Alighiero Boetti Long-Term Exhibition Opens at Dia Beacon

Dia Beacon presents a long-term exhibition dedicated to Alighiero Boetti, drawn from the permanent collection and supplemented by key loans. The show spans four decades of the artist's career, from industrial paintings of the 1960s to embroideries and mail art before his death in 1994. Highlights include the monumental "Untitled—Victoria Boogie Woogie" (1972), comprising 5,040 envelopes mailed to Turin from cities across Italy. Curated by Matilde Guidelli-Guidi and Liv Cuniberti, the exhibition follows Dia's 2013-14 homage "Alighiero e Boetti." Jessica Morgan, Dia's director, emphasized Boetti's unique position in postwar art, combining conceptual rigor, formal invention, and curiosity about organizing systems. Guidelli-Guidi noted that Boetti's work questions the artist's role in times of social change and geopolitical violence, and his intuitive approach to Conceptualism prefigures contemporary practices. Born in Turin in 1940, Boetti debuted at Galleria Christian Stein in 1967, participated in Arte Povera group shows, and moved to Rome in 1972. His travels to Kabul in the 1970s informed his famous embroideries. A major retrospective, "Alighiero Boetti: Game Plan," was held at Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía (2011-12), Tate Modern, and MoMA (both 2012). Boetti died in Rome in 1994. Dia, founded in 1974, maintains Dia Beacon, Dia Bridgehampton, Dia Chelsea, and a constellation of site-specific projects.