Nanni Balestrini's Revolutionary Art at Mudima Foundation, Milan

Nanni Balestrini's exhibition at Fondazione Mudima in Milan features twelve works of identical size (70 x 100 cm) that recontextualize iconic paintings from the Russian Revolution era. Balestrini enlarged and reproduced on canvas works by artists such as Chagall, Malevich, Kandinsky, Rodchenko, Goncharova, and Rozanova, overlaying them with fragmented quotations from Lenin, Mayakovsky, Aragon, Fidel Castro, and Karl Marx. The texts, in uppercase print, emphasize content like liberating cries. For instance, Marx's quote 'Communism abolishes eternal truths' appears over Malevich's 'Red Cavalry' (1932), and Lenin's 'Comrade, how do you make revolution? You must dream revolution' is placed on Kandinsky's 'Blue Crest' (1917). Mayakovsky's 'My revolution' is inverted across Malevich's 'Girls in the Field'. Balestrini's digital printing on canvas renounces uniqueness, embracing infinite reproducibility. The artist states he chose Russian artists who participated in the 1917 Revolution but denies a deterministic link between social upheavals and art, noting that revolution was profound and fertile for art. He recalls the 1968 and 1977 movements as moments when change felt possible, lamenting that today only the memory of the 'years of lead' remains. The exhibition includes a continuous audio of the 'Internationale' sung by the Red Army and Mayakovsky's question 'Future men, who are you?' echoing through the space.