Events

This one day conference looks to the ways in which Mario Merz's work has been presented in exhibitions, paying particular attention to the period of art making that our current exhibition 'Mario Merz: What Is to Be Done?' covers, 1966 to 1977.

This conference is part of the Institute's current research into the histories of exhibiting sculpture, the subject of a session we will be hosting at the 2012 Association of Art Historians conference. 

A sculpture sits in space, pulling or pushing all that visually surrounds it for its own ends.  It is a gravity-defying object that structures the space between itself and its perceiver.  These qualities mean that the photographic image inevitably fails to capture the nature of sculpture: it demands to be encountered directly.  It is an object that cannot be perceived indirectly: it needs to be walked around, looked at and considered in relation to the space that holds it.

Our invited speakers all have direct experience of working with Merz's sculptures.  Their contributions examine the cultural and political ambitions, contexts and ramifications of key exhibitions of Merz's work, bringing critical insight to the ways in which Merz's work has been inscribed within art history.

 
Dieter Schwarz (Kunstmuseum Winterthur)
The Artist and his Material: from Notizie to Sperone, 1963-1968

Marlis Grüterich (Independent)
Città Irreale: The Anthropological Iconography of Mario Merz's Exhibition Art and its Metamorphosis in Response to Place

Bettina Della Casa (Museo Cantonale d'Arte, Lugano)
Che fare?: Galleria l'Attico, Roma, 5 febbraio 1969

Mariano Boggia (Merz Foundation, Turin)
Via Borgonuovo 2, Milano, giovedì 1 ottobre 1970, alle ore 19

Alistair Rider (St Andrews University)
Fibonacci 1202 (1970)

Lara Conte (University of Pisa)
From Arte povera più azioni povere to When Attitudes Become Form (1968-69): Mario Merz's work in group shows and his first international connections

Chaired by Martin Holman (Independent Curator/Writer)

This conference is free of charge but booking is essential. 

For information and bookings please contact Kirstie Gregory, kirstie@henry-moore.org