Alessandra Mammì's personal tribute to Germano Celant

Alessandra Mammì, writing for Artribune, offers a personal and reflective tribute to the late Italian curator and art historian Germano Celant, who died in 2020. Known as "il notaio" (the notary) for his meticulous documentation of contemporary art, Celant was a pivotal figure in defining Arte Povera. Mammì challenges characterizations of him as cold or power-hungry, describing him instead as shy but warm once engaged. She highlights his curatorial achievements, including "Post Zang Tumb Tuuum" (2018) at Fondazione Prada, which reexamined Italian art from 1918 to 1943 and sparked debate over revisionism; "Serial Classic" with Salvatore Settis, which overturned Winckelmann's idea of absolute beauty; "The Small Utopia" on the multiple in the age of compulsive reproducibility; the Mimmo Rotella exhibition at Galleria Nazionale di Roma; and a Jannis Kounellis show in Venice. Mammì also recalls Celant's exhibition of Jan Fabre at MAXXI, where works floated on rafts in Zaha Hadid's architecture. She cites a tweet from Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev calling his loss "a catastrophe" and praising his seriousness and depth. Mammì laments the lack of media attention to his passing amid pandemic isolation and trivial news coverage.