Made and co-produced by Civic Gallery of Modena and by the Cassa di Risparmio di Modena Foundation with the max museum of Chiasso, the exhibition will remain on display until 31 January 2016.
Dedicated to the work of the Swiss artist Daniel Spoerri, (1930) in relation to the current of Eat Art, which he created in 1967, with which he intended to initiate a critical reflection on the fundamental principles of nutrition, the exhibition is closely connected to the theme of EXPO 2015 of which the Italian stage has received sponsorship.
The exhibited works range from an initial period of experimentation linked to the magazine "Material" (1955-1961), to kinetic multiples, to the famous tableaux-pièges, "trap paintings" obtained from assemblages of everyday objects glued to supports and overturned in 'orientation – random compositions of leftover food and used crockery, trapped in resin and arranged vertically, like paintings, now in the collection at the MoMA in New York and the Center Pompidou in Paris – up to sculpture and research in the graphic field, which important archival documents are added.
Spoerri's poetics allows for a retrospective reading of man's epochal attraction towards food. It is no coincidence that the artist is present in the Swiss Pavilion of the Universal Exposition in Milan with an ad hoc work entitled "Meissen Porzellan Puzzle", made up of 36 porcelain tiles.
Also on display are the artist's recipes, his notes and the menus of the Restaurant Spoerri in Düsseldorf (1968) up to the Bistrot of Santa Marta created for the Mudima Foundation in Milan 2014.
An entire section will be dedicated to graphics, the subject of study for the first time in a museum, which presents, among other sheets, his works, posters and announcements.
Letters and documents will bear witness to Spoerri's relationships with contemporary artists, including Jean Tinguely, Marcel Duchamp, Man Ray, Meret Oppenheim, Ben Vautier.
The works come from the artist's collection, from the Swiss National Library in Bern which houses the Spoerri archive and from important European museums, galleries and collectors.
In Modena, the exhibition is enriched with a section that draws on the collections of the regional fabric made available by generous lenders.
"Analyzing a very limited territorial area, such as the Emilia region - writes Serena Goldoni in her text in the catalog - the variety of collectors and collections of Daniel Spoerri's work is surprising and surprisingly rich". We can cite the recipe books, “just remember the 'Bibliothèque de recettes' (1987-89), an edition printed by the regretted Francesco Conz – he continues, or “works that by pure chance become representative of a will to collect such as 'Collections of spoons and crosses ' (1986) from the collection of contemporary religious art by Carlo Cattelani, kitchen objects assembled with crosses and Madonnas, together with a blue light that creates a mystical atmosphere”.
To these we can add the “Brotteigobjekte” (bread dough objects, 1972), to return to Eat Art, battered shoes and booties, irons full of bread dough, works cooked in the oven. Just to give a few examples.
Nothing is missing in this original, yet unique, setting that presents itself to the visitor almost like a set table, to which anyone can metaphorically access.
Daniel Spoerri, artist born as a dancer and choreographer, who became the inventor of a new artistic language, author of recipes and menus, soul of restaurants, and even, actor, through his poetics has questioned conformity, clichés, certainties. A master who has transformed nourishment into a privileged interlocutor, into a real trait d'union between art and life.
Biographical notes
Daniel Spoerri, born on March 27, 1930, owes his fame as an artist above all to the so-called tableaux-pièges, created starting from the XNUMXs. His career began as a dancer in Bern in the XNUMXs. He later made a name for himself as a restaurateur (XNUMXs) and as the founder of Eat Art, opening the Eat Art Gallery in Düsseldorf and giving life to its many banquets.
In the 1997s he created a large sculpture park, which since XNUMX has become a foundation: the Garden of Daniel Spoerri in Seggiano in southern Tuscany.
The "Kunststaulager Spoerri" archive in Hadersdorf am Kamp (Austria) has been open since 2009.
