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Palazzo Cisterna Torino 3 – 5 November 2017
Two themed exhibitions, curated by Elena Volpato, for the cultural program of FLAT Ettore Sottsass. Le pagine at Palazzo Birago di Borgaro
Lettura per voci e silenzio at Palazzo Cisterna
The first edition of FLAT -‐ fiera libro arte Torino, the new international event dedicated to contemporary art publishing — to be held at Palazzo Cisterna, Torino, from 3 to 5 November 2017 — features as part of its cultural program two exhibitions: the monographic show on Ettore Sottsass. Le pagine, and the group exhibit Lettura per voci e silenzio, both curated by Elena Volpato. The exhibition “Ettore Sottsass. Le pagine” is hosted in the rooms of Palazzo Birago. The Chamber of Commerce of Torino provided its institutional seat to celebrate the centennial of Sottsass’s birth and the unlimited creativity of an artist who, more than others, truly expressed himself through books and magazines, each time reinventing the shape, the meaning, and the function of the printed page. The display will offer visitors a chance to see the entire production of Sottsass’s books, periodicals and pamphlets: from the epic stenciled copies of Room East 128. Chronicle dated 1962, to the catalogs for the Memphis Group, from magazines, such as Pianeta Fresco, to visual essays, from the lithographic and photographic books, to the calligraphy practice of Kena Upaniᶊad. All his publications were interspersed in time with the series of new year cards and augural prints that Sottsass and his associates mailed every year, also on view. Sottsass always proved himself capable of creating some different form, be it the most basic slip of paper or the most complex editorial designs. He shaped the pages anew, based on his original thinking and on the meaning to be delivered, in order to find, and hand over to the reader, a true reciprocation between meaning and form, between expressing the lettering and the page layout and expressing himself, his own personality—which meant expressing what his mind created each time, through a constant life practice, looking and researching the world, ultimately conveying his indefatigable reading of the world. Books, magazines, and pamphlets are displayed one next to the other, following the natural flow of time and the unfolding of the author’s life thus revealing how, in this amazing heap of publications, in this inexhaustible imagination inspired by fascinations, chances, shapes and colors, the common trait, the true fil rouge, is Sottsass’s reverberating individuality, as he responded with a new music to life’s encounters. Encounters which he was constantly seeking, be it people, cultures, places, materials or artworks. The exhibit dedicated to Ettore Sottsass is complemented by the show Lettura per voci e silenzio, also curated by Elena Volpato and hosted at Palazzo Cisterna, venue of the Fair’s first edition. This exhibit is devoted to the liturgy of reading, intended both as an inner space and as a public space, an act of sharing. It evokes the dual birth—sound and visual—of a written page: in ancient times, reading was mostly intended as the social sharing of a text, it meant reading out loud in front of an audience, whereas later on, reading became what St. Augustine vividly described in his Confessions, in the passage where he marvels at seeing St Ambrose totally absorbed in his private inner space, silently studying with sealed lips: “his eyes scanned the page and his heart sought out the meaning”. Some works, disseminated among the publishers’ desks in the Fair, allow visitors to listen to the voices of artists and performers reading various texts in front of the camera. They are the videos by John Baldessari,
Three Feathers and Other Fairy Tales, by Martha Rosler, Martha Rosler Reads "Vogue", a work by Karl Holmqvist, I’m with you in Rockland and the choral work by Concetta Modica, In pasto al presente #3. In a separate, secluded area, is a series of small rooms hosting about thirty works, creating an island of quietness where the space of the page and the countless shapes of the books imagined by the artists will be allowed to disclose their silence. Visitors will plunge into the perceptive infinity of Romanzo blu by Irma Blank; they will stand in front of a small block of white chalk, silent and dense, on which Paolo Icaro has inscribed the word Racconto (Tale); they will consider the endless imaginary pages and volumes adding up on Giulio Paolini’s canvases; they will read the white transparency in between words where Sabrina Mezzaqui has rewritten Karen Blixen’s The Blank Page: and finally, in the volume Universum by Maurizio Nannucci, they will contemplate an elliptic closing within itself, with two opposite bindings wrapping a book into a closed volume, into a hermetic microcosmos—the image of a “book-‐world”, and of a world that throughout the ages cyclically appears to men as a silent book waiting to be read. The show ends with some of the most recent investigations on the shape of books by artists like Francesco Arena, Maria Morganti, Luca Bertolo and Alessandra Spranzi. Founded and organized by Chiara Caroppo, Beatrice Merz, and Mario Petriccione, FLAT aims at creating a valuable space for promoting the finest international production of exhibition catalogs, monographs, theoretical writings, artist’s books, rare and out of print editions, and magazines, bringing together leading publishers as well as small, independent presses, bookmakers, artists, collectors and bibliophiles from all over the world. The cultural program of its first edition will focus on the actual state of international art publishing, on the practices and topics related to artists’ books: the exhibitions curated by Elena Volpato, art historian, conservator and curator at GAM -‐ Galleria Civica d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea in Turin, will be sided by a series of conversations and book launches, curated by Francesca Valentini, independent curator and researcher, that will give room and voice to cross-‐generational and cross-‐geographical topics, attitudes and approaches related to the creation and circulation of art books. FLAT is carried out in partnership with Lavazza, with the support of the Fondazione Arte Moderna e Contemporanea CRT and of the Camera di commercio di Torino. Cultural partners: CIMA, Center for Italian Modern Art, New York; Fondazione Merz, Torino. Under the patronage of Regione Piemonte, Città di Torino and Città metropolitana di Torino. www.flatartbookfair.com FLAT -‐ fiera libro arte Torino Venue: Palazzo Cisterna Via Maria Vittoria 12 Torino Dates: 3 – 5 November 2017 Press preview: Friday 3 November At 12:30 pm Opening hours:
3 November, 12pm — 11pm 4 November, 12pm — 11pm 5 November, 10am — 6pm Admission: 5 Euros (valid for 3 days) Exhibition Ettore Sottsass. Le pagine Opened until 12 November 2017 Venue Palazzo Birago Via Carlo Alberto 16 Torino Dates and opening hours: 3 November, 12pm — 11pm 4 November, 12pm — 11pm 5 November, 10am — 6pm 6 – 10 November, 9am – 5pm 11 – 12 November, 10am – 6pm Admission: free Info: www.flatartbookfair.com Press Contacts: Alessandra Santerini, e-‐mail: [email protected], mob. +39 335 6853 767 Giovanni Sgrignuoli, e-‐mail: [email protected], mob. +39 328 9686390