Luca Cerizza’s Study of Alighiero e Boetti’s Mappa Series
Luca Cerizza, an Italian curator, has authored a new study examining Alighiero e Boetti's Mappa series, which began in 1971 when Boetti commissioned Afghan embroiderers to create a world map with each country's flag colors and patterns. The series, produced over twenty years in Kabul, Afghanistan, and Peshawar, Pakistan, consists of large-scale embroidered maps that document geopolitical changes such as the dissolution of the Soviet Union, German reunification, Middle Eastern territorial disputes, and Eurasian regime shifts. Cerizza's analysis situates Mappa within world events, cartographic history, and contemporary art movements including Minimalism, Conceptualism, and Arte Povera. The publication is available through MIT Press and Google Books.
Key facts
- Alighiero e Boetti commissioned Afghan embroiderers in 1971 to create a world map with each country's flag colors and patterns.
- The Mappa series was produced over twenty years in Kabul, Afghanistan, and Peshawar, Pakistan.
- Each map tracked geopolitical changes: the break-up of the Soviet Union, unification of Germany, Middle Eastern disputes, and Eurasian regime changes.
- Italian curator Luca Cerizza authored the study.
- Cerizza examines Mappa in relation to world events, map-making history, and art movements Minimalism, Conceptualism, and Arte Povera.
- The publication is available via MIT Press and Google Books.
Entities
Artists
- Alighiero e Boetti
- Luca Cerizza
Institutions
- Afterall
- MIT Press
- Google Books
- Italian Cultural Institute in London
- Archivio Boetti
Locations
- Kabul
- Afghanistan
- Peshawar
- Pakistan
- Soviet Union
- Germany
- Middle East
- Eurasian peninsula
- London
- United Kingdom
- 39 Belgrave Square