This book is published by Magazzino Italian Art Foundation on the occasion of the exhibition Gilardi: Tappeto-Natura curated by Elena Re at Magazzino Italian Art in Cold Spring, New York, May 7, 2022 – January 9, 2023.
© 2023 Magazzino Italian Art Foundation
About the Artist
Piero Gilardi (b. 1942, Turin, Italy) was one of the protagonists of the Arte Povera movement. By focusing on art experiences and entering a real debate at the heart of the avant-garde that defined the 1960s, he arrived at theorizing “Microemotive Art.”
He created his first pieces in polyurethane foam in 1964, and in 1965 began working on his Tappeto-Natura (Nature-Carpet) series which became a central part of his oeuvre. He has exhibited internationally in Paris, Brussels, Cologne, Hamburg, Amsterdam and New York, presenting innovative and immersive ecological works. He pivoted his art practice to engage with the new artistic trends of the late 1960s, including Arte Povera, Land Art, and Antiform Art, bringing these trends to the international stage. He collaborated on shows for the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam, Netherlands and the Bern Kunsthalle in Bern, Switzerland.
With a continued emphasis on the individual’s unique experience with his art, Gilardi began the artistic research project IXIANA in 1985, presented at Parc de la Villette in Paris, France, where he invited the public to artistically experiment with new digital technologies. Along with Claude Faure and Piotr Kowalski, he formed the International Association Ars Technica. He also conceived Parco Arte Vivente (PAV), an experimental center for contemporary art and a testament to his commitment to art in nature, which opened in 2008 in his hometown of Turin. He directs PAV’s art programs which include indoor and outdoor contemporary art installations and exhibitions, notably investigating Living Art.
About the contributors
Christian Rattemeyer is an independent curator, writer, and translator. He served as Executive Director of SculptureCenter in New York from 2019 to 2020, and as Associate Curator of Drawings and Prints at the Museum of Modern Art in New York from 2007 to 2019. At MoMA, Rattemeyer curated and co-curated nine exhibitions, including SURROUNDS: 11 Installations (2019); Transmissions: Art from Eastern Europe and Latin America 1960-1980 (2015), Alighiero Boetti: Game Plan (2012), and Compass in Hand (2009). Previously, Rattemeyer worked as Curator at Artists Space (2003-2007) and has worked for Documenta11 (2002), documenta X (1997) and documenta IX (1992) in Kassel, his hometown. He has published many essays and books on contemporary art, including Exhibiting the New Art: When Attitudes Become Form and Op Losse Schroeven, 1969, Afterall Publishers, 2010. Rattemeyer lives and works in upstate New York.
Elena Re is an art critic and independent curator, Re works with public and private institutions, both in Italy and abroad. She explores Italian art through cultural projects, exhibitions, lectures, and publications. Her interest lies in the thought that precedes the artwork as well as in a transdisciplinary approach to art. Her research thus ranges from conceptual photography to radical architecture and the notion of the multiple. On the latter theme, she presented the exhibition Arte Povera and “Multipli,” Torino 1970–1975 at Sprüth Magers Gallery (Berlin, 2014) and at the Fondazione ICA (Milan, 2019–2020). She is the scientific director of the Archivio Giorgio Ciam; she follows the careers of many artists, and has contributed to the international recognition of Luigi Ghirri’s work. Since 2003, she has curated Jacobacci & Partners’ Arte e Progetto collection. She co-curated the exhibition Tutto. Perspectives on Italian Art at Museion (Bolzano, 2018–2019) and at Sammlung Goetz (Munich 2019–2020), featuring a catalogue published by Hatje Cantz. Her books include Luigi Ghirri – Project Prints. An Adventure in Thinking and Looking (JRP|Ringier, Zürich 2012), published on the occasion of the exhibition at Castello di Rivoli Museo d’Arte Contemporanea. She is the curator of the exhibition Gilardi: Tappeto-Natura at Magazzino Italian Art (Cold Spring, NY, May 7, 2022 – January 9, 2023).
Elizabeth Mangini is an art historian who specializes in social and material histories of postwar and contemporary art. Her research interests include transnational modern and contemporary art, postwar Italian art, European and American art, theories of sculpture, social histories of art, art and labor, art and philosophy, artistic collaborations, global feminisms, artistic identity, and public art. She is currently Associate Professor and Program Chair of History of Art and Visual Culture at California College of the Arts, San Francisco. Professor Mangini's book Seeing through Closed Eyelids: Giuseppe Penone and the Nature of Sculpture was published by University of Toronto Press in 2021. Other recent publications include writings on Joan Jonas, Mario Merz, Mimmo Rotella, and Gilberto Zorio. She is a regular contributor to Artforum magazine, is a member of the scientific committee of the Mimmo Rotella Institute, and serves on the editorial board of Palinsesti, a journal of Italian Contemporary Art. Professor Mangini has held curatorial positions and postgraduate fellowships at the Museum of Modern Art, New York; the Walker Art Center, Minneapolis; and MASS MOCA. She is a graduate of Stanford University (BA), Williams College/Clark Art Institute (MA), and The Graduate Center, City University of New York (PhD).
Teresa Kittler is lecturer in Modern and Contemporary Art at the University of York. She holds a PhD in History of Art from UCL. Her research focuses on artistic practices since 1945 with a special interest in Italian postwar art. She has received fellowships from the British Academy, the Leverhulme Trust, the British School at Rome, the Center for Italian Modern Art (CIMA), and Magazzino Italian Art. Her writing has appeared in edited collections, exhibition catalogues, magazines, and journals such as Oxford Art Journal, I Tatti Studies, Novecento Transnazionale, and Art History. She has written on Marisa Merz for catalogues accompanying the exhibitions Marisa Merz: The Sky is a Great Place (Los Angeles Hammer Museum & Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2017) and Entrare Nell’Opera (Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein, 2019), and on Carla Accardi for the catalogue accompanying senzamargine. at the MAXXI (2021). She has worked as Assistant Curator for the 10 Gwangju Biennale (2014), and as a curatorial assistant for Alighiero Boetti: Game Plan (Tate Modern, 2012), and in 2021 she curated the exhibition Nivola: Sandscapes at Magazzino Italian Art (2021).
Vittorio Calabrese is the Director of Magazzino Italian Art Foundation. He leads all museum programming, exhibitions, and research and is responsible for broadening institutional development, fostering collaborations with fellow institutions and international artists. Vittorio has extensive experience in arts administration within the nonprofit sector, philanthropy, and research initiatives. He has curated and edited numerous exhibition catalogues on Italian Contemporary Art.Born in Irpinia, Italy, Vittorio studied at Columbia University (Master in Business Administration), Christie’s Education in New York (MA in Modern and Contemporary Art History), and Bocconi University in Milan (BA and MSc in Business Administration and Management). Vittorio gives frequent lectures and presentations and has curated a number of exhibitions including most recently Homemade, Magazzino Italian Art, Cold Spring, New York, 2020; Renato Leotta, Casa Italiana Zerilli-Marimò, New York and Magazzino Italian Art, Cold Spring, New York, 2019; Fausto Melotti: Works from the Olnick Spanu Collection, Consulate General of Italy, New York, 2019; Marco Bagnoli, Domenico Bianchi, Remo Salvadori: From the Olnick Spanu Collection, Hillyer Art Space, Washington D.C., 2017.