Uomo e materia. Mono-Ha tra zen e fenomenologia

At the end of the 1960s, in Japan grows up an artistic trend whose theorist, Ufan Lee, attributes the name of Mono-Ha, usually translated as a “school of things”. The theoretical and poetic assumptions of this tendency combine, as the essay intends to demonstrate, concepts and elements drawn from both the zen and the phenomenology, also because of the dialogue that these two models of thought seem to be able to establish. Through the voices of scholars who have dealt with, the essay identifies the similarities between the statements of the Moho-Ha’s artists and Husserl and Heidegger’s thoughts, authors who in the 1960s found great success in Japanese philosophy

Contributi di Graham Sutherland a una fenomenologia dell'arte

In the writings of the English painter Graham Sutherland, it is possible to trace some general reflections on the genetic and structural foundations of art, particularly in the areas of engraving and sacred art. In this contribution will be emphasised the phenomenological character of these reflections, which are based on a dialectical and schematic approach and are directly related to the artist’s poetics

Callidae iuncturae

The desire or the need to elaborate poetry in graphic or iconic form has manifested itself in various cultures in different parts of the world and in different periods of history, so much so as to cause genuine semiotic interference. The Alexandrian technopaegnion, the medieval pattern poem, calligrams and twentieth-century concrete poetry all share schemes, logics and solutions that seem to exclude any conditioning caused by their cultural context. In his seminal study La parola dipinta (1981), Giovanni Pozzi examines the different logo-iconic experiences in a single critical perspective, despite, as he himself points out, there being no relationship of historical or cultural continuity or stylistic derivation among them. A morphological approach is therefore fundamental in order to identify their ‘elective affinities’ and formulate hypotheses about the reasons for their recurrence. Starting from Pozzi’s reflections, this text integrates the theories of Gyorgy Kepes, Rudolf Arnheim and Ernst Gombrich about the schematism of visual perception in order to focus on the logo-iconic configuration that are consistent across various eras and identifies the connections with the perceptual conditions in creative relationships with the written page. In the light of a certain physical connaturality of writing and drawing (also noted by Pozzi) and of the measured nature of poetic text, this paper seeks to demonstrate how, despite the discontinuous and irregular nature of their appearance, logo-iconic instances are not an attempt to force the poetry, but rather are attempts to reveal the deepest nature of the written poetry itself.The desire or the need to elaborate poetry in graphic or iconic form has manifested itself in various cultures in different parts of the world and in different periods of history, so much so as to cause genuine semiotic interference. The Alexandrian technopaegnion, the medieval pattern poem, calligrams and twentieth-century concrete poetry all share schemes, logics and solutions that seem to exclude any conditioning caused by their cultural context. In his seminal study La parola dipinta (1981), Giovanni Pozzi examines the different logo-iconic experiences in a single critical perspective, despite, as he himself points out, there being no relationship of historical or cultural continuity or stylistic derivation among them. A morphological approach is therefore fundamental in order to identify their ‘elective affinities’ and formulate hypotheses about the reasons for their recurrence. Starting from Pozzi’s reflections, this text integrates the theories of Gyorgy Kepes, Rudolf Arnheim and Ernst Gombrich about the schematism of visual perception in order to focus on the logo-iconic configuration that are consistent across various eras and identifies the connections with the perceptual conditions in creative relationships with the written page. In the light of a certain physical connaturality of writing and drawing (also noted by Pozzi) and of the measured nature of poetic text, this paper seeks to demonstrate how, despite the discontinuous and irregular nature of their appearance, logo-iconic instances are not an attempt to force the poetry, but rather are attempts to reveal the deepest nature of the written poetry itself

The poetics of Comportamento in Italy in the Seventies

Questo studio offre una panoramica comparata delle poetiche comportamentiste sorte in Italia tra la fine degli anni Sessanta e i primi anni Settanta. Una tale impresa non può che partire da un attento riesame del paradigma critico dell’Arte Povera, messo a punto da Germano Celant tra il 1967 e il 1971, sia per il ruolo di assoluta centralità che essa ha rivestito in quel periodo sia per l’importanza storica gradualmente conquistata negli ultimi decenni attraverso grandi mostre in gallerie e musei italiani e internazionali di elevato prestigio. A fronte della visione “ristretta” che il monopolio poverista offre oggi di quella fertile stagione, intendiamo offrire una visione più ampia e sistematica che ponga in primo piano i valori e la varietà delle poetiche rispetto ai settarismi della critica militante di allora che, ancora oggi, influenzano e condizionano la critica storiografica. Da questa revisione si passa al recupero di esperienze che hanno costeggiato e anticipato le soluzioni dell’Arte Povera. Si prendono perciò in esame le esperienze antiform e performative di Eliseo Mattiacci e di Paolo Icaro, nonché quelle di altre personalità autonome attive sul territorio italiano come Claudio Cintoli, Mario Nanni, Hidetoshi Nagasawa e Germano Olivotto, ricostruendo inoltre la situazione dello Studio Bentivoglio di Bologna. Un’indagine a tutto campo sulle poetiche comportamentiste italiane permette infine di individuare tipologie operative condivise indirizzate oltre i riduzionismi dell’Arte Povera: l’uso processuale e relazionale del medium fotografico con Franco Vaccari, Luca Patella, Aldo Tagliaferro, Adriano Altamira, Ugo Mulas e altri; l’uso immaginifico-simbolico del linguaggio con Vincenzo Agnetti, Emilio Isgrò, Ketty La Rocca, Maurizio Nannucci, Bruno Di Bello e altri, la materializzazione performativa dell’immaginario da parte di Giuseppe Desiato, Fabio Mauri, Luigi Ontani, Cioni Carpi, Michele Zaza e le “mitologie individuali” di Gino De Dominicis, Vettor Pisani e Claudio Parmiggiani.This study offers a comparative overview of the poetics of Comportamento [behavior] that arose in Italy in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Such a feat can only start from a careful reexamination of the critical paradigm of Arte Povera, developed by Germano Celant between 1967 and 1971, both for the role of absolute centrality that it has played in that period and for the historical importance gradually conquered in the last decades through large exhibitions in high-prestige Italian and international galleries and museums. Faced with the "restricted" vision that the poverista critics monopoly offers today of that fertile season, we intend to offer a broader and more systematic vision that focuses on the values ​​and variety of poetics compared to the sectarianism of the militant criticism of the time that, even today, influence and condition historiographic criticism. From this review we move on to the recovery of experiences that have skirted and anticipated the solutions of Arte Povera. We therefore examine the antiform and performative experiences of Eliseo Mattiacci and Paolo Icaro, as well as those of other autonomous personalities active in Italy such as Claudio Cintoli, Mario Nanni, Hidetoshi Nagasawa and Germano Olivotto, also reconstructing the situation of the Bentivoglio Studio in Bologna. An all-encompassing survey on Italian behavioral poetics finally allows us to identify shared operative typologies that go beyond the reductionism of Arte Povera: the processual and relational use of the photographic medium with Franco Vaccari, Luca Patella, Aldo Tagliaferro, Adriano Altamira, Ugo Mulas and others; the imaginative-symbolic use of language with Vincenzo Agnetti, Emilio Isgrò, Ketty La Rocca, Maurizio Nannucci, Bruno Di Bello and others, the performative materialization of the imaginary by Giuseppe Desiato, Fabio Mauri, Luigi Ontani, Cioni Carpi, Michele Zaza and the "individual mythologies" of Gino De Dominicis, Vettor Pisani and Claudio Parmiggiani

Presentazione

Introduzione dei curatori al numero monografico "Il «fare» pensato. Le parole degli artisti, le idee dell’arte"

Figuralità della pittura. Bologna oltre l'Informale

Between 1959 and 1962 Italian painting made a gradual transition from the materialism of the Informal to new forms of figuration full of organicist and surrealist moods. Bologna is undoubtedly one of the cities that best represents this turning point: the research conducted between the late Fifties and early Sixties by Vasco Bendini, Pirro Cuniberti, Luciano De Vita, Giuseppe Ferrari, Mario Nanni, Leone Pancaldi, Concetto Pozzati and Sergio Vacchi confirms this. Their work is included in important national exhibitions such as Possibilità di relazione (Rome, 1960), Nuove prospettive della pittura italiana (Bologna, 1962), Alternative attuali (L'Aquila, 1962) or the 1964 Venice Biennale and is followed and supported by many important Italian critics such as Francesco Arcangeli, Renato Barilli, Maurizio Calvesi, Enrico Crispolti and Andrea Emiliani. This essay aims to outline the essential features of the artistic situation in Bologna at the end of the Fifties and to focus on the stylistic peculiarities of the individual authors with the support of critical voices who promptly commented on them.Tra il 1959 e il 1962 la pittura italiana compie un graduale passaggio dai materismi dell'Informale a nuove forme di figurazione cariche di umori organicisti e surrealisti. Bologna è senza dubbio tra le città che meglio rappresentano questa svolta: lo attestano le ricerche condotte tra la fine degli anni Cinquanta e i primi anni Sessanta da Vasco Bendini, Pirro Cuniberti, Luciano De Vita, Giuseppe Ferrari, Mario Nanni, Leone Pancaldi, Concetto Pozzati e Sergio Vacchi. Il loro lavoro è incluso in importanti mostre nazionali come Possibilità di relazione (Roma, 1960), Nuove prospettive della pittura italiana (Bologna, 1962), Alternative attuali (L'Aquila, 1962) o la Biennale di Venezia del 1964 ed è seguito e sostenuto da molti importanti critici italiani come Francesco Arcangeli, Renato Barilli, Maurizio Calvesi, Enrico Crispolti o Andrea Emiliani. Il presente saggio intende delineare i tratti essenziali della situazione artistica bolognese di fine anni Cinquanta e mettere a fuoco le peculiarità stilistiche dei singoli autori con il supporto delle voci critiche che le hanno tempestivamente commentate

Futurism in Italian Verbo-Visual Poetry after the Second World War

This essay explores the ever-changing panorama of verbo-visual poetry after the Second World War in Italy, tracing back its manifold, divergent and articulated forms – spanning Concrete, Visual, Symbiotic or Epistaltic Poetry – to Futurist theories and practices. By reconstructing the complicated political and cultural debate that delayed a proper assessment of Marinetti’s movement – due to its ambiguous association with Fascism in the 1920s to 40s – and following the few critical voices in Italy during the second half of the twentieth century (Masnata, Barilli, Ballerini) that fostered an essential scholarly change of course, I aim to contextualize the debt of Italian poetic neo-avant-garde(s) to Futurism. Showing how Italy was at the forefront of an international artistic turmoil that sought to affect a visual and material transformation of the poetic experience, the analysis focusses on the creative and theoretical works of a number of poets and artists, who played a significant rôle in the critical revision and practical prosecution of Futurism from the mid-1960s onwards and promoted the rediscovery and further development of paroliberismo: namely, Carlo Belloli (1922–2003), Arrigo Lora Totino (1928–2016), Maurizio Nannucci (1939‐), Mimmo Rotella (1918–2006), Lamberto Pignotti (1926‐), Stelio Maria Martini (1934–2016) and Paolo Albani (1946‐). Examining the unique physical and formal characteristics of their outcomes in the framework of the Italian cultural climate of the time, all the while highlighting their instances of continuity with the earlier Italian avant-garde, the ultimate aim of the essay is to re-evaluate a series of little-studied, albeit fundamental experiences for a complete and systematic reclaiming of a (Neo)Futurist aesthetics

Image revelations in Bologna art of Seventies

The alternative between ‘artwork’ and ‘behavior’, as a critical issue by Francesco Arcangeli at the Venice Biennale in 1972, is an important track on which contemporary artistic research continues today; however, there are many influences, convergences and exchange moments between the two lines. In the Seventies in Bologna, where the polarity had already been able to test during the exhibition held at the Civic Museum at the threshold of the decade Gennaio 70, different artists like Anna Valeria Borsari, Maurizio Osti, Piero Copertini and Piero Manai shared a ‘revealing’ of the picture, now declaring it as a trace of ‘behavior’ no as an element of ‘artwork’. In the essay we examine the poetics of the four artists and some of the most interesting solutions they developed in the Seventies, in an attempt to understand the reasons that generated them

Produrre e riprodurre i media: Il modernismo ancipite di László Moholy-Nagy

In July 1922, László Moholy-Nagy published “Produktion – Reproduktion” in De Stijl, a magazine of the neo-plastic movement founded by Theo Van Doesburg, a short but significant theoretical text in which he proposes the reuse of reproductive media such as the gramophone, the cinematograph and photography as means for the production of unprecedented formal relations. The rethinking of those media entails a radical detachment from the faithful reproduction of reality and the aestheticisation of their material properties. For Moholy-Nagy, this transformation satisfies the general tendency of modern men to not only extend their sensual faculties, but also to perfect them, fostered by all the new possible relationships between art and technology. The ideasunderlying this writing, considered mainly within the debate on abstract avant-garde cinema, are paradigmatic of a radical modernism that, in the field of visual arts, finds highest expression its in the revelation of the specificity of a medium. However, in the course of the following decades, several artists have applied similar principles, achieving results that can be ascribed to an opposite perspective, that of an overcoming of the specificity of the medium which characterised the more mature postmodern condition. Starting from a comparison between the ideas of “Produktion – Reproduktion” and the creative conditions of the post-medium dimension, I highlight the double face of Moholy-Nagy’s modernism, which finds in the most extreme version of its principles the premises for its own deconstruction.In July 1922, László Moholy-Nagy published “Produktion – Reproduktion” in De Stijl, a magazine of the neo-plastic movement founded by Theo Van Doesburg, a short but significant theoretical text in which he proposes the reuse of reproductive media such as the gramophone, the cinematograph and photography as means for the production of unprecedented formal relations. The rethinking of those media entails a radical detachment from the faithful reproduction of reality and the aestheticisation of their material properties. For Moholy-Nagy, this transformation satisfies the general tendency of modern men to not only extend their sensual faculties, but also to perfect them, fostered by all the new possible relationships between art and technology. The ideasunderlying this writing, considered mainly within the debate on abstract avant-garde cinema, are paradigmatic of a radical modernism that, in the field of visual arts, finds highest expression its in the revelation of the specificity of a medium. However, in the course of the following decades, several artists have applied similar principles, achieving results that can be ascribed to an opposite perspective, that of an overcoming of the specificity of the medium which characterised the more mature postmodern condition. Starting from a comparison between the ideas of “Produktion – Reproduktion” and the creative conditions of the post-medium dimension, I highlight the double face of Moholy-Nagy’s modernism, which finds in the most extreme version of its principles the premises for its own deconstruction

Gesto o pulsione? Jackson Pollock a confronto

La poetica del dripping messa a punto dal pittore statunitense Jackson Pollock \ue8 stata indagata da molti e autorevoli critici e teorici ricorrendo a strumenti tra loro diversi, ascrivibili perlopi\uf9 all\u2019ambito dell\u2019esistenzialismo, del pragmatismo, della fenomenologia e della psicanalisi. Attraverso una comparazione ragionata di queste varie posizioni, da quella di Francesco Arcangeli a quella di Rosalind Krauss passando per Enrico Crispolti, Italo Tomassoni e Allan Kaprow, ci si propone di comprendere in quale misura i valori dell\u2019esperienza e quelli dell\u2019inconscio siano presenti nella ricerca dell\u2019artista statunitense, facendo riferimento anche alle riflessioni e alle affermazioni del pittore stesso