Fabio Sargentini recounts the last avant-garde in a video interview

Fabio Sargentini, gallerist, writer, and actor, has been interviewed by Matteo Giuseppone and Nicola Sarli for the Instagram channel "Artezeri", a social archive for art history enthusiasts and professionals. The conversation traces the history of his gallery L'Attico, which moved the Roman art scene from bourgeois apartments to a garage on Via Cesare Beccaria. Sargentini discusses the generational fracture after the arrival of Pop Art in Italy at the 1964 Venice Biennale, and shares anecdotes about artists linked to the gallery, including Pino Pascali, Jannis Kounellis, and Pietro De Dominicis. He delves into the origins of famous exhibitions such as "Fuoco Immagine Acqua Terra" (June 1967) and "Unioni Civili" (June 2016). The interview concludes with his reflection on the current art situation: "I still believe in the small, the niche, the author, the small book, the small expression. I didn't become a museum director, and that's fine. Many who practiced the avant-garde have become institutionalized. That's also a path, but it doesn't belong to me." He describes L'Attico's story as a "scorribanda" (raid) where the gallery became a gym, garage, boat, and warehouse.