationale Suisse will be Artissima partner for of the Foundation, Andrea Busto, Art Director of this initiative in 2009. the Foundation, and three international critics.

ALL THE CURATORS INVOLVED IN THE ARTISSIMA PROJECTS Jimena Acosta Romero, Defne Ayas, Andrea Busto, Cecilia Canziani, Adam Carr, Yann Chateigné Tytelman, Luigi Coppola, Ilaria Gianni, RoseLee Goldberg, Jens Hoffmann, Christine Macel, Francesco Manacorda, Simone Menegoi, Mihnea Mircan, Heike Munder, Agustín Pérez Rubio, Hans-Ulrich Obrist, Davide Quadrio, Guillaume Sorge, Francesco Stocchi, Alexis Vaillant, Andrea Viliani, Aurélie Voltz, Marc-Olivier Wahler

Artissima 15. Photo Giancarlo Giannini RADIO SICK FRAC, The Regional Contemporary Art Fund of Regione Piemonte p. 15

FRAC

In 2008 Artissima curated the first two exhibitions for FRAC, the Regional Contemporary Art Fund, which was set up in 2007 by Regione Piemonte with the purpose of purchasing works by young artists during the Fair. The annual fund of € 150,000 aims to promote and make known contemporary art to young people throughout the region, with the works in the col- lection being shown in various public premises in the territory, including schools, libraries, and art centres. A Committee of three international curators se- lected the works of 11 artists at Artissima in 2007. Those chosen were Rosa Barba, Keren Cytter, Sam Durant, Jimmie Durham, Cyprien Gaillard, Vidya Gastaldon, Ian Kiaer, Josephine Meckseper, Tom Molloy, Evariste Richer, and Ignacio Uriarte. The first two FRAC exhibitions were held at ARCA in Vercelli from April to June 2008 and at the Cittadella della Cultura di Boves (Cuneo), from September to December.

In 2008 the Curatorial Committee consisted of The first exhibition in 2009, which will include Christine Macel, curator of the Centre National all the works in the collection, will open in early d’Art et de Culture Georges Pompidou, Paris; July in the Cittadellarte-Fondazione Pistoletto Francesco Manacorda, curator of the Barbican in Biella. Art Gallery, London; Agustín Pérez Rubio, chief On the opening day of the event, a round table on curator, MUSAC Museo de Arte Contemporaneo cross-border FRACs will be held in collaboration Castilla y Léon, Léon. The Committee selected with the Centre Culturel Français of Turin and the works of another 13 artists: with the participation of representatives of public Lara Almarcegui, Guide to Al Khan, 2007; Giorgio and artistic institutions in Piedmont and France. Andreotta Calò, Torino – Guarene, 2008; Iñaki The Biella exhibition will remain open until mid- Bonillas, Fotografías delineadas, 2006; Tobias November so that visitors to the Fair will be able Buche, o.T., 2007: Etienne Chambaud, L’Epochè to see the FRAC collections. In December the Fantastique, 2007; Sebastian Diaz Morales, Oracle, exhibition will return to the Cittadella della Cul- 2007; Lothar Hempel, Mitten im nichts (In the tura in Boves. Middle of Nothing), 2004; Robert KuŚmirowski, Taking up the model of the regional funds for con- KT 13, 2007/2008; Lisa Oppenheim, No Closer temporary art that have been set up in France in to the Source (July 20, 1969), 2008; Lisa Oppen- order to regulate the invention of the state in con- heim, Killed Negatives: After Walker Evans (Ero- temporary art and to encourage the process of de- sion), 2007; Gyan Panchal, kerd, 2008; Gyan mocratisation within the visual arts, the creation Panchal, glas, 2008; Bojan Śarčević, Untitled (2), of FRAC is both unique and innovative, placing 2008; Reena Spaulings, Black Flag, 2008; Cle- Regione Piemonte at the forefront in Italy in terms mens von Wedemeyer, Divided Monologue, 2007. of cultural policies to foster contemporary art.

FRAC, Cittadella della Cultura di Boves (CN), 2008. Photo Gian Cerato RADIO SICK New Acquisitions p. 16

SOME OF THE WORKS ACQUIRED BY PUBLIC INSTITUTIONS AND MUSEUMS AT ARTISSIMA 15

Above clockwise: Shahryar Nashat, The Regulating Line, 2005, Courtesy S.A.L.E.S. gallery, Rome; Ruth Proctor, Le Double, 2008, Courtesy Hollybush Gardens, London; Lisa Oppenheim, Killed Negatives: After Walker Evans (Erosion), 2007, Courtesy Harris Lieberman, New York; Dani Gal, Research in volumes in an isolated building, 2007, Courtesy of the artist & Freymond-Guth Fine Arts, Zurich RADIO SICK New Acquisitions p. 17

Above clockwise: Rosa Barba, Waiting Grounds, 2007, Courtesy carlier | gebauer, Berlin; Bojan Śarčević, Untitled (2), 2008, Courtesy carlier | gebauer, Berlin; Gyan Panchal, glas, 2008, Courtesy Frank Elbaz, Paris, (Photo: Laurent Lecat); Yael Bartana, Mary Koszmary, 2007, Courtesy Galleria Raffaella Cortese, Milan, Annet Gelink, Amsterdam, Produced by Hermes, Paris and Foksal gallery foundation, Warsaw; Sebastian Diaz Morales, Oracle, 2007, Courtesy carlier | gebauer, Berlin; Lothar Hempel, Mitten im nichts (In the middle of nothing), 2004, Courtesy Art : Concept, Paris; Clemens von Wedemeyer, Divided Monologue, 1/4, 2007, Courtesy Jocelyn Wolff, Paris RADIO SICK About us p. 18

Artforum.com • Kyle Bentley Il Sole 24 ore The Art Newspaper • Bruce Millar ABOUT US The fair was so well selected and relaxed For collectors, Artissima is a window on Artissima draws large crowds in Turin. that it hardly resembled the blind con- the world of contemporary art and on Under Mr. Bellini’s regime, it is generally Le Journal des Arts • Roxana Azimi sumptive beast we have come to expect young artists and galleries selected by a agreed that Artissima has been trans- Artissima Bellissima. in recent years. network of international curators. formed. The overall number of exhibitors The Artissima fair and the city of Turin has been reduced and more international are going flat out to entice the most so- La Stampa • Monica Perosino Il Giornale • Laura Cherubini galleries brought in, with a consequent phisticated collectors, whether dead-beat Artissima: record-breaking crowds of over Concentrating on Artissima’s target proved raising of standards. or nervous [...] The capital of Piedmont is 40,000 visitors and sky-high sales figures. to be the winning ticket. And indeed, it was certainly “the place to be”. this that has facilitated collecting. L’Espresso • Alessandra Mammì I Viaggi di Repubblica Directed by Andrea Bellini, Artissima is Il Venerdì di Repubblica Roberto Caramelli Il Giornale dell’Arte emerging as the liveliest and most enter- Ludovico Pratesi Artissima 15, a review that offers the best Patrizia Sandretto Re Rebaudengo taining fair on the Italian stage. Can contemporary art withstand the eco- in international research in the visual arts. The fifteenth Artissima is making its debut nomic crisis in Italy? The first – affirma- with great personality, and with the unique Libero Mercato • Milo Goj tive – answer comes from Artissima. Ida Gianelli features that are increasingly giving it a Artissima is one of Italy’s most important I believe that every country with a com- competitive position in the world of inter- contemporary art fairs, with a special Domus plex and elaborate art system must con- national contemporary art. focus on new offerings and young and Artissima is continuing to place its bets template having its own top-level fair. emerging, or well-established artists. on young collectors and on the artists of There are a number of these in Italy but, La Stampa • Marco Vallora the future. when one looks at the world of contem- Artissima. Beyond the market, there’s Corriere della Sera Magazine porary art, it is increasingly Artissima culture. Francesca Pini First • Carla Brazzoli that is at the focus of attention, for with What a monument to artists. In the city of Artissime visions. Where contemporary its many events it acts as a monitoring GQ Antonelli’s Mole, the spotlight is on the art puts young talents on show. centre of all that is new. Under the guidance of Andrea Bellini, Triennale and Artissima. A non-stop party Artissima made its mark this year as the in a search for new talents. Art in America • David Ebony Rolling Stone • Franco Capacchione most important event for the Italian art Newly energized Artissima. If misery gets us down we can always market and the one with the greatest in- Torino Sette / La Stampa Bellini’s strategy for Artissima paid off. turn to Artissima, once again curated by ternational scope. Luca Beatrice The record attendance of nearly 45.000 Andrea Bellini. The new Artissima has undoubtedly gam- suprassed expectations and most galleries Il Giornale dell’arte • Jenny Dogliani bled and won. At least that’s the impres- reported brisk sales and enthusiastical La Repubblica • Marina Paglieri Director Andrea Bellini’s intention to sion one gets from the public, who much critical responses to their displays. A fair like no other, but also a cultural adopt an experimental approach with love the proliferation of events like this. adventure and a window onto a commu- young artists (on average below the age Of all the weeks of contemporary art in Arte • Licia Spagnesi nity, designed for collectors but also for of 40) has led to lively market activity in Turin, this is the most lively and elaborate. At Artissima, more galleries, more culture. the broader public. the medium- and low-price brackets and Cinema, comics, and space for emerging has helped strengthen the event’s position Giornale di Sicilia • Antonella Filippi artists. Domus • Francesco Bonami in a crowded art-fair calendar. If art really is a moving platform that in- Bellini’s idea is to generate more general vestigates the various territories of thought Donna Moderna interest around the Fair, transforming the Frieze • Beatrix Ruf and of contemporary activity, then Artis- There’s no need to go to Paris, London, or commercial event into a cultural destina- In Italy, “post-crash” Turin hosted a num- sima is certainly there to prove it. New York to see the masterpieces of con- tion. (...) The aim is to make Artissima the ber of impressive events. Director Andrea temporary art. In Turin there’s Artissima. finest fair for avant-garde art and emerging Bellini presented a well-selected group of La Repubblica • Marina Paglieri galleries: something mid-way between young galleries at Artissima, while Daniel With 45,000 visitors – 3,000 more than last Connaissance des Arts Liste, the junior version of the Basle fair, Birnbaum curated Turin Triennial which year – the fifteenth Artissima has made just Artissima rides the vague contemporain. which is held in June, and Frieze Art Fair. prompted a number of parallel projects. about everyone happy, from those who Artissima’s ambition is to be one of the work in the sector to collectors and the driving forces behind emerging art. It’s last Franca Sozzani • Vogue Italia Il Denaro • Francesco Gallo public at large. – excellent – vintage was characterised a I love Turin for what it has become: a city Artissima. Purissima. Superlative. year ago by acquisitions at the highest full of life and inspiration. Artissima is All went well in Turin in a world of re- level. And the fifteenth event is revealing brilliantly organised – much better than fined cultural sophistication. an even more international personality. the equivalent event in Milan. And the galleries are packed with great items. Torino Magazine Artinfo • Oliver Basciano This is how Artissima 2008, directed by A different kind of art fair Andrea Bellini, can be summed up, in an In an art world where the word “depres- atmosphere of creativity, freedom of ex- sion” is quickly becoming part of everyday pression, and curiosity among the stands. conversation, Turin’s Artissima might be called the happy art fair.

Accecare l’ascolto / Printer ARTISSIMA 16 RADIO SICK Cast srl – Moncalieri The International Fair of Contemporary Art in Torino Blinding the ears Electric Repair Entreprise 6 – 8 November 2009 – Lingotto Fiere n.1 /2009 Artissima srl Via Bertola 34 – 10122 Torino www.artissima.it – [email protected] The theatre project is Ph. + 39 011 19744106 made possible thanks to Fax + 39 011 19746106 the support and collaboration of Fondazione Torino Musei Publishing Director [email protected] Andrea Bellini www.artissima.it Regione Piemonte Palazzo Infinito dell’Arte SpA Provincia di Torino Editors Registrazione Tribunale di Torino Città di Torino Harula Peirolo n. 32 del 15/4/2008 Nicoletta Esposito Camera di commercio di Torino Compagnia di San Paolo Contributing Editors Fondazione CRT Defne Ayas Adam Carr Main Partner Depart Foundation Yann Chateigné Tytelman UNICREDIT GROUP Fulvio Ferrari UNICREDIT PRIVATE BANKING Davide Quadrio Partners English Translations illycaffè Simon Turner Nationale Suisse Roberto Abis / Luca Andriolo

Press Office Graphic design adicorbetta The Bedwyr Williams’ performance is Chiara Figone [email protected] curated and produced by Nomas Foundation. Tel. +39 02 89053149 Fondazione Torino Musei The Antonio Rezza and Flavia Mastrella’s [email protected] performance is produced in collaboration Tel. +39 011 4429523 with Fondazione Teatro Piemonte Europa. RADIO SICK Artissima 2008 p. 19

Fruit and Flower Deli, New York

Chantal Crousel, Galerie Chantal Crousel, Paris

Massimo Minini, Galleria Massimo Minini, Brescia

Edward Mitterrand, Galerie Mitterrand & Sanz, Zurich

Galerie Xippas, Paris

Galleria Franco Noero, Turin ARTISSIMA 16 6- 8 NOVEMBER 2009 Teatro Regio, Courtesy Teatro Regio and Museo Casa Mollino Teatro Courtesy Regio, Teatro