The History of Exhibitions: Beyond the Ideology of the White Cube (part one)The History of Exhibitions: Beyond the Ideology of the White Cube (part one)The History of Exhibitions: Beyond the Ideology of the White Cube (part one)The History of Exhibitions: Beyond the Ideology of the White Cube (part one) Course in art and contemporary cultureCourse in art and contemporary cultureCourse in art and contemporary cultureCourse in art and contemporary culture

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Arte pArte pArte pArte povera overa overa overa ---- IM Spazio IM Spazio IM Spazio IM Spazio ((((Galleria La BertescaGalleria La BertescaGalleria La BertescaGalleria La Bertesca, Geno, Geno, Geno, Genoa, 1967a, 1967a, 1967a, 1967))))

Ambiente/Ambiente/Ambiente/Ambiente/Arte (Venice Biennale, 1976)Arte (Venice Biennale, 1976)Arte (Venice Biennale, 1976)Arte (Venice Biennale, 1976) Presented by GPresented by GPresented by GPresented by Germano Celantermano Celantermano Celantermano Celant

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Arte Povera Arte Povera Arte Povera Arte Povera ---- IM Spazio IM Spazio IM Spazio IM Spazio September September September September 27 to 27 to 27 to 27 to October October October October 20, 20, 20, 20, 1967196719671967 Genoa, Galleria La BertescaGenoa, Galleria La BertescaGenoa, Galleria La BertescaGenoa, Galleria La Bertesca Artists: In the section “Arte Povera:” Alighiero Boetti, Catasta, 1967; Luciano Fabro, Pavimento, tautologia, 1967; Jannis Kounellis, Untitled, 1967 (structure of iron and coal); Giulio Paolini, Lo spazio, 1967; Pino Pascali, 1 metro cubo di terra, 1967, 2 metri cubi di terra, 1967, Emilio Prini, Perimetro d’aria, 1967 In the section “Im Spazio:” Umberto Bignardi, Mario Ceroli, Paolo Icaro, Renato Mambor, Eliseo Mattiacci, Cesare Tacchi Curator: Germano Celant “This was the first exhibition to apply the name ‘Arte Povera’ to this type of work. The exhibition was divided into two sections : ‘Arte Povera’, with contributions by Boetti, Fabro, Kounellis, Paolini, Pascali and Prini, and ‘Im spazio’, short for immagine spazio, featuring works by Umberto Bignardi, Mario Ceroli, Paolo Icaro, Renato Mambor, Eliseo Mattiacci and Cesare Tacchi. The exhibition as a whole reflected a particular interest in works exploring notions of space. Paolini’s contribution, Lo spazio [Space], 1967, which was predicated on the physical perception of the room itself, spelled out the title of the exhibition in white lacquered letters hanging on the gallery walls. Similarly, in Perimetro d’aria [Perimeter of air], 1967, Prini marked out the perimeter of the room using a relay of light and sound. In Pavimento tautologia [Floor tautology], 1967, Fabro elevated everyday behaviour such as polishing a floor to the realm of art. Boetti’s work was a simple stack of asbestos bars, Catasta [Pile], 1966-67. Pascali’s 1m3 di terra [1m3 of earth] 2m3 di terra [2m3 of earth], 1967, two measurements of earth in geometric, sculptural form mounted on the gallery walls, created a tension between chaos and order by contrasting the natural quality of the material with the artificial nature of the shape. Kounellis’ Senza titolo [La carboniera] [Untitled (The coal bin)], 1967, a steel bin containing a heap of coal, played on a similar contrast.”1 “What is happening ? Banality is entering the arena of art. The insignificant is coming into being or, rather, it is beginning to imposing itself. Physical presence and behavior have themselves become art. (…) We are living in a period of deculturation. Iconographic conventions are collapsing, symbolic and conventional languages crumbling.” Germano CelantGermano CelantGermano CelantGermano Celant2 Images (Top-down): Luciano Fabro, Pavimento, tautologia (1967); Alighiero Boetti, Catasta (1967); Pino Pascali, 1 metro cubo di terra (1967); Jannis Kounellis, Untitled (1967); Giulio Paolini, Progetto per lo spazio [Project for space] (1967), Plans for installation.

1 Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev, (ed.). Arte Povera, London, Phaidon Press, 1999, p. 51. 2 Extract from the text originally published in the exhibition catalogue Arte povera – Im Spazio, Galleria La Bertesca, Genoa, 1967, in Germano Celant et al. Arte povera in collezione (Arte povera in collection), Milano : Charta, 2000, pp. 27-28.

Ambiente/Ambiente/Ambiente/Ambiente/ArteArteArteArte July 18 to October 10, 1976July 18 to October 10, 1976July 18 to October 10, 1976July 18 to October 10, 1976 XXXVIIe Venice Biennale, ItalyXXXVIIe Venice Biennale, ItalyXXXVIIe Venice Biennale, ItalyXXXVIIe Venice Biennale, Italy

Artists and exhibitions : 1. Balla, Depero, Pannaggi, Tatlin-Yakulov, Rodchenko, Puni, Lissitsky, De Pisis. 2. Kandinsky, Davis, Delaunay, Vordemberge-Gildewart, Burchartz, Huszar, Mondrian, Van Doesburg, Tauber-Arp, Schlemmer, Gorin, Strzeminsky. 3. Van Doesburg, Dada-Messe, Duchamp, Schwitters. 4. Arp, Radice, Sartoris, Gorin, Duchamp, Ray, Surrealist Exhibitions 1938/1942/1947, Pollock, Fontana, Gallizio, Klein, Kaprow. 5. Nevelson, Klein, Manzoni, Arman, Segal, Kaprow, Oldenburg, Ben, Watts. 6. Christo, Oldenburg, Paolini, Colombo, Schneeman, Accardi, Warhol, Pistoletto. 7. Information 1966/1976. 8. Palermo. 9. Buren. 10. Graham. 11. Beuys. 12. LeWitt. 13. Merz. 14. Nauman. 15. Kounellis. 16. Acconci . 17. Irwin. 18. Nordman. 19. Wheeler. 20. Asher Curator : Germano Celant

Total attendance of the 1976 Venice Biennale: 692 000 1976 Venice Biennale’s general theme was “Ambiente, Partecipazione, Strutture Culturali” (Environment, Participation, Cultural Structures). Germano Celant’s exhibition Ambiente/Arte was located in the Central Pavilion and comprised a historical and a contemporary section. In the contemporary section, he commissioned artists such as Vito Acconci, Michael Asher, Daniel Buren, Mario Merz and Dan Graham to interact with the indoor architecture of the Giardini. In the historical section, he reconstructed avant-garde and post-war environments called “ambiente”. Some reconstructions were made specifically for the biennale such as Man Ray’s Exit (1934), Yves Klein’s Immaterieller Raum (1961) and Arman’s Le plein (1960) which kept its original facade. The Jackson Pollock room did not include real Pollock paintings, it was an environment which gave a sense of Pollock’s way of working: there was six photographic enlargements of Pollock at work by Hans Namuth (1950), a life-size enlargement on the floor of One, number 31 (1950) and Namuth’s film on Pollock. The concept of “ambiente” should be understood in relationship with Celant’s passionate interest in the history of avant-garde installation3 which led him to reflect on the context as integral to the work. In Ambiente/Arte, the context referred to the interior architecture, the internal structure of the space, its volume and surface. According to him, although mosaics and frescoes had already paved the way for such an assimilation, the historical avant-garde in the 1910s and 1920s produced environments whose integration of space into the work had become actively part of the creative process.

3 Celant, Germano, ‘A visual machine: art installation and its modern archetypes’ in GREENBERG, Reesa; FERGUSON, Brunce W.; NAIRNE, Sandy. Thinking about Exhibitions, London: Routledge, 1996

“At the start of the twentieth century, within an artistic system that is directed towards objectivity, both in surface and in volume, the possibilities of an “ambient” choice were extremely limited. The artist was tied by the demand which urged him to operate on the monolithic scale of the picture and the sculpture and had few occasions to exceed the confines of the ambient space, defined by 4 walls, the ceiling and the floor. The uneasiness and intolerance caused by this conditioned situation, in which the object, from being only one of the many forms of art, had become the sole vehicle of expression, exploded from 1909 with the comprehensive vision of Futurism. This urged linguistic and physical movements beyond previous limits and opened a free procedural space from the strictly visual monopoly. (...) The aim is that of creating a field in space and time to make a “unicum”, where art bears witness to vital, ideological needs, and to physically and aesthetically integrate the existence of art with the concrete reality which surrounds it.” Germano CelantGermano CelantGermano CelantGermano Celant4444

Germano CelantGermano CelantGermano CelantGermano Celant Germano Celant, PhD in Contemporary Art and Theory, is internationally acknowledged for his theories on Arte Povera. He is the curator of hundreds of exhibitions in the most prominent international museums and institutions worldwide. Additionally, he is author of more than one hundred publications, including both books and catalogues. Since 1977 he has been a contributing editor to “Artforum”, in New York. In 1987 he received The Frank Jewett Mather Award from CAA, The College Art Association of America. Since 1989 till 2008 he has been the Senior Curator of Contemporary Art at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, in New York. In 1997 he was appointed Curator of the 47. Esposizione Internazionale d'Arte. La Biennale di Venezia. Since 1995 he is the Director of Fondazione Prada, Milan. In 2001 he curated the Brazilian Pavillon at the 49. Esposizione Internazionale d'Arte, Venice. Since 2005 he is the Director of Fondazione Aldo Rossi, Milan and since 2008 he is the Curator of the Fondazione Annabianca e Emilio Vedova, Venice. Since 2009 he is the Curator of Art and Architecture at La Triennale di Milano, Milan. Since 1970 Celant has organized exhibitions and art events such as Conceptual Art Arte Povera Land Art, the Civic Museum, Turin 1970; Ambiente/Arte, the Venice Biennale, 1976; Identité italienne, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris 1981. He co-directed Documenta 7, Kassel 1982 and together with Pontus Hulten he organized Futurismo & Futurismi, Palazzo Grassi, Venice 1986 and Arte italiana 1900-1945, Palazzo Grassi, Venice 1989; with Norman Rosenthal Italian Art in the XXth Century, the Royal Academy, London 1989; with Ida Gianelli Memoria del futuro, Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, Madrid, 1990; The Italian Metamorphosis 1943-1968, The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, 1994; Brazil, Body & Soul, The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, 2001; Unveiling the Prada Foundation, with OMA/Rem Koolhaas, Fondazione Prada, Milan, 2008. Since 1971, he has been curating major anthological one-man exhibitions for artists such as: Joseph Beuys, Naples, 1971; Jannis Kounellis, Rimini, 1983; Mario Merz, New York, 1989; Ugo Mulas, Milan, 1989; Robert Mapplethorpe (first european retrospective), Stockholm, 1992 ; Rebecca Horn, The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, 1993; Keith Haring, Rivoli, 1994; Claes Oldenburg, Washington, 1996; Andy Warhol: A Factory, Kunstmuseum, Wolfsburg, 1998; Kunsthalle, Wien; Palais des Beaux Arts, Bruxelles; Guggenheim Museum, Bilbao, 1999; Laurie Anderson, Fondazione Prada, Milan, 1998; Merce Cunningham, Fondació Tápies, Barcelona; Museu Serralves, Porto, 1999; con Clare Bell, Jim Dine, The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, 1999; Mariko Mori. Dream Temple, Fondazione Prada, Milan, 1999; Thomas Demand. Processo grottesco, Fondazione Giorgio Cini, Venice, 2007; Natalie Djurberg. Turn into me, Fondazione Prada, Milan, 2008; Manzoni. A Retrospective, Gagosian Gallery, New York, 2009; John Wesley, Fondazione Prada, Venice, 2009.

4 Germano Celant, Art & Environment 1909-2009. Sculpturing the interior space.

Selected bibliography Selected bibliography Selected bibliography Selected bibliography

Arte povera, 1966-1980 : libri e documenti, Mantova : Corraini, 2007 ALLOWAY, Lawrence. The Venice Biennale 1895-1969. From Salon to Goldfish Bowl. Connecticut: New York Graphic Society, 1968 CELANT, Germano. Arte Povera – Im Spazio, Genoa: Masnata/Trentalance, 1967 CELANT, Germano. Ambiente/Arte: dal futurismo alla body art. Venezia: La Biennale di Venezia, 1977 CELANT, Germano. ‘Ambient/Art’ in Environment, Participation, Cultural Structures (first volume), Venice: La Biennale di Venezia, 1976 CELANT, Germano. “Notes for a guerrilla war”, Flash Art, n.5, 1967 http://www.flashartonline.com/interno.php?pagina=articolo_det&id_art=352&det=ok&title=ARTE-POVERA CELANT, Germano. Arte povera, Milano: Gabriele Mazzotta, 1969 CELANT, Germano. Arte povera : 13 italienische Künstler, Dokumentation und neue Werke, München: Kunstverein München, 1971 CELANT, Germano. Arte povera. Milano: Umberto Allemandi & C., 1989 CELANT, Germano. Arte povera. Milano: Electa, 1985 CELANT, Germano. Identité italienne : l'art en Italie depuis 1959, Paris: Centre Pompidou, 1981 CELANT, Germano, SZEEMANN, Harald; TRINI Tommaso; AMMANN Jean-Christophe. Arte povera in collezione (Arte povera in collection), Milano: Charta, cop. 2000 CELANT, Germano. « A Visual Machine : Art installation and its modern archetypes, in GREENBERG, Reesa; FERGUSON, Brunce W.; NAIRNE, Sandy. Thinking about Exhibitions, London: Routledge, 1996 CHRISTOV-BAKARGIEV (ed.). Arte Povera, London: Phaidon Press, 1999 DI MARTINO Enzo; RIZZI Paolo. Storia della Biennale, 1895-1982, Milano: Electa, c1982. DI MARTINO, Enzo. La Biennale di Venezia: 1895-1995: cento anni di arte e cultura. Milano: Giorgio Mondadori, 1995. MORRIS Frances ; FLOOD Richard, Zero to Infinity: Arte Povera 1962-1972, Tate Modern Londres, Walker Art Center Minneapolis, 2001 POLANCO, Aurora Fernández. Arte povera, Nerea: DL 1999 References of images : MORRIS Frances ; FLOOD Richard, Zero to Infinity: Arte Povera 1962-1972, Tate Modern Londres, Walker Art Center Minneapolis, 2001; CELANT, Germano. Identité italienne : l'art en Italie depuis 1959, Paris, Centre Pompidou, 1981 ; CHRISTOV-BAKARGIEV (ed.). Arte Povera, London, Phaidon Press, 1999 ; CELANT, Germano. ‘Ambient/Art’ in Environment, Participation, Cultural Structures (first volume), Venice: La Biennale di Venezia, 1976

Document edited by Florence Ostende