The Body and the Space 1959-1980. The exhibition will bring together pivotal examples of Colombo's work in investigating the body and the space: from early experiments in ceramic and felt, to pieces in motion and important environments such as Strutturazione pulsante and Topoestesia, to light-based pieces from the 1960s and 1970s.
In October ROBILANT+VOENA will present the first solo exhibition of Gianni Colombo in
the UK
,
organised with the Archivio Gianni Colombo. Curated by Francesca Pola and Marco Scotini, the show
will celebrate the work of Colombo during the1960s and 1970s: the firs
t two crucial creative decades
of his activity, which saw his affirmation as one of the pioneers of contemporary environmental
practices and installations.
Colombo’s revolutionary work first developed in Post
-
war Milan, an international and vibrant artist
ic
context, enriched by the significant presence of Lucio Fontana and of experimental artists from the
new Italian generation, such as those around the Azimuth/Azimut gallery and magazine (Piero
Manzoni, Enrico Castellani, Agostino Bonalumi, Dadamaino, Paolo Scheggi). His art is connected to
the birth of what Bruno Munari and Umberto Eco defined as “Arte programmata” (Programmed Art),
and to parallel kinetic and immersive creative investigations of international artists such as Lygia Clark,
Julio Le Parc, David Medalla, François Morellet, Helio Oiticica, Jesús
-
Rafael Soto, Jean Tinguely, and
others related to the international ZERO movement.
More than fifty years after Colombo’s participation in seminal UK shows, such as ‘Art in Motion – the Random and the Planned’ in 1964 at the Royal College of Art and‘
In Motion. An Arts Council
exhibition of kinetic art’ in 1966, the first twenty years of his career will be presented in this, his first
solo exhibition in London. The chronology of the exhibition is rela
ted to key moments in Colombo’s
artistic course: it spans from 1959, the year he co-founded Gruppo T and first exhibited his work in the
international context of the Galleria Azimut, to 1980, when he realized his first London environment,
Topoestesia, 8 si
tuazioni entrexit
(Topoesthesia –8 Entrexit Situation )
for the exhibition ‘Pier +
Ocean. Construction in the Art of the Seventies’ at Hayward Gallery, whose original
maquette
will be
on display at Robilant+Voena.
Colombo’s practice aimed at overcoming t
he traditional notion of art as an object to contemplate, in
order to create work that requires the active involvement of the viewer. From his tactile pieces and
works in motion of the late 1950s, to his immersive light installations of the 1960, into his
mature large
-
scale environments, he conceived art as the place for an experience, which belongs to both the body
and the mind. His investigation of space is led by this idea of changing the spectator’s conventional
relationship with reality, both physicall
y and psychically, encompassing also a broad dialogue with
technology and architecture. Colombo’s space is a space experienced in a total way, anticipating
issues of perceptual and immersive researches
and audience participation
that are still
-
important in the art of today.
The exhibition will bring together pivotal examples of Colombo’s work in investigating the
body and the space: from early experiments in ceramic and felt, to pieces in motion such as
Strutturazione pulsante
(Pulsating
Structuralisation)
, Strutturazione fluida (Fluid
Structuralisation),
Strutturazione acentrica
(Acentric Structuralisation),
Roto
-
Optic, to light
-
based pieces from the 1960s and 1970s. A specific
focus is devoted to the seminal cycle
Spazio elastico (Elastic Space), origin
ated by his crucial 1967
environment realized for the exhibition ‘Trigon 67’ in Graz, which also was awarded a prize at the
Venice Biennale in 1968. Colombo always considered
Spazio elastico
one of his greatest
achievements, as is proved by the multiplicit
y of materials, configurations and perceptual challenges
he solved within it, and exemplified by the variety of different works on display in London.
The highlight of the exhibition is one of Colombo’s largest and most important environments:
Topoestesia – tre zone contigue (itinerario programmato)
(Topoesthesia
–
three contiguous zones
[programmed itinerary]), 1965
-
1970. The environment was first realized and shown in the exhibition
‘Vitalità del negativo nell’arte italiana 1960/1970’ at Palazzo delle Es
posizioni in Rome (1970), where it
became the subject of wonderful photographs by Ugo Mulas, some of which will be included in the
Robilant+Voena exhibition. It is composed by three immersive subsequent spaces, featuring
progressive topological deformation
and rhythmic illuminations: visitors are invited to enter the work
and, in walking through it, to experience a series of unconventional relationships with space and time.
This will be the first time this seminal work will be presented outside of Italy.
This selection of about
30 works
, including some unpublished and never before exhibited pieces from
Italian private collections, will be the core of the exhibition, together with some rare drawings and
documents, and will be completed by Colombo’s only vide
o art work, realized in 1970 in collaboration
with the Italian conceptual artist Vincenzo Agnetti:
Vobulazione e bieloquenza neg (Wobulation and
Bieloquence Neg).
In demonstrating the outstanding wealth of his creative output, the show will
reaffirm the ro
le played by Colombo in the development of modern and contemporary art
internationally.
GIANNI COLOMBO (Milan 1937–1993)
In the Milan of 1959, during the midst of a Europe
-
wide wave of artistic fervour, Colombo founded Gruppo T
with Giovanni Anceschi, Davide Boriani, Gabriele De Vecchi and later Grazia Varisco, and exhibited at Ga
lleria
Azimut. The idea of works that the viewer can directly interact with, realized in various and experimental
materials, was from this point onwards to be his recurrent theme, both in his object pieces and in the more than
sixty environments he realize
d, which questioned the visitor’s behavioural and sensory perceptions. It was
during the 1960s and 1970s that Colombo’s popularity and success flourished, exhibiting in an increasing
number of shows both in Italy and abroad. He was also present at various
occasions at the Venice Biennale,
where in 1968 he was awarded a special prize for his environment
Spazio elastico
(
Elastic Space
).
His work is represented in important public collections, such as Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Moderna (Rome),
MART Museo di Ar
te Moderna e Contemporanea (Trento e Rovereto),
Museo del Novecento and Collezione
Intesa Sanpaolo, Gallerie d’Italia
–
Piazza Scala (Milan),
Castello di Rivoli Museo d’Arte Contemporanea
(Rivoli, Turin), M
useo Cantonale d’Arte (Lugano),
Muzej Suvremene Um
jetnosti (Zagreb),
Neue Galerie Graz
am Landesmuseum Joanneum (Graz
), Hilti Art Foundation (Schaan), MoMA The Museum of Modern Art (New
York), and others.
The exhibition will be accompanied by
a 260 page
book, written and edited by Francesca Pola and
Marco Scotini and including an essay by Guy Brett, published
by Marsilio
Editore. Based on extensive
studies of Colombo’s work, with over 190 images of paintings, historical photos and documents, it will
include a selection of artist’s writings from the period and an iconographic mapping of selected works
in museums around the
world.
Private View Monday 12 October, 6 - 9pm
Robilant + Voena
38 Dover Street, London W1S 4NL