Alighiero Boetti's Manifestos and Maps: Rethinking Collectivity in Art
A retrospective of Alighiero Boetti will be showcased at Madrid's Museo de Arte Reina Sofia before moving to London's Tate Modern from February to May 2012, and then to New York's MoMA until September 1, 2012. This exhibition reinterprets modernist ideas of community through manifestos, postal art, and embroidered maps. In 1967, Boetti released Manifesto, which listed sixteen Italian artists, with copies sent out and fifty displayed in Milan in 1970. He also created Territori occupati in 1969, an embroidery depicting Israel and Sinai after the Six-Day War, along with Planisfero politico, a political world map. His Mappe series, crafted in Afghanistan, involved up to five hundred women stitching maps featuring texts in both Italian and Persian. Boetti's collaborative ethos is encapsulated in his phrase, "I don't choose, the system chooses."
Key facts
- Alighiero Boetti retrospective traveled to Madrid (Museo de Arte Reina Sofia), London (Tate Modern, Feb–May 2012), and New York (MoMA, until Sept 1, 2012).
- In 1967, Boetti created Manifesto, a four-color print listing 16 Italian artists with an indecipherable code.
- Most Manifesto copies were mailed; 50 were exhibited at Galleria Toselli, Milan in 1970 with a pantomime performance.
- Viaggi postali (1969–1970) involved 25 letters sent to imaginary addresses and returned.
- Territori occupati (1969) is a cross-stitch embroidery of Israel and occupied Sinai after the Six-Day War.
- Planisfero politico (1969–1970) colored countries with their flags, becoming the template for the Mappe series.
- Boetti first traveled to Afghanistan in 1971, inspired by his ancestor Giovanni Battista Boetti (Sheikh Mansur).
- The Mappe were embroidered by Afghan women, up to 500 at a time, with colors and texts chosen by the embroiderers.
- A 1989 Mappa states it was made by anonymous Afghan women in Peshawar, Pakistan.
- Boetti's concept of 'diffuse creativity' and non-choice (letting systems decide) reflects Duchampian influence.
Entities
Artists
- Alighiero Boetti
- Marcel Duchamp
- Giovanni Battista Boetti (Sheikh Mansur)
- Germano Celant
- Achille Bonito Oliva
- Nicolas Bourriaud
- Mark Godfrey
- Lynne Cooke
- Christian Rattemeyer
- Rinaldo Rossi
- Golam Dastaghir
- Isabelle Stengers
Institutions
- Museo de Arte Reina Sofia
- Tate Modern
- MoMA
- Galleria La Bertesca
- Galleria Toselli
- One Hotel
- Royal School of Embroidery
- Flash Art
- La Stampa
- Tate Publishing
Locations
- Madrid
- Spain
- London
- United Kingdom
- New York
- United States
- Milan
- Italy
- Genoa
- Kabul
- Afghanistan
- Constantinople
- Peshawar
- Pakistan
- Israel
- Sinai
- Greenwich
Sources
- artpress —